On a Friday Passover night in Hollywood, a sold out show of bands not many have heard of took place at the famous Roxy theater. A sea of brown-haired, Vans-wearing young concert-goers packed in the small venue for a night of fresh indie sounds.
Opening act L. Martin had quite an audience at 9pm. Complete with trombone, the five-piece indie rock outfit from Wisconsin really had the crowd engaged. I watched from the steps to the bar to give myself a better height advantage.
But when local L.A. based Inner Wave took the stage, the highlight of the night truly began. The quintet was in full effect with both the keys and bass players donning overalls. The singer has one of my favorite voices I’ve heard in a while, and his voice cut through more than most indie groups who prefer to drench their vocals in reverb. They played all their “hits” that really had the crowd moving like “Diamond Eyes” and my recent favorite “Blacklight,” both of which are sway worthy. The singer also took the lead on the guitar solos, and the band overall was just tight in their sound. They also played upbeat crowd favorites like “American Spirits” and “142.” “Our whole family is here” the singer shared with the crowd.
But most of the family probably went to bed after Inner Wave’s set, as the crowd for Triathalon was just a tad smaller. Triathalon had a pretty low-key, soft set as they performed songs mostly from Online, their latest album, which has a heavy R&B vibe about it that’s still enjoyable for indie rock lovers. They opened with the dreamy “Take It Easy” before diving into songs with sway-worthy beats like “3” and “South Side,” which had everyone singing along “you can catch me on the South Side” to the beat. The vocals from both the male and female singers harmonized quite well, as they sang softly together in a sultry fashion. The guitar player was active the entire set, carrying a lot of the rhythmic harmonies as the synths and drums seemed to provide more atmospheric sounds that were soft like the vocals. Not being an R&B fan myself, this is the kind of genre-blending that I can get down with, however, as Triathalon blends indie pop and R&B in a way no one else quite does.
But the sweetest moment of the night was the closing song of Triathalon’s set, “It’s You,” for which he serenaded one of the players from Inner Wave and they shared a kiss at the end of the set as the red curtain closed, leaving everyone singing along “it’s yooouuuu” as they made their way to the merch table or the exit.
The bands are in the middle of their tour, but just finished their L.A. dates. Catch the Biker Gang tour in other cities though:
Indiecation 