Daiana Feuer on November 6th, 2015

1

Berets are making a comeback. Perhaps a symptom of some revival beatnik culture, these soft woolen hats dotted the crowd at the first Los Angeles performance of DRINKS on Thursday night at The Echo, most notably upon surprise guest Connan Mockasin, who took the stage with bad jokes and an impromptu jazzy jam between opener Feels and the headliner.

Feels is tight and powerful. From start to finish it seems they carefully built upon how hard they can play, culminating in a fast, explosive punch of sound at the end of their set that was just like getting pummeled by a wave that turns out to be way bigger up close than expected when you waded in the water.

After they finished, and DJ Josiah Steinbrick played a few world-friendly funky tunes on the decks, this tiny man with blonde braids and a red velour tracksuit — and a beret — walks on stage with a drink and grabs the microphone. He stumbles through some jokes and the crowd is confused but slowly begins to recognize the New Zealand accent, those long nails on his right hand — the mark of a guitarist, or a vampire — and that wry awkward confidence that belongs charmingly to Connan Mockasin, the prince of strange, a perfect surprise. The best joke he ruined was this one: “Do you want to hear a cat joke?” [Someone in crowd says yeah.] “… Just kitten.” Except it took him about two minutes to get through that joke. It was funny. What was better was when his sax player and a drummer joined him on stage, he picked up a guitar and James Blake, of all people, took on the keyboard and they played a weird jam. These are the types of moments that make Los Angeles a wonderful place.

Finally DRINKS emerged, the love child of Welsh rocker Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley of White Fence. Los Angeles had to wait months for this show. The band announced their existence and scurried off to Europe right away. The only good thing is it means the band had the songs down at this point.

Le Bon and Presley exchanged guitars with their eyes closed. Strange time signatures? No problem. The drummer was a wizard, and the bassist his partner in magically wielding the rhythm section. The way Le Bon kept putting her hand in her pocket seemed part of the sound, like maybe she had a tiny keyboard in there. “Hermits On Holiday” shined, because it’s strange, cute, and the way Le Bon’s voice hits that high register.

Another great element was a really intricate engagement of distortion between Presley, his amp and his guitar pedals. He held the guitar at different heights, pointing it at the ceiling at ever the right angle, an architect of noise. It was important to catch the show because who knows whether this could be the one and only time they partake in the project. Despite it being kind of amazing, the two have their own things going on, their “serious” bands. But DRINKS almost perfectly melds the two together and just adds some weird on top, icing on the cake. Their signature styles blended seamlessly, as if it were always meant to be.

Photos by Daiana Feuer