Pretty Mess/Dethtrip Forever/Year of the Dragon/Dangerously Sleazy
The Redwood, Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, July 21, 2011
Time: 9:00 PM

There are so many bands nowadays that want to bring back the early 80’s punk vibe, and in all honesty, almost none of them deliver.

Pretty Mess is one of the few that has that raw danger to them. They aren’t a retro 80’s punk band, but they have that edge to them that the early L.A. punk bands did. Dee Skusting is the ultimate front person, whether she’s belting out vocals that could make paint peel and coffee nervous, she controls the stage (at one point she told the bouncer to “manhandle” a rowdy audience member and the bouncer actually hurled him across the room). So, basically Pretty Mess is the reason I forced myself to leave the house.

The first band up was Dangerously Sleazy, they went on waaaaay late. Well, later than they were supposed to, somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30. I didn’t enjoy them. They did Hendrix and Stooges covers. They did them OK, but my impression was they were trying too hard to be gnarly garage band and it didn’t work for me.

So, after the band wraps up, I’m half nodding off in a booth in the back when I look across from me, at the booth to my right is Greg Hetson! The fan boy in me had to go over and verify it.

I walk over and ask, “Are you Greg Hetson?”

He says yes.

I say, “I’m a big fan,” and shake his hand. I plop down give him a postcard advertisement for my book, and ask if we can take a picture. He asked a bit about the book, then I left him alone.

The second band up was Year of the Dragon. They were pretty kick-ass. Kind of like Faith No More, Living Color and Red Hot Chili Peppers all rolled into one. Sort of a punk funk thing going on. Enjoyed them.

Finally at around 12:30 Pretty Mess hit the stage, hours late. From the start of their set until the end they were one huge wall of noise. Phil Spector had his wall of sound, Dee Skusting and her band mates have a wall of noise.

This is the third or fourth time I’ve seen them, and I have to say each time they get better and the crowd gets bigger. If you haven’t seen them go out and catch their show, you won’t be disappointed.

LAST ONE TO DIE is officially out:Order at: https://www.createspace.com/3669330.