Gliss, The Oohlas, The Secret 6, Pop Levi at the Knitting Factory

So at the last minute I added another show to my blog... no surprise to those who know me. The KROQ locals only Holiday Throwdown show at the Knitting Factory was only $7 and had 4 bands playing so I figured what the heck. I also wanted to see The Oohlas again since the last time I saw them was at Cinespace for their record release party. Their album Best Stop Pop is a superb album with lots of different tempo songs and all very catchy. Pop Levi was up first. As a former member of Ladytron I was obligated to check him out. Instead of synths, Pop Levi showed up solo with a Strat, a Vox Wah, and a Line 6 Modulation pedal and shredded!! It is difficult to describe what style of music he was playing but it had a western/60's vibe with a lot of phasing and flanging sprinkled on top. Unfortunately he did not have any cd's with him but I will check it out. The Secret 6 were up next hailing from Long Beach. They had a good sound and were rocking the Orange Amps!! Very anthemic songs with catchy choruses. Just be careful that you don't spell out 6 because there is some other band with that name that is not even close to these guys. They will be playing the Prospector in Long Beach on January 27th and I will have to roll by as well. The Oohlas came up next and put on an energetic show. Ollie has quite the stage presence and is a dynamo on stage. She was rocking a sweet Telecaster with a Big Muff distortion Pedal, and a Holy Grail Reverb which produced a killer sound. Every song on their album seems like a single to me. My favorite songs of their set included "TV Dinner", "Gone", "Octopus" and "Small Parts". Once this album makes it into your cd player or ipod, it never seems to go away. The guitar player Greg Eklund used to be the drummer for Everclear which is ironic since Alessandro Cortini(ModWheelMood) had a stint in Everclear as well. I recommend you pick up their album Best Stop Pop and you will not be disappointed if you like bands like Lush, and early Veruca Salt. Mark Eklund, the bass player also had a Digitech Whammy Pedal that he was running an octave up and plugged into a separate Vox amp which was interesting. Gliss was up next and have the endorsement of some of my favorite bands (Smashing Pumpkins, the Editors, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club). They have a nice droney, fuzzed out Jesus and The Mary Chain type sound that I was digging. I haven't heard that much fuzz bass since Honey's Dead. All the band members switched between drums, bass and guitar for which I gave them extra points. I snapped a picture of the pedal board for the guitar to see that they were using the old school Boss pedals of Delay, Tremolo along with a Pro Co Turbo Rat. I purchased their new CD and will add it to the ipod. You can't even go to the movies for $7.00 these days but you sure can catch a good show if you look hard enough.