Funeral Party are a band that have gotten so much attention on the west coast and across the pond, yet, this band and boarder crossing seems to go together like oil and water. Funeral Party arrived in the thick of the LCD excitement this week and delivered, not just a stunning performance but the vow that this is a band that plans on sticking around for a while. In the tiny club, fans packed in to see the band in action. Funeral Party's ability to blend early Incubus meets Red Hot Chili Peppers meets LA punk and hardcore, display that they truly the product of their own environment. This band has LA written all over them and that is fine, the thing is, this band is simply amazing to watch and support. The band, who just released their long awaited debut, The Golden Age of Nowhere, this week on RCA are in town to clearly tour for their album but they brought with them the hype and buzz that carried them from LA to New York after SXSW. Singer Chad Elliot moves around on stage as if he is a bonafide Mexican jumping bean, belting his life away into the microphone he has the front man and show man bravado that music needs more of these days. Elliot keeps the momentum alive and going by going as crazy on stage as Cedric Bixler of Mars Volta, while the rest of Funeral Party look as if they are having the time of their lives, the band's catchy, yet very sincere and vulnerable songs are anthems for the confused and broken hearted. After 45 minutes on stage, Funeral Party closed with "New York City Moves to the Sound of LA," never has a band been that bold to say (or sing) that in front of a group of New Yorkers until now...indeed we were all moving vigorously to the sound of this LA band.
Opening the show was Connecticut electro duo, Twitch the Ripper. Twitch the Ripper are clearly a band whose obsession with Depeche Mode may get the best of them. Singer Jon Dobyns sounds like Dave Gahan's doppelganger, they could even pass as relatives and the beats provided by Lonn are very similar to Black Celebration-era Mode. Not that this is a bad thing, the band still put on a rather entertaining performance, even fighting off a few technical glitches, Twitch the Ripper were instant party starters for the evening. Accompanied with a strobe light show and pounding bass, Twitch the Ripper can entertain even their biggest critics.