24-09-2009 The Chelsea Smiles

Supports: Moneybrother, Royal Bangs, Tiger City, Lady Sinatra; Venue: Viper Room, Los Angeles (USA)
By: Nina Mende

Another night at the Viper Room: same concept, different bands. It was a Thursday night, therefore a lot more people at Viper Room.

The first band tonight was from Sweden: Moneybrother. Moneybrother play acoustic pop rock. It was still early and the Viper Room still quite empty, but the people who were there sang along to each song and danced. The band enjoyed being on stage and performing their catchy country-like songs. The singer talked a lot with the audience and could improvise quite well. I really enjoyed the short performance of Moneybrother.

The next band was Royal Bangs. Their music was quite grungy and groovy. The sounds were totally catchy and nobody stood still, neither band nor audience. The Viper Room was slowly but surely filling up. Royal Bangs didn’t talk so much but played more of their songs. They were totally into their music, you could feel the passion they put into it. Royal Bangs had great light and spread a happy and free spirit throughout the room. Unfortunately they didn’t get to play much longer. The reggae grunge music was really great, a style you don’t get to hear very often nowadays.

Next band up was Tiger City. Tiger City is a pop rock band from Brooklyn/New York. Their music was slower and more emotional, deep lyrics sung by a good singer. They all seemed a little shy but were totally in their element. Tiger City did not talk very much with the audience but more concentrated on the show. This music was somehow more music to chill to and have a nice talk rather than dancing to it. Which does not mean it was undanceable. The groovy beats still got you at least nodding or tipping along. Most choruses were easy to sing along. The singer varied higher pitched vocals with normal pitched ones. A great mix and it was always fitting to what he was trying to say. Nice band.

By now the Viper Room had filled up quite a lot. The next band was the rock band Lady Sinatra from Los Angeles. They played harder rock. Viper Room was totally crowded by now and everybody rocked along. The edgy and smoky voice of the singer was strong, the light has gotten worse. It was hard to take pictures of this band but easy to rock out loud to their music. Another half an hour passed by so quickly with Lady Sinatra on stage.

The next band was The Chelsea Smiles, another rock band from Los Angeles. These guys had their last show tonight. That was also the reason why I was at Viper Room that night. The band was formed by guitarist Todd Youth in the aftermath of his Danzig exit. Just before forming the Chelsea Smiles, Youth had played some shows with Motörhead filling in on guitar for Phil Campbell. Youth was joined in the formation of the Chelsea Smiles by drummer Karl Rosqvist (“Rockfist”), bassist Johnny Martin and guitarist Christian Martucci who had previously played with Dee Dee Ramone’s band. Together they released a four song EP named “Nowhere Ride” in 2005 on Capitol Records. The following year, vocalist Martucci left the band to form Black President. He was replaced by Skye Vaughan-Jayne, who had played in Bullets And Octane. The band did several U.S. tours, and also did their first headlining European tour in support of the album. And tonight was their last show. It was totally crowded by now; everybody sang along and cheered out loud to the band rocking out big time on stage. The singer played with the audience, made them sing and dance along. And everybody did. Nobody stood still during the show of The Chelsea Smiles. Everybody had a blast in the about 40 minutes the guys rocked the stage. The songs were catchy and the band animating. A very amazing last show. Too bad I only got to see them twice