SAHARA HOTNIGHTS
IKARA COLT
WASHDOWN
Words & photos by: Mark Whitaker
Touring in support of their
album "Jennie Bomb" the SAHARA HOTNIGHTS were playing three dates in LA with two of them being at the Roxy Theater on the famed Sunset Strip of Hollywood CA, I had never been to the ROXY before and to get the chance to go and shoot an amazing band like the Sahara Hotnights was pretty cool.
got to the show and noticed that the only good vantage point would either be smashed up against the stage, or stand on the steps by the bar. I chose to stand on the stairs; being smashed up against the stage does not feel good.
After waiting a little while the lights dimmed and Washdown played. I wasn't to into Washdown too much. While they did play well, they didn't put forth a lot of energy into their performance and that's why I was not impressed by them. They also didn't play music that was very exciting it sounded like standard rock. But in their defense they did have several people rocking out and enjoying their performance.
After Washdown finished playing the curtains closed and we had to wait for the next band Ikara Colt to setup, it was kind of boring standing there, luckily a nice girl asked me who I was there to shoot and when I told her Sahara Hotnights she seemed interested. I gave her a business card and then the curtain came up and Ikara Colt started their set, they were harder hitting than Washdown and the English accent added to the cool factor somehow. I don't believe in categorizing individual genres of music so I'll say that Ikara Colt plays good old fashioned, shaken not stirred, rock n roll with an English twist. A lot of people were really getting into Ikara Colt's set; so much that one fan even tried stealing the singer's set list before he was even through with it. The singer scolded the fan and then made a deal. He tore off the last song on the list and gave the remaining portion to the fan, who happily put in his pocket for safe keeping.
After Ikara Colt played their last song, it was curtains once again while everyone eagerly awaited the Sahara Hotnights. As soon as the Sara Hotnights took the stage they rocked, fast guitar playing with great catchy punk lyrics, they are poppy but still really good and filled with energy. After their first song the crowd was cheering wildly. The main reason the songs are so good, is because with three singers the songs seem so full. One fan was so thrilled with the Sahara Hotnights that he raised a glass of beer to them as a way of thanking them for a good show. It was great seeing them live; I had listened to their cd several times and could just tell that the energy was their but live, an amazing performance, their live show makes the cd look poor in comparison to the level of excitement you get from a live show. For me Sahara Hotnights style of playing is a perfect mix of pop punk with screaming metal solos, that's like a dream come true. After the last song the drummer tossed her sticks behind her, seemingly putting an end to the show, but the fans wanted an encore so they played one more, and then called it an evening.
