“Why is your shirt soaking wet?” she asked. His response, “Well, sweetheart, I’ve just been banging my head hard enough for my brains to fall out my nose at the New Noise concert.” On Thursday, October 15, Velvet Jones kicked off the festive weekend by turning into an indie surf-punk sweat pool for the Tijuana Panthers show.
The night started with a full throttle set from Royal Suns, a band of young guns from Santa Maria. The group was obviously influenced by the Tijuana Panthers because the Suns moshed and sang the words to every Panthers’ song during the headliner’s set. The Suns had a raw style that intertwined complex song compositions making them the most interesting band of the night. Their playing expressed an emotional intensity and simultaneous chilled-out confidence that will certainly set them up for further success; look out for these guys in the future, seriously.
Next up was Aquadolls, a SoCal band bubbling with pop-rock personality. Lead singer, Melissa Brooks, describes her band as “perma-teenage mermaids,” and they definitely brought a juvenile aspect to the show with a certain simplicity that was comforting and pure fun. For example, take the lyrics of “Our Love Will Always Remain,” which is a lo-fi groove that lends itself to endless swaying and swinging: “It’s raining its raining I wish that it was sunny out/It’s chilly so chilly I wish that it was summertime again/We're laughing and grooving and surfing till the sun goes down/We're chillin’ and killin’ its always fun when you’re around me.” Brooks’s mix of girly sparkle and Gwen Stefani punk rock crudeness made for an exhilarating show.