Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

More skate park or Whole Foods than faux vampire

The Growlers can blend a generational tapestry of genres that sounds complex, but is not

The Growlers
The Growlers
Past Event

The Growlers and Kirin J Callinan

  • Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 7 p.m.
  • Soma, 3350 Sports Arena Boulevard, San Diego
  • $38.50

Some of the best rock music has been made in California. The Growlers are the present-day sum of that Golden state legacy. Imagine the Heartbreakers, but with random hints of surf rock, garage rock, British wave keyboards, reggae, country-western, and guitar sounds on loan from the 1960s. The Growlers layer all that and more into an inventive and dance-worthy roots rock show. They call their thing ‘Beach Goth,’ which is misleading. There are none of the trappings of bona fide Goth to be seen. The Growlers look more skate park or Whole Foods than faux vampire.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The band was new in 2009 and fresh out of Dana Point, a coastal California suburb, with the debut Are You In or Out? They have since moved to nearby Costa Mesa and cranked out six more full-lengths, four EPs, and an assortment of singles about middle class worries: “I need a push, give me a lift,” sings Brooks Nielsen. “Just enough to get me going / No I ain’t talking getting rich.”

The Growlers organize their own yearly concert. Launched in 2012, Beach Goth Festival is a Growlers-curated blend of bands — stuff such as hip hop, pop rock, heavy metal, and so on.

Small surprise that Growlers band members Kyle Straka, Nielsen, and Matt Taylor all came of musical age during this latest festival era. Consider that most concert festivals (like our own long-defunct Street Scene) bring fans together to enjoy a profuse sonic cross-section of deejays and jam bands and rap music and random high-level artists and those with no hit radio play at all, bands such as the Growlers. Which explains how and why they can blend a generational tapestry of genres that sounds complex, but is not. Your basic five-chord rock? It’s alive and well on the West Coast.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

City Lights: Journey Through Light & Sound, Hotel Holiday Tea Service

Events December 7-December 11, 2024
Next Article

La Clochette brings croissants—and cassoulet—to Mission Valley

Whatever's going on with this bakery business, Civita Park residents get a decent meal
The Growlers
The Growlers
Past Event

The Growlers and Kirin J Callinan

  • Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 7 p.m.
  • Soma, 3350 Sports Arena Boulevard, San Diego
  • $38.50

Some of the best rock music has been made in California. The Growlers are the present-day sum of that Golden state legacy. Imagine the Heartbreakers, but with random hints of surf rock, garage rock, British wave keyboards, reggae, country-western, and guitar sounds on loan from the 1960s. The Growlers layer all that and more into an inventive and dance-worthy roots rock show. They call their thing ‘Beach Goth,’ which is misleading. There are none of the trappings of bona fide Goth to be seen. The Growlers look more skate park or Whole Foods than faux vampire.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The band was new in 2009 and fresh out of Dana Point, a coastal California suburb, with the debut Are You In or Out? They have since moved to nearby Costa Mesa and cranked out six more full-lengths, four EPs, and an assortment of singles about middle class worries: “I need a push, give me a lift,” sings Brooks Nielsen. “Just enough to get me going / No I ain’t talking getting rich.”

The Growlers organize their own yearly concert. Launched in 2012, Beach Goth Festival is a Growlers-curated blend of bands — stuff such as hip hop, pop rock, heavy metal, and so on.

Small surprise that Growlers band members Kyle Straka, Nielsen, and Matt Taylor all came of musical age during this latest festival era. Consider that most concert festivals (like our own long-defunct Street Scene) bring fans together to enjoy a profuse sonic cross-section of deejays and jam bands and rap music and random high-level artists and those with no hit radio play at all, bands such as the Growlers. Which explains how and why they can blend a generational tapestry of genres that sounds complex, but is not. Your basic five-chord rock? It’s alive and well on the West Coast.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Remote work = cleaner air for San Diego

Locals working from home went from 8.1 percent to 17.8 percent
Next Article

East Village Tree Lighting & Holiday Market, Holiday Gondola Cruise

Events November 30-December 4, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader