SEARCHING FOR A NEW SOUND
Bennett Mains, Zabi Naqshband and Vanessa Tidwell have been Holding Onto Sound for so long, it’s tough to imagine anyone else playing with the Vegas punk powerhouse. But on January 22 at the Bunkhouse, after seven years as a trio, HOTS will unveil a four-piece lineup, featuring new guitarist Robert Gates.
“It’s all about progression,” says Mains, who played with Gates in a band called At Sixes and Sevens while the two attended Coronado High School. “We’ve known we wanted to expand for a while, and it was always in my head that if Bob was ever free, he’d be the guy.”
Holding Onto Sound, which began life as a quartet before shedding an early member, actually plays two shows with Gates in San Diego (January 20) and Riverside (January 21), before giving Vegas fans a first look—and first taste of its expanded sound. “It will be different, more full, more going on,” Naqshband promises. “He’ll bring more guitar, some keyboard, some samples—stuff we’ve always wanted but never had. You’ll still be able to sing along, you’ll still know all the changes, it’s just gonna be louder.”
Mains and Naqshband say they’ve already got a batch of songs written for a self-recorded follow-up to 2009 album Songs for Freedom. Look for the new disc to drop by summer, with more music to follow. “We haven’t even recorded our new album and we’re already thinking about an EP,” Mains says. “We think 2011 will be a big year for us.” –SPENCER PATTERSON
FINAL DRAFT?
Twin Brother
Twin Brotherfinished recording its debut album last summer. So what’s the local indie outfit been up to since? Tinkering, and then some. “We’ve been looking at it like, once this record is done that’s it forever, so we have to get it right,” singer/guitarist Adam Grill says. “We’d mix and master it and say, ‘This has too much effects on it.’ And then we’d try it again and say, ‘The drums are too dry on this.’” And on and on, until …
Now, at long last, the album has a release date: January 29, with a show scheduled for the Bunkhouse that night. Titled Best Frenzy and produced by National SouthWestern Electronic Recordings’ Ronald Corso, it finds the melodically unpredictable band stretching out over 10 tracks spanning some 50 minutes. “It takes you on a journey,” Grill assesses. “Each song has very little to do with the song before it, apart from that we all played on them. I think people will hear it and be like, ‘What?!’” –SP
WE ARE WOMAN Burlesque performer Lou Lou Roxy steps onstage in little more than fishnets and a corset. She loosens her top to reveal two sparking, carefully placed pasties to a sea of onlookers, packed into the Escape Lounge on West Sahara on Sunday to see the evening’s eclectic lineup of female performers.
The local artists joined forces with the Human Rights Campaign for Her HRC, an international celebration for women and equal rights. “The energy is really good,” says spoken-word poet Artikulate. “This is especially important for me because I’m with a woman, and it’s a difficult thing in society to deal with. [Being] onstage, we’re able to speak.” Another spoken-word artist, Lady L.U.S.T., owned the floor with intelligent, politically charged rhymes— “I’m an activist, this is beyond rap,” she declared—backed by the soulful beats of DJ DuWop Rose. Singer/songwriter Orange Sheila (of Pan de Sal), Karen Jones, Jessica Chavez and Paria B also performed at the event. –LESLIE VENTURA
MAD DASH
The Weekly caught up with The Mad Caps after the band’s Bunkhouse show Saturday to check on the progress of the duo’s new album. Tentatively set for release in March, the self-titled full-length will feature material fans should be familiar with, along with a few additional tracks. The songs were recorded in Dude City frontman Jack Johnson’s Boulder City home—his kitchen, to be exact—and The Mad Caps are working with Black Camaro frontman Brian Garth on mixing and mastering. “The album that we’re putting out now is kind of overdue,” frontman Ted Rader says. “It’s the album we’ve been meaning to record.” –LV
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