Notalauts Live at Amoeba
By Russ Allsup
I don’t get many opportunities to support bands from the Central Valley since I relocated to Los Angeles, so when I found out my friends in the fearsome punk band The Notalauts were taking a road trip to play a handful of SoCal shows, I became a man on a mission.
February 27th happened to fall on a Friday night, and Cafe Nela is a little dive bar in east LA, so the stars were in alignment for a roaring punk rock show. I arrived just as the band pulled up to the venue. We exchanged greetings and unloaded the gear. The first band, Underground Alliance, played a short set, because as the singer said, “We gotta be somewhere else after this”. Ahhh, how bar owners just love when bands say this from the stage during their set. A bar owner hears, “We played first here so we can go across town and play at a competing venue during a better time slot where our crowd will be.” They were probably a new band and didn’t know any better.
After that, my buddy and cohort in rock ‘n roll adventure Jon showed up to help support The Notalauts. As a guy that plays in bands, I can tell you that you indeed do remember the little things like when a new friend or a friend of a friend comes out just to see your band. Especially at these out-of-town gigs, where every person that’s there for your band is crucial and yes, the club owner does notice these things too. I’ve been a good boy lately and haven’t had a drop of alcohol in about 6 months, so I decided to try a near-beer. Surprisingly, Beck’s non-alcoholic brew isn’t that bad. I know you’re thinking, “What’s the point?” I’ve had sips of near-beers in the past, and to me thay all tasted like Cheerios; real heavy taste of oats. Pretty bad.
The Notalauts came on and it got really loud. They tore through 9 songs in lickety-split punk fashion, with lots ‘o attitude and the occasional challenge to the audience. It was a good solid set from them. Notalaut boys and the crowd loved it. Although they ignored my plea of “Goo Goo Dolls!”, there is always hope for the next time.
We hung out for a while after their set to shoot the breeze, and caught some of the next band, the Disinfectants (loud, good punk rock). Cafe Nela is a pretty cool little venue, the kind where music like this shines. The low ceiling combined with the checkered floor almost looks angled like everthing gets smaller the closer it gets to the stage-kind of a weird surreal optical illusion. Again, thanks to my pal Jon for coming out and watching an out of town band he’d never heard before. He’s a musician and knows how it is as far throwing a little support. The Notalauts have another LA show coming up on March 19 at one of my favorite haunts, The world famous Rainbow Bar and Grill. (Good lord, I’ve had some incredible times there from what I can remember. Note: watch out for their Long Island Ice Teas.) I’ll be there for The Notalauts set and some celebrity watching (usually Lemmy and Ron Jeremy. After that, I’ll be just down the street (stumbling distance) at the Whiskey A Go Go to catch The Bulletboys, who I havent seen since 1988, (All those beers ago! Still crazy after all these beers). Definitely go see The Notalauts if you get a chance. Hell, just go to a local band’s show and SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC! That is all.
