On October 11 I ventured out to El Corazon to see LA’s the Interrupters headline their own show. And what a show it was. This ska/pop/punk quartet riles up the audience by standing on the monitors, or leaning into the crowd. This is particularly done by front woman/singer Aimee Interrupter. She constantly leaned into the crowd as if serenading everyone there and many sang along to the songs.
The other three members (Kevin Bivona, guitar, Justin Binova, bass & Jesse Binova, drums, all wore matching black trousers with white shirts and black suspenders and did their fair share of hamming it up. Kevin and Justin constantly ran back and forth across the stage, changing sides and standing on monitors or a trunk at the lip of the stage, as if playing to everyone individually. Jesse kept the beat going with some mad man drumming making this a very energetic and dynamic show.
Part way through they got political, stating both sides can’t be trusted, which led to them lighting into their song, Can’t Be Trusted.
The highlight had to be their cover of Operation Ivy’s Sound System, which they totally did justice to. Although they claimed they would play a full set without an encore, they gave in to demands of one more song before calling it a night, pleasing everyone in this packed crowd.
Preceding the Interrupters was an all female outfit called Bad Cop/Bad Cop. And wowee, holy bajeezers, kids!!! These ladies killed it! If the tides seemed off or the earth did a wobble Tuesday night between 9:15 and 9:30 it’s because Bad Cop/Bad Cop blew the moon out of orbit. This quartet performed hard, energetic in your face punk with non stop three part harmonies and voices so sweet they belied the guitar driven, fast paced music and tough girl looks. Bad Cop/ Bad Cop was amazing and even got many moshing. I hope they plan on doing a show of their own here soon. I will move mountains to see them. Bad Cop/Bad Cop are, Stacey Dee – Vocals/Guitar, Jennie Cotterill – Vocals/Guitar, Myra Gallarza – Drums and Linh Le – Bass/Vocals.
Starting the whole night was Tacoma’s Hilltop Rats. If Bad Cop/Bad Cop knocked the moon out of orbit, Hilltop Rats knocked chunks off it first. Try a little oi and a little New Found Glory, lots of hair and lots of guitar and you get a good idea of their sound. These guys have fire. Hilltop Rats consist of, Vocals: Zac D., Guitar: Josh Emmett, Guitar: Ian Reas, Bass: Aaron Williams, and Mike Parker on drums.
Another fun night of punk/ska went down in Seattle and I’m glad I got to witness it.
– All photos property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
