Music & Nightlife
Music & Nightlife
Edited by Michael Juliano
timeout.com/los-angeles/music @mjuliano
The Growlers’ Nielsen The Growlers’ get-down
Learn how the surf-rock act created SoCal’s most surprising hit music fest. By Michael Juliano
BROOKS NIELSEN DOESN’T want Beach Goth to feel like any other music festival. In between wrapping up a Julian Casablancas–produced record and figuring out how to float a stage on water, the Growlers frontman and festival cofounder has been snatching up bands overlooked by increasingly indistinguishable big-name fests. “We don’t have to deal with, ‘Oh, we want this band,’ but ‘Oh, he’s washed up, he doesn’t sell tickets,’” says Nielsen. “Well, fuck, we still want him.”
That attitude has turned the moody
surf rock band’s Orange County bash into one of the most unexpected, singular music festivals in California. This year’s late-October edition expands out of a club parking lot and into the scenic Oak Canyon Park with indie darlings (Bon Iver, James Blake), trap (Gucci Mane, RL Grime) and an old-school MTV vibe (Violent Femmes, TLC). “People get confused all the time and
Time Out Los Angeles October–December 2016 52
think that a band only listens to music like they create,” says Nielsen. “But I wasn’t raised on anything that I sound like right now. I was raised on L.A. radio—KIIS-FM and [the now- shuttered] 92.3 The Beat and R&B and funk.” The Growlers’ personal tastes aren’t solely
responsible for the killer lineups; Nielsen credits the heavy lifting to Jeff Shuman, who books the festival as well as the Observatory, the Santa Ana club where Beach Goth was
born in 2012, when the Growlers took their illicit warehouse-show following and tapped Shuman for a record-release costume party. “I think that’s the reason I got into all this,” says Nielsen. “I enjoy throwing parties.” Though he’s tight-lipped about the
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specifics, Nielsen promises the band won’t come empty-handed for its set this year; past stage antics have included everything from Chinese lion dancers to a drag show. Speaking of, this year’s MC duties have been handed over to RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants. “I want his best ladies, and I want them costume-changing, and I want their raunchy jokes and their sexy looks on every stage in between every artist,” says Nielsen. It all comes together in an appealing way without sacrificing DIY weirdness. “There’s no mafia vibe to this thing,” says Nielsen. “This is us dreaming up ideas and making them happen. And that feels pretty good.” à Beach Goth is at Oak Canyon Park Oct 22 and 23 (
beachgothfest.com). $150–$250.
PHOTOGRAPHS: TAYLOR LANE
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