We talked to On Blast earlier in the week, so the next natural step? Seeing their show at Alex's Bar last night.
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This is no knock on On Blast, Free Moral Agents
or Mode, but I was floored at the amount of people who showed up. I
knew these bands had followings, but I've seen national acts come
through Alex's on a weekend and not get this kind of crowd. So kudos to
you Long Beach and your surrounding cities. Thursday really is the new
Friday.
On Blast played all the hits (“Wanna Lose Control,” “One
of Those Days”) to a crowd full of dancing girls (and a few guys, too)
and encored with “Hava Nagila,” a traditional Jewish folk song. Ya see,
the band is playing a private bar mitvzah tonight and if you're in a
band and you have to learn a song, you might as well play it more than
once, right? Right.
Free Moral Agents were next. I didn't get
any pictures of them because there were a ton of people dancing to them
too and I was already sweating like crazy (is that too much
information?) and didn't need any more of a downpour. As a FMA virgin,
I remember thinking that the group sounds really pro, like everyone
knows their shit and knows it well. Their brand of pysch-hop
(trademarked) was pretty cool, but in all honesty, it was hard not to
think about what happened between sets.
I hate to report this
because I'm not the TMZ of the local music scene, but I wouldn't be
doing my job if I failed to mention arguably the most noteworthy part
of the evening. Between On Blast and Free Moral Agents, there was an
on-stage fight between FMA keyboardist Ikey Owens and On Blast
guitarist Travis Raab. Not sure why, not sure how, but a brawl it was.
And I'll leave it at that…
