DAIISTAR & L.A. Witch – Shank Hall – April 30
POSTED:: May 1, 2025
FILED UNDER:: Concert Review
PHOTO – L.A. WITCH
DAIISTAR
Have you seen that almost famous indie rock documentary, Dig!? You know, the one with that one band that was gonna be huge? And the other band with whom they quarreled? If you haven’t, now you have something to watch after reading this concert review, featuring two of the most sublime groups to saunter through Shank Hall in many moons.
Yeah, so imagine seeing Dig! and thinking: “I wish a band arrived with an ideal Dandy Warhol dose of psych and sneer, with all the Rock star moxie, all the grooves and vibes but without the documentary crew?”
Welcome to DAIISTAR, an Austin, Texas band ready to peel your eyelids gently open with pliers of glaze, “Tomorrow Never Knows” drum fills, all lit in smokey blue raspberry. Shank Hall’s sound revealed vocalist Alex Capistran’s loveliest reverb & tremors and as he called the crowd closer and we comply but only because DAIISTAR is doing it right up there on stage.
His set pushed to the front edge of the stage, drummer Nick Cornetti summoned L.A. Witch percussionist Ellie English to join in on the final few numbers and when they completed their set I knew I wanted to soak further in the sound. It was one of those shows, as I overheard a delighted crowd member gush about an experience that “was 2 weeks of pure tragedy…it was awesome”, I thought: “They shoulda played longer.” DAIISTAR delivered.
L.A. Witch
The headliner steered the crowd from DAIISTAR’s fourth gear sneer and desirable ricochet into an invitation to be interstellar mesmerized, as if Mazzy had wished upon a less reassuring, equally alluring but more assertive Star.
Maybe I’ve spent too long bathed in the red light of the Roadhouse, succumbing to the incredible bands David Lynch chose to amplify loose ends at the conclusion of each Season 3 episode, but boy do I wish he could conjure a Season 4 and let L.A. Witch do their thing as the credits roll on another inexplicably sonic and sensual experience.
Speaking of sonic sensuality, L.A. Witch guided the Shank Hall crowd, supplying sorcery with songs that feel like they’ve been to sea, bending us to hypnotic planks we’d walk at the swoon of their gorgeous sound. You can only lose yourself to so many guitars and lead vocalist/guitarist Sade Sanchez slays strings that’ll have you looking for a mirror that remembers your face.
Did I mention being reassured by lyrics that emerged like certain serpents, slithering with the warmth of an invited apparition:
Wounded warrior
Forlorn soldier
It’s good to see you
Fighting for what you believe
Hold on to your bloodlust mind
Does glory lead us to our demise?
Don’t forget I too fight by your side
First in line always ready to die
These lyrics from “777” hung in the air of L.A. Witch’s complex intentions at Shank Hall: I presume to know nothing of the band’s intentions but if they aimed to transfix and leave a crowd spellbound to the fog of uncertain Spring, I want to be the first to admit that yes, I left transfixed, spellbound and uncertain.
Certainly, I did have to imagine Shakespeare wishing the toil and trouble of his Witches had been so sublime. What’s he got to do with this? L.A. Witch doubled-down on William’s witches with a well-struck whammy bar and Lady Macbeth has absolutely nothing on this foursome of fine fury and feedback. On April’s final eve, the “charm is firm and good”* with L.A. Witch.
*Macbeth: IV.i 10-19; 35-38
By DJ Machine