The Sundowners do what they please

There’s nothing quite like a SUNDOWNERS show. The songs this band plays are completely their own and influenced (as lead singer and guitarist Dennis Stahl says) by,”…all the good shit from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. This is not a contrived sound for the masses, it’s a heavy psychedelic, spiritual blues sound:100% organic and designed to open the mind. There are a lot of acts out there, yes, but only a few bands. What this means is three guys and a lady who play together and off of each other. We don’t cater to any particular audience, just those interested in good rock and roll from every era.”

From the hills of Alta Dena where the air is justa little clearer and the altitude justa little higher their music will probably remind you of a lot of things but it’ll never sound even slightly derivative. And live the band projects an atmosphere of affection and whimsy that makes it feel like you’ve been invited into a happy house-party with your new favorite slightly bent friends.

Michael Harpel and Dennis Stahl

On  SKELETONIZE , their second album,  the songs pull from an even wider landscape of sounds and moods than on their sprawling two disc debut cd. Just when you think you know where the journey is headed the band’ll switch it up and take you to some new unexpectedly wonderful place…as Dennis recently remarked “we’ll do uptempo and downtempo in the same song”. This flies in the face of the current trend of easily pigeonholed cookie-cutter compositions many groups use to try to zero-in on their currently chosen demographic target, which naturally makes this unaffected take-us-as-we-are crew very near and dear to Mister Nervous’ heart.

And so we are pleased beyond words to say the Sundowners are opening up our Mister Nervous record release party this Thursday!

The Sundowners love you and they're your new best friends!

THURSDAY MARCH 18th

THE UNKNOWN THEATER
1110 Seward St.
Los Angeles CA 90038

(with MY IMAGINARY FRIENDS and MISTER NERVOUS)

Doors open at 10pm
$10 at the door (however: drinks are very reasonable!)

My Imaginary Friends are playing a rare midnight set at the DRAMA release party Thursday

The record company suits might call My Imaginary Friends alternative country rock, but you’ll call ‘em irresistible. Erin Armstrong writes songs that sound like your best friend is just plain talkin’ to ya… except you’re surrounded by a soundscape as real and familiar as your favorite streach of sun-dappled country road. The band’s music folds pop, indie, country, jazz and rock elements into a completely original mix that  always feels like the real deal. If these songs don’t immediately get under your skin and into your heart then you and I got nothin’ to talk about.

Erin and Ben Fordham (fiddle, mandolin, guitar)  left Charleston, SC, and joined up in LA with Grant and Yohei. Their newest  cd Blue Carolina is startin’ to cause a bit of a stir in Nashville as well. And why not? The record opens with Sue Thrasher an exhilarating rockabilly rush of blues harp and slide guitar. It’s a near mission-statement with Erin in full Carolina Firecracker mode (“Even Carolina is turnin’ blue; Darlin’ you don’t know nothin’ ’bout where I’m from”). Blue Carolina is an excellent representation of the band’s live energy, where even the most bittersweet songs in the set are delivered with such infectious bonhomie it often feels like half the audience is floatin a foot above the floor.

These days the band has stepped back from the constant gigging they were doing for a while, so chances to catch this excellent band are not so frequent… but we’re very happy to say they’ll be with us on Thursday to help us launch the new Mister Nervous cd! Erin and Ben contributed vocals and violin to some tunes on DRAMA and they’ll be sittin’ in with us during the Mister Nervous set so come early and see 3 fantastic bands.

THURSDAY MARCH 18th

THE UNKNOWN THEATER
1110 Seward St.
Los Angeles CA 90038

(with THE SUNDOWNERS and MISTER NERVOUS)

Doors open at 10pm
$10 at the door (however: drinks are very reasonable!)