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Highland Park got unusually busy when The Dead Ships made its way to The Hi Hat to celebrate the release of their new LP “Citycide” (Nevado Music). In a relatively short period of time, this garage-rock band earned the love and attention not only from music lovers but from entertainment industry moguls as well. The Dead Ships are one of the very few acts to ever play Coachella without the backing of a major label or a booking agent. Based on the power of a self-released EP, they were personally invited to play the West Coast’s biggest music festival by its founder, Paul Tollett. Some may say that this chance invitation was the result of pure luck and “industry” connections, but one listen to their music and you will recognize that they’ve got the sonics to back up the hype.
After teaming up with BrokenSocial Scene’s Brendan Canning, The Dead Ships were able to put together a solid record that features Canning’s guitar work. For Canning, it was the first time working on a project that wasn’t his, and this “risk” seemed to have paid dividends.
From the beginning of their set, The Dead Ships turned up the energy and displayed their polished sound. Their lyricism is storytelling through poetry and their loud garage rock sound, worthy of stadium sized venues, permeated the 300 capacity venue like an electric shot, hitting each fan, one by one.
“Get yourself paid cause fascism’s in fashion once again.”- “Company Line”
In the opening song, “Company Line”, McCluskey calls out the industry. The guys have enough sass not to sound like the typical butt hurt, under appreciated artist, and when they make a statement that they don’t play by rules – they set their own, it is believable.
Their set continued with “Big Quiet” (don’t be fooled by the title) and “Canyon” which has the taste of The Strokes that kept the crowd rocking. “Los Feliz”, on the other hand, is more punk rock with a sprinkle of fuzz. “Tomorrow’s Crashes” really shows off Spindelilus’ and Alex Moore’s rhythm section idyll. Moore has one the most passionate performance styles I’ve ever seen. You can just watch him for the whole show even if you are deaf and can’t hear a thing, it’ll give you same amount of drive.
The band closed the successful night hosted by KROQ Locals Only with “First Mistakes”, a song that stands out the most with its melancholic but hopeful motive taking you on a cinematic road trip to the close of the performance.
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