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LIVE REVIEWS

Tiger Army and Guana Batz at The Wiltern, Los Angeles

When I got the news that Tiger Army was going to be at The Wiltern on November 17th, 2007, I knew I had to go. I haven't seen Tiger Army in over 6 years or so and I wanted to see if they were what I remember: Bad Ass. I also have never heard of the other two bands on the bill so it stirred my curiosity, but, Tiger Army was enough for me to go.

I bought their latest CD, "Music from Regions Beyond," the day it came out and was very impressed with the growth of their music. It is a lot more personal and different from the rest of the albums they've done and Nick's voice is much more stronger, smoother and fluent. I noticed that on the Power of Moonlite CD, Nick's voice was more forced and the band really stuck to the formula, not that there's anything wrong with that, but their latest CD outshines their previous efforts by a mile.

The Wiltern is a nice place to see a show with its nice sound system, lighting system and spacious floor. For some odd reason, I never saw a rock show at the Wiltern back in the days. It was always about the R&B, Acoustic or other types except for full on rock shows. I'm glad they host rock shows now since the Wiltern is a timeless venue.

Enough ranting, once we got in, Guana Batz we're lighting up the stage. We obviously missed the first band and I really did not regret for I have never heard of them before, sorry. Anyhow, Guana Batz, I have never heard of this band either but I'm sure glad they were onstage. Non-stop energy from their lead singer with the band backing him up with full on power made their show quite exciting! Guana Batz were tight, raucous and gained my attention fast with their blistering psychobilly style and awesome musicianship. The thing that really surprised me about this band was, Pip, lead singer of Guana Batz, announces that they have now been together for 23 years. 23 fuckin' years. I don't even have friendships that long and these guys have been churning out quality psychobilly music for that long? Fuckin awesome! It really shows through their live show how much fun they have as a band and how tight they are as a band as well. One of the songs that struck a chord with me was a song called, "Streetwise." It was hard, it was fast and it was good! Just when I thought these guys have had it onstage, they quickly introduce a song that any rock fans can quickly agree with as one of the best rock songs ever, Led Zep's, "Rock N' Roll." By god, they rocked the shit out of it and the crowd was going nuts. Their guitar player did Jimmy Page justice and so did the rest of the band, playing it their own way. Their lead singer, Pip, was quite the character. Charismatic, energetic and had real strong pipes to back it up. Not to mention, the swagger Pip had, that only a front man that has been doing this for 23 years has. He was having fun and so did the band and it really showed. The bass player was whole heartedly right on, the guitars were screaming and the drums were rockin'! The last song of the night was a track called,"King Rat." Most of the crowd seemed to know the lyrics, I have never heard of this song, but I am so going to buy whatever album it's on cause it was freakin' great! Overall, Guana Batz were definitely worth the time and definitely deserved to be the co-headliner.

After chatting with a few Tiger Army fans outside and in, we headed on back in to find a good spot since my wife and I are such shorty's that we have to find a good spot to be able to see the stage in the land of giants. We finally found a spot directly on the right side of the stage and we we're ready for Tiger Army.

Banner comes down, lights go out. Tiger Army hits the stage, one by one.

Now wasting any time, Tiger Army broke into the first song,"Prelude: Signal Return," and went straight into "Afterworld." Odd song choice for a first song but shit, it was great! Nick 13 sported a lavender-grayish pants with a blue button up shirt while the other guys were all in black, classic rockabilly-psychobilly style. The fourth song rolls out and Nick 13 announces that they have never played this song live before and it was their first time paying it live and what excitement it was throughout the crowd that it was, "Ghosts of Memory." Holy Hell, it was effin' awesome! Right after, they went straight into one of my most favorite Tiger Army tracks, "Nocturnal." Ohh man, by this time, the band was sounding like a greased up V8 motor roaring in full speed! An oldie but a goodie followed, "Eternal," which eventually threw the crowd into a frenzy and the circle pits started. Nice. "Hot Pursuit" was one of the best songs of the night and it showcased the bands skills and musicianship. Jeff Roffredo kept the crowd on their feet with his musings and man can that guy play that stand up bass! He was on fire! Nick 13? What can I say, that dude ripped up the guitar and his voice sounded pristine and commanded authority, he was also on fire! By the middle of the show, I was really surprised at how much these guys have grown as musicians and performers from the time I saw them back in 99-2000. Back then, they were more about riling up the crowd rather than making sure the music was on. I can really see the growth in Tiger Army, especially in Nick 13's voice where he didn't seem to have a hard time bellowing out the songs as to back then when he seemed to struggle on the mic. Some other stand out song of the night were, "Temptation," "Outlaw," "Cupid's Victim," and "Destiny." Without warning, the bad went into their hit song, "Forever Fades Away." Although a little faster than usual, it sounded real awesome and the crowd was singing along all the way through. A stand out song for me was "Where the moss slowly grows." Man it really struck a chord in my heart especially after Nick 13 reveals that he wrote this song for a fallen friend of his. It sounded better than I could ever imagine, damn it was great! After a brief break, an encore ensued and three songs were played. The last song of the night was my aboslute favorite Tiger Army song, "Annabell Lee." I was freakin' waiting for them to play it all night long and they must've read my mind cause it was that awesome! Just as I was beginning to doubt James Meza's drumming skills, he busted out a drum solo in the middle of Annabell Lee! Holy shit! He tore up them skins and proved to everyone that he was no joke. He completely took everyone by surprise and he went off! Going back into the tail end of Annabell Lee and finishing it off, Tiger Army put their instruments down, thanked everyone for coming out and walked off stage. On thing comes to mind, Precision! Tiger Army was as tight as your butthole. I was way more than glad to have been part of this show and I cannot wait till the next show. Go Tiger Army go!

By: Gian Erguiza