People who craved post-Halloween music watched Jace Everett perform at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach.
More than 100 people came to watch Everett perform Sunday night, including the theme song of the HBO show about vampires, “True Blood.”
Alex’s Bar, also known as Fangtasia on the HBO series, is a punk rock/dive bar and is definitely not where just-turned-21 youngsters will be found.
It is a great bar where people can go to drink a good beer or cocktail and listen to live music. It has an original autographed portrait of Johnny Cash and a portrait of the king of rock and roll, Elvis.
Everett’s performance in the bar, filled with fans dressed up as “True Blood” characters, felt like an alternative world where vampires hung out.
“It was good timing,” said June Bonakdar, a fan of the show. “I am a big fan and we have wanted to come to Fangtasia for a while.”
Everett’s music has an irresistible charm that will make people want to sway or tap their feet to the music. He sings like Chris Isaak and
he knows how to control his baritone voice to hit high and low notes.
Some of Everett’s influences include Willie Nelson, Tom Waits and Chuck Prophet. Along with a much older 50’s style of clothing, his wardrobe represented the style of the artists he admired. He wore jeans with the cuffs at the bottom, black biker boots, and a collared short sleeve shirt with a black undershirt.
Everett performed 11 songs off his new album, “Red Revelations.” The performance was very guitar-driven, adding a country-folk feel to the performance. It was southern rock, with a slight rockabilly sound.
Everett sang the lyrics with his sultry voice. His acoustic guitar made people tap their feet to the beat. His partner, Dan Cohen, played along on the electric guitar, ripping guitar riffs up and down the guitar’s neck. This made all the women in the room move toward the front, and dance and sway to the music.
Everett performed his next single, “The Good Life.” He described it as a sardonic take on the good life we think we live when in reality we lead ourselves to a path of destruction. This song is one of the best on his album, because the acoustic guitar sound and his voice add extra darkness to his lyrics.
Everyone really wanted to hear him perform “Bad Things,” the theme song to “True Blood.” Everett reminded the crowd to stick around for the rest of the concert.
“I promise you will hear the song you want to hear, but God dammit you got to wait,” Everett told the crowd. “There are 11 more songs I want you to hear.”
“Bad Things” is a murky, dirty ballad about a guy who wants to do nasty things with a girl. His deep voice adds sexiness to the lyrics that will make you feel naughty.
As soon as Everett played the song, the crowd went wild. Once the song was over, however, the crowd dispersed. The music was good but the audience should have stuck around to listen to the rest of the set.
Fans of Everett, such as Riannon Blair, still loved the performance.
“It was a lot better that I expected,” Blair said. “The guys are a lot more humble that I expected them to be. I was pleasantly surprised.”
In the spring of 2010, Everett plans on doing a full band tour in the U.K. and the U.S.
“In the U.K. the album is doing very well. It is in the top 100, considering it is my own independent label,” Everett said, referring to his label Weston Boys based in Austin, Texas.
“I hope they leave with knowing Jace Everett other than ‘True Blood’,” Everett said.