Nathan Williams and Wavves returned home to LA on Monday night to run through the tried and true classics the beach punks have in their catalog, and to give a little preview of what’s to come.
As a fan of this project since the 2008 breakout Wavves, it’s hard to believe Williams is 15 years and 7 albums in. While Wavves put him on the radar, 2010’s King of the Beach catapulted him to indie stardom. Instantly sticky riffs, palatable track lengths, and snotty & lovable vocals à la Billy Joe Armstrong, made the band easy to latch on to. Four albums, video game soundtracks, and a couple band reconstructions later, Wavves has emerged as an unexpected veteran in the scene.
Their set Monday night was a combination of their two most popular albums (King of the Beach and Afraid of Heights) and various singles since. The crowd had already gotten warmed up by a fabulous set from Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings early, so it didn’t take long for them to get going when Williams started with “Way Too Much”. It wasn’t until “Post Acid”, though, that the moshing hit another gear and Williams and crew warmed up a little with the crowd. Other highlights included “Lunge Forward”, which they noted hadn’t been played in LA before, and a new unreleased track. The new one, called “Busy Sleeping”, had the familiar “woo-ooh”s you’ll often find in a Wavves track, but repackaged as a flash-in-a-pan punk banger.
The set ended with the King of the Beach favorite “Green Eyes”. Williams mentioned that there wouldn’t be an encore, a disappointment to some, but made up for it with an extended, raucous version of the track.
Wavves finishes their tour with stops in San Fracisco and Sacremento. For all things Wavves, check out their website here.
Photos + Review by Andrew Ameter | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!