Here’s a secret. I’ve never been to a gig in the OC. I’ve also never been legally of age for a 21+ show the way I was on Wednesday night. The Growlers played a homecoming show at a little place called Surf City Saloon in Huntington Beach that I was lucky enough to be in attendance for. It was a weird night. Arriving to a venue only to find that it’s in a strip mall on the corner of Beach (and dance in the street to the barnacle beat, yeah!) is a weird feeling, but the venue was so cute and kitschy – all kinds of beachy shit all over the place and a mural with the Beach Boys, Johnny Cash et all. For someone whose favorite place ever – The Echo, which has practically nothing inside of it, Surf City Saloon was like a secret hilarious gem of a find.

The first band up was Austin, TX’s own Woven Bones. Watching them was a real treat. I even came up with a bandmathematical equation to describe their music, even though I’m so against that, but I think this one rings true: Wavves (sound) + The Raveonettes (rhythm section) + King Tuff (vocals) – White Denim (another Austin 3-piece) = Woven Bones. They play a really intense show, the simplicity of the drums with the intricate and driving bass lines provides the perfect undercurrent to the screeching, reverbed, distorted craziness that is the guitar. The vocals remind me so much of King Tuff – not something I’d normally think might be particularly pleasing to the ear, but then after a minute or so it melds so well with the music and is so evocative and passionate that it’s irresistable. Woven Bones plays with a lot of intensity and passion and the live show and most especially the recordings that I’ve gotten my hands on since really reflect that urgency. They may be in the garage recording through tin cans for now, but they won’t be able to stay under the radar for that much longer…

After suffering through two bad openers and enjoying one opener, I know that I was so excited to see The Growlers. Not seeing them for nearly 8 weeks was torture! The sound system at the venue was really weird, or maybe it was just the mix, but the vocals really dominated everything, the guitar was really secondary. One can usually count on the Growlers to keep the guitar and vocals on top of everything else, although the bass usually shines live, so seeing them in what seems like a non-traditional enviornment with a different sound mix was strange but they pulled it out. Brooks was on the top of his game, slithering and sliding around stage as is his way, grooving around and controlling the audience as if he was Gepetto and we were all Pinnochio, hanging on his every word, mimicing his every bodily whim.

The Growlers mixed old classics from ‘Couples’ with some new songs off of ‘Are You In or Out’ (to which the answer most definitely needs to be: IN). The guessing of what will be on the setlist is always one of the higlights of going to a Growlers show. This time the beautiful, jangly ‘Acid Rain’ was the star of the show (or perhaps I’ve just had it on repeat for too long) but they also regaled us with the haunting and stunning ‘Sea Lion Goth Blues’, the hyper-poetic, hilarious ‘Something Someone Jr.’, and slowed-down-but-still-groovy rendition of ‘Empty Bones’. As always, the Growlers did not come anywhere near the dreaded ‘d’ word – disappointment. I am continually impressed with their magnetism, their laid back effervensence, and their ability to stun me everytime I catch them live (that’s 8 times this year, with two more to go!).