SORRY, I COULDN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF AWESOME

I think by now it's borderline superfluous to mention how obsessed I am with the band Shiny Toy Guns. I think I've probably written about them in this blog one or a hundred times, so I'll just start off this post with

SHINY TOY GUNS! SHINY TOY GUNS! SHINY TOY GUNS!

Sorry. I'll stop now.


They performed at the Sunset Junction festival this weekend and as soon as I found out about it a few weeks ago I annoyed everyone right up until the second they went on. I've been furiously checking for years to see when this band was supposed to play near me, so short of winning a bajillion dollars, this was probably the greatest thing that could have happened to me right now (Honestly, I probably would have preferred the bajillion dollars. I'm broke as hell).

The Sunset Junction festival takes place in Silverlake every year, and for 20 bucks you can see close to 40 bands. There's also carnival rides, copious amounts of booze, spectacularly shitty food and street vendors from local stores, newspapers and radio stations. I hung out with the guys from KROQ for a while and they were both really cool.

Because it was a street fair, the prices were insane. I got a $5 milkshake- the only time that's acceptable is in Pulp Fiction, and even John Travolta got pissed. I also took major offense with the candy apples- mixing candy and fruit is like bringing your favorite stuffed animal with you to a maximum security prison- it's a surefire way to get plowed painfully up the ass.

Also, the ATM fees were $3.50. What the fuck???!!!! They didn't even bother to kiss me first.

The bands, on the other hand, were well worth the price of admission. When I was bothering the guys at the KROQ booth I discovered these guys called Saint Motel. They gave off a laid-back rock vibe that I was totally into, and the best part is that they're playing here next week, too, so I get to see them again.

I was also excited for Eastern Conference Champions. One of my old co-workers turned me onto them about a year and a half ago, but I've never seen them live. I ignored the fact that they contributed a song to one of the Twilight soundtracks because their sound is THAT good. They're just good enough for the hipsters back in Brooklyn without actually being hipster. Plus the guitarist is a chick, and I'm pretty sure the band name is a hockey reference. Check them out.

Surprisingly, one of the best acts of the night was Fishbone, who I wasn't going to go see because I'm not into them at all, but they were right next to where I brought my diamond-encrusted milkshake so I couldn't help but overhear. They did a kick-ass cover of Ozzy's "Iron Man." Yes, you read that right. I was kind of blown away, actually. It was out of their genre, but extremely well done. I may check out more of their material because of it.

Unfortunately I couldn't make Ghostland Observatory or Bad Brains because they were both on at the exact same time as SHINY TOY GUNS! and there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to miss a single second of that show. I was pretty bummed about Ghostland, but I'd already seen Bad Brains a while ago so it wasn't that huge of a loss.

As it got darker out it crept closer and closer to SHINY TOY GUNS! time. I had run into a friend of a friend and I had warned him that he was going to witness me make a complete ass of myself. I don't think he took me seriously until 8:55 rolled around and some dude came out with the SHINY TOY GUNS! banner. I started growing restless and my friend began to back away.

SHINY TOY GUNS! were supposed to go on at 9pm but, with a background in the music business, I knew that probably meant around 9:15. At 9:20 the lights dimmed and I started jumping around like a dying caterpillar on meth. This could also probably be attributed to the contact high that I most likely received from the joint that was being passed around right next to me. Gotta love Silverlake.


SHINY TOY GUNS!


The show itself was absolutely fucking incredible. SHINY TOY GUNS! is mostly an electronica act so they relied largely on awesome visuals. Some girl in a bikini top and skirt came out and fucking ATE FIRE.

There were weird creatures that danced around on stage and fondled their own boob-type-things.

Some dude came out and did gymnastics/ballet-type stuff.

The thong was highly unappreciated.

There was an androgynous alien-like thing that moved around on stage like it was evil.

The cheapest way to get rid of crabs.

I took so many pictures that the batteries in my camera lasted about twenty minutes. Unfortunately my camera blows and has a delay on it so a lot of the pictures came out blurry. Fuck you, Nikon Coolpix.


I was waiting for about eight songs and they played every single one. When they got to "Rainy Monday" (my current favorite) I went totally fucking nuts and started dancing around like a lunatic. I put up so many Facebook updates during the day that one of my friends sent me a text that read "Shut the fuck up about Shiny Toy Guns." No, YOU shut the fuck up. You're jealous (probably not. I was just being really obnoxious).

Apparently SHINY TOY GUNS! play in SoCal a lot so I'll get to see them again. I'm piss broke but I would gladly dip into my non-existent bank account to see them over and over again because they are SICK live.

Not like you need it again, but here's their official link:

SHINY TOY GUNS!


I think I've effectively gotten the fever out of my system for now. I know I was really insufferable, and everyone around me was probably looking forward to the show just so I would shut the hell up. Thanks for putting up with me.


There's another music festival next weekend, which you'll hear about, but I won't be nearly as irritating.