Show: The Mowgli’s
Date: December 11, 2013
Venue: El Rey Theatre
City: Los Angeles, CA
The Mowgli’s
Photos by Nicolas Bates
Written by Dan Sinclair
December 11th marked the last official show covered of RUKUS’s 2013 “Nick and Dan Cover a Show Season.” This season was quite grand if I do say so myself, and I’m sure you’d agree if you’d been reading along all year. So it’s fitting the year should end in the same place it started. Yes, what started with Pinback back on January 17th ended on the very same stage eleven months later with Los Angeles’s own The Mowgli’s.
Apparently the band got its name from a former band member’s dog that was named after the Jungle Book character. What is also apparent is that The Mowgli’s are very bad with grammar. Seriously, the English major in me really wants to punch stuff every time I have to type that goddamn apostrophe. This tour is in support of the band’s major label debut album, Waiting for the Dawn, released over the summer, which featured several re-recorded fan favorites off their previous indie records from last year.
The El Rey was jam packed that Wednesday night and much of the support was for the opening band Hunter Hunted, who delivered a great set for the ever grateful crowd. Well, I say “great” as long as you pretend they didn’t do an awful cover of The Pixies “Where is my Mind” (which they did). But other than that, yeah, they were pretty impressive. You will be hearing more from them in the future for sure. The drunk guy dancing around and bumping into people before his pants fell down was a fan… at least, I think that’s what his loud slurs translated to in English.
But soon after they leave, the El Rey gets dark and audio from the Jungle Bookplays over the speakers, and the crowd goes nuts knowing it’s time to sing and dance. And when The Mowgli’s take the stage, they take the whole fucking stage. In case you weren’t aware, there’s a shit-ton of people in this band. Here are some of their names: Dave Appelbaum, Colin Louis Dieden, Katie Jayne Earl, Josh Hogan, Matthew Di Panni, Spencer Trent, Michael Vincze and Andy Warren. Some bang percussion, many play a guitar, all have a microphones. The bassist looks out of place with his big, bushy beard. It looks like a bunch of hippies kidnapped this dude from a metal band and forced him to smile and play happy songs about love and peace. I hope they didn’t do that. That would be pretty mean.
“Emily” is the first song of the night, and it’s apparent from the get-go, tonight will be a sing-along as the entire band puts their mics to use while encouraging the fans to join in in the fun. Everyone is proud to chant “Emily” over and over again as loud as their lungs will muster.
The Mowgli’s finish the song and are like, “What’s up, Los Angeles?” And Los Angeles is all, “Yo, what’s up Mowgli’s?” And then the Mowgli’s play “Slowly, Slowly,” and Los Angeles sings along, “It’s only you, it’s only me, it’s only love and it’s only fair that you find your peace.” Yeah, it’s become quite the party here at the El Rey with everyone dancing and singing. Hard to tell where stage ends and dance floor begins.
Next song is “Love Is Easy” because The Mowgli’s believe it is, followed by “Waiting for the Dawn” and its bluesy guitar and bass intro. Next are the co-ed dueling vocals on “Hi, Hey There, Hello.”
Singer Dieden then asks the crowd if they’re ready to sing. I assume it’s rhetorical since they’ve pretty much been singing along the whole time, but he thanks them all the same: “Good, because we need your help on this one.” And they do help as they instantly recognize one of the favorites in “The Great Divide.”
Then the crowd is given some Mowgli’s inspiration that starts with “You need to believe in yourself and know you are capable of everything.” Well, thank you, Mowgli’s. I do believe in myself… now!
The fun continues with “Carry Your Will,” “Leave It up to Me” and “Clean Light” before they do a Christmas song in preparation for the approaching holiday season. But they save for the best for last, closing the night with their two most popular songs, “Say It, Just Say It” and, of course, “San Francisco.” The crowd jumps and dances and sings along until they can jump, dance or sing no more.
And then just like that, 2013 is over. Here’s to more great shows in 2014!