HEALTH at the Smell

Health isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of The Smell. The all-ages venue in Downtown L.A. is hot, sweaty, sticky, and, yes, smelly. (It's also awesome--the closest thing we have to Jabberjaw.) But HEALTH the band? They pack the place every time they're on the roster.


My photographer and main man Ben Clark and I arrived around 10:00 only to find that the first of the three openers hadn't even gone on yet. As if the waify, neon-hued, art-damaged kids at the club didn't make me feel old enough already, being forced to stay up past my bedtime reinforced the feeling.


The openers were spastic energy--as if twitching nerves were flowing out of their fingertips and throats into the air. They were more primal than musical, with a decent amount of performance art thrown in. The short-but-powerful sets capably served to lubricate the already moist air for the headliners.


The first time Ben and I saw HEALTH was at UCLA when we put together the PRE interview (in the current issue). We liked what we heard, and looked forward to the band's homecoming show after a tour of Europe and a handful of festival dates across the U.S.


The band has a new album of electronic-based remixes--including the Crystal Castles' version of "Crimewave" that became a hit in Europe--and the live show has no resemblance to it whatsoever. They play super heavy rock with somewhat tribal rhythms, more like Killing Joke than DISCO (the name of the remix collection).


Around 12:30 a.m., a stream of exhausted people with ringing ears streamed into the alley exit and onto 2nd Street. Wearing sweat-drenched clothes, steaming in the night air, we walked to our cars through the cool, empty landscape.