Don't Talk to Strangers
Last night, we were in the Silverlake Lounge trapped in a conversation with a guy named Mikey who, seemingly has more stories and more freestyle rhymes than we have words. Innaway is setting up the stage while this guy Mikey keeps going on stage and standing behind the turned off mic trying to get all eyes on him. It occurred to us that the stranger probably shouldn't have had that last shot, that we probably shouldn't have given a pound when he introduced himself by complaining that some girl thought of him as "gangsta" because now we're stuck with this drunk former mariner who claimed he was from Wichita, Kansas and had gotten in a car accident and lost his brother's dog just hours befre he ended up in this dark night club. Now he thinks he's our friend.
Thankfully, though, the small lounge began to fill with an interested crowd and started to buzz a bit as Innaway got closer to performing. The lounge is not at capacity by any means but the friends and fans in attendance were excited for the band. As they should be. Their debut album fits within the moody guitar rock sound of other young ambient So. Cal bands like Pinback but is also genre defying. This isn't the whiny punk pop of more popular independent bands...at least not all the time.
During a brief quiet interlude while Jim switched guitars, Mikey started singing his own brand of country twang at the bar and was finally asked to leave. There was a collective sigh, a break in the tension in the audience and then the defining moment of the set happened.
"Evan, could you put a lot of stuff on the vocals for this one?", Jim asked.
The organ played. The "stuff" was there and we were transported. The crowd nodded along and swayed. Crazed strangers were forgotten and the mood was finally right.
Innaway plays the Silverlake Lounge again on Monday, June 27th. The shows are free.
