Staff Editor on July 23rd, 2021

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Live music was the drug on Thursday night at the Echo, and L.A. garage-rockers the Paranoyds were the ones with the heavy doses. “I’ll remember this always,” bassist Staz Lindes said. “They’re going to feed this to me in an IV when I’m old.”

The band had the crowd in a frenzy throughout their 15-song set that included many songs from their “Carnage Bargain” album, released in the fall of 2019. From the moment the band started off with the high pitches of “Face First,” there was a continuous procession of crowd-surfing by fans. Guitarist Lexi Funston encouraged it, providing a helping hand to a fan or two who were having difficulty making their way up onto the stage for their stage dive. At one point, all three members of opening band Moonily came on stage together to do their stage-dive.

“We’re having as much fun as you,” Lindes called out, adding, “obviously.” Funston and drummer David Ruiz took turns crowd-surfing towards the end of the set.

The band took a break at the end of their set to take some whisky shots in the green room and then returned for a two song encore. To end the night, the final song was sung with screams from the gut that celebrated the return of live music.

Opening were Moonily and Upchuck. Moonily shared some cheek kisses to kick off their earlier opening set, which featured plenty of heavy bass beats, creating a hypnotic pace for each song. The band held their atmospheric ground in front of an early arriving crowd that was masked for the occasion. As soon as Upchuck hit their first note, you knew a mosh pit would form and last throughout the set. The aggressive hard punk nature of the band sent parts of the drum set tipping over, mics getting unplugged and guitar straps falling apart throughout the set. For a couple songs, the lead singer left the stage to allow the drummer to front the band and he took full advantage of his moment in the limelight.

Today, the Paranoyds and Upchuck announced thy would be playing the Smell on Saturday night.

Paranoyds setlist: Face First, Girlfriend Degree, Map, Pet Cemetery, Heather Doubtfire, Lizzy, Carnage Bargain, Ratboy, Egg Salad, Laundry, Bad Idea, Freak Out, Bear. Encores: Maldito, Sunburn

Photos and recap by Notes From Vivace