Sunday evening on the corner of Fourth Street and Ohio Ave., Third Eye Records was packed with an enthusiastic crowd that gathered to watch Philadelphia-based band Radiator Hospital perform their emotional tunes.
The event featured performances from local Long Beach bands India House and Struckout, which opened the show before the Philly band took the stage. Benny the Jet Rodriguez closed the intimate concert.
Lauren Freeman, singer of Benny the Jet Rodriguez knows members of Radiator Hospital. When she found out the band would be touring this fall, she contacted Daniel Speer, a Cal State Long Beach Alumni and singer of the band Struckout, to collaborate on this gig.
Set after set the crowd filled the floor of the record store where costumers would usually browse the vinyl collection with a wide variety of music from Pavement to LCD Soundsystem.
Struckout performed their angsty tunes including; “Avoiding Parables,” “Maybe I’m Ed Wood” and “KEMF.” The show was free, but Speer encouraged people to donate money to Radiator Hospital throughout his set.
Some attendees lingered outside the record store as Struckout performed. The venue was most crowded while Radiator Hospital took the stage; anyone who didn’t wait for the band to set up could only experience the performance with limited visuals.
Together, Freeman and Speer coordinated with Gary Farley, the owner of Third Eye Records to give the touring band a temporary home to share their music with Long Beach.
“About once a month [we have shows here],” Farley said. “It’s been all types of music, mostly local, but I’ve had some touring bands come through.”
Farley said he was excited to hear the music at his record store and is always happy to book shows that are free and all ages.
Sam Cook-Parrott, lead singer of Radiator Hospital, enjoyed the ambience he experienced in Long Beach.
“I love playing at record stores,” Cook-Parrott said. “It feels like the right place for our band to play. We’re all record collectors and are into that culture so it feels fitting.”
Cynthia Schemmer, guitarist of Radiator Hospital said the bands tour has been a lot of fun, especially when playing unconventional venues.
“We played bars, another record store, people’s houses, people’s basements,” Schemmer said. “We played a vegetarian cafe in Boise, Idaho, and I was like ‘Boise, Idaho is going to suck. No one lives here.’ It was one of the [most fun] nights.”
Schemmer confessed that the wildest thing that happened on tour so far occurred in their first 40 minutes outside of Philadelphia.
“When we left for the tour, one of the wheels of the van just came off!” Schemmer said. “That was really crazy. We had to get that fixed, and [everything] was fine.”
Cook-Parrot and Schemmer both said that fans and people on the road have been really nice to them during this five-week tour, which is now concluding its third week.
The band played favorites like “Do You Remember?” and “Our Song” from their album “Something Wild.” Fans of the band were rather tame, but sang along and shouted lyrics with the band in a wild manner.
“I like how earnest the lyrics are, and I like the music,” said Daniel Valles from Fullerton. “It’s fun to sing along and dance too.”
Valles also saw the band on Saturday night in East Los Angeles at a house show. He said the show at Third Eye Records was “less crazy” but just as crowded with people crammed wall to wall.
Chad Timblin, an undeclared sophomore at CSULB, said he was impressed by their distinct Lo-fi sound.
“They have really emotional songs in everything,” Timblin said. “It seems like everyone here cares about music, and that’s why we are here.”