Past Saturday, Nov 14th, The Swagger Sticks played a show at the infamous Bootleg Theater in Silverlake. I was there, and I’ve got to tell you: I am happy I did not miss this.

Seeing this band truly is an experience. The front man, Aron Gibson, is a charismatic entertainer whose hilariously funny demeanor on stage makes his shows THE MUST see in town.

I had a talk with the band’s bassist after the show, who told me he is a stand up comedian. No kidding!! I think EVERYONE in the band is. Aron had the audience in stitches when he, with a serious look on his face, accepted the Heineken someone handed him on stage and declared: ” I just finished my bottle of Jack Daniels back stage but THIS (pointing at his Heineken) is just for show”.

The crowd totally went berserk when minutes later he announced with a sad look on his face right before starting their first song: “Sorry we forgot to bring our extended light show and the hologram projections”.

Besides being very entertaining and funny, The Sticks (as their fans endearingly call the band) were really tight, energetic, powerful and punchy in their performance of the songs. They played the whole album, and concluded with a smoking version of the Kiss classic “Detroit Rock City”.

The Swagger Sticks seem to be building a strong following in LA really fast, cause they had an amazing turnout on this show. After all: this was really only their 3rd or 4th performance since they released their debut album.

Stick it!, the debut from The Swagger Sticks, was released in August 2009 and draws on class of ‘77 punk and a wide range of power pop and indie rock influences from bands like The White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Killers, Green Day and Material Issue.

I was glad to see Jeff join The Sticks on trumpet to perform “Worldwide Pop Star” with the band on this show. It was one of the many highlights of the show.

You HAVE to check this band out, and you won’t have to wait too long to do so cause I’ve got FAN-TASSS-TIC news for you:

The Sticks are playing a show Saturday the 28th Nov in The TRip in Santa Monica AND… I will be taking over bass duties with The Swagger Sticks for THAT show ONLY. (The Sticks bassist will be performing stand up comedy shows in Vegas that weekend).

YES… you read that correctly:

Icky’s Ego bassist performing LIVE with the Sticks.  BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.

Saturday Nov 28th at 10pm

THE TRIP

2101 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405

This is going to be an amazingly fun show.

Come join me, Aron and The Sticks for what is going to be a great musical experience by a solid band that knows how to have fun and rock your socks off.

Jeeeez…. Hard to believe this year just barely started, and we’re the 2nd of October today. I guess: the busier one is, the faster time flies.

I’ve pretty much been working non-stop in past 4 weeks.
Learned all the songs for Icky’s Ego and became the bassist with the band. In past couple of days I’ve been starting up a Youtube page for the band. Check us out here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/IckysEgo

There are currently no videos there with me on bass yet, but we are working on it.

While setting up the Icky’s Ego Youtube Channel, I came across some fun videos from good friends you have to know about.

The Swagger Sticks.

Following video is from my good friend Aron Gibson, whose album I played on. His band, The Swagger Sticks’ draw on class of ‘77 punk and a wide range of power pop and indie rock influences from bands like The White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Killers, Green Day and Material Issue.

Will Greenberg

I also came across this funny video from my guitar alumni and good friend Will Greenberg, who is even more talented than I already knew he was, as shown here. This had me in stitches.

Teri Hitt, Cela Scott and Dave Crocco.

I also loved this next video, cause all the people in it are close friends.
Teri Hitt is an awesome singer-songwriter. I am the guitar player in her band. The other 2 musicians in the video, are my band mateys in Icky’s Ego. I LOOOOVVVEEE these lovely, beautiful people. Only 1 person missing in this video to make the group complete, Brian Hardin… but I’ll cover that dude later on… so read on.

Matt Crocco.

I’m in a good place, with amazing, creative people in my life. The guitar player in the above video, is one my best buddies, Dave Crocco. The video underneath shows Dave’s brother Matt Crocco. One of the many things Matt is known for, is that he is one of the main guys who with Liam Lynch, created, directed, recorded and wrote the Sock Puppets, which was a HUGE hit on MTV.
They talk about one of the Sifl and Olly episodes in following video.

Brian David Hardin.

I spent a lot of time lately with Brian Hardin. I LOVE Brian. He is ridiculously awesome, and one of the best friends one could ever imagine. He is mixing songs I produced, and I am recording with Brian and Teri in their studio.

Brian is a kick ass unbelievable record producer and engineer, whose amazing credits range from Marilyn Manson, to Jerry Lee Lewis, to India Arie to Whitney Houston. The list is endless… and so is his talent and greatness.

He’s much more than a music producer: he’s a crazy MEDIA buff. Brian is currently working on a film: “BIRTH of the NOW”, a special project that is very dear to him and that we all can’t wait to see released. Here’s the trailer:

I am off to a recording session with Teri Hitt now.
I’ll also be in the studio with Leah King, recording for her album.
Lot of exciting stuff happening.

Rock ON.
Vreny.