Tireless defender of my hometown that I am, I must bitch for a moment about
last night's Damnations gig. That poor band was subjugated to everything I
hate about LA. There they were, playing their plucky banjo-fied songs to a
crowd at the half-full Viper Room that was so so so so chatty that I kept
hoping the band would give up on the quieter acoustic stuff and crank up the
loud stuff again, just to mask the noise. It fucking pisses me off when people
show up and then just talk over the music, especially when they're on the list
(which people are more often than not at the Viper), especially when they're
supposed to be there supporting a new band with a debut album making their
first appearance on the storied boulevard that is the Sunset Strip. As a
result, most of the set sounded tentative and slghtly off kilter, with several
deer-in-the-headlights-looks being shot from the stage. Welcome to LA.
Neal Weiss
