Olin and the Moon (and pizza and beer and bingo)

Kevin Bronson on
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olinandthemoon-sept09

Now for something a little bit different: When Olin and the Moon kicks off a Tuesday night residency this week at the Echo, it won’t be the usual four-bands-and-a-cloud-of-dust routine. The tangy, twangy L.A. five-piece will basically be serving as hosts of a pizza, beer and bingo party during which only one support band will play.

The concept, the brainchild of Echo talent buyer Liz Garo, will be a deviation from the quick-changeover, assembly-line regimen to which most clubs adhere. Will the pizza/beer specials and bingo with prizes be enough to entice the crowd to stay around? Olin and the Moon frontman David LaBrel hopes so.

“We thought the idea was cool,” LaBrel says, noting that the opening act will be able to play up to an hourlong set and the headliners won’t feel rushed. He adds with a laugh: “We’ll be able to play until we get tired – or too under the influence.”

That’s been known to happen to folks who hear Olin’s woozy, boozy country anthems. But at least this week, the L.A. quintet might have a reason themselves to cry in their PBR – the new album that the band had near completion is currently in limbo, having been lost in a computer hard drive crash. LaBrel says that in between rehearsing the band’s set he will be seeking the services of a data recovery specialist.

“It’s devastating,” he says. “We were just about done with 14 songs that we had done, off and on, for most of last year.” The still-to-be-titled album, the follow-up to 2009’s self-released breakthrough “Terrible Town,” was planned for an early 2010 release.

The band does have a bonus for fans, however. The Idaho expatriates are giving away a digital download of “Olin and the Moon Live at the Echo” via their MySpace page. The recording doesn’t exactly do the band justice, but it includes “Friend of Feelin’ Good,” “Come and Go” and “Drivin’ West,” the standout tracks from “Terrible Town.”

||| Download: “Olin and the Moon Live at the Echo”

||| Live: Olin and the Moon plays free shows the next four Tuesdays at the Echo, with Marnie Herald (Jan. 5), Eleni Mandell (Jan. 12), Dusty Rhodes and the River Band (Jan. 19) and the Henry Clay People (Jan. 26).