{ESG Live @ The Echo}
Opening bands are, one the whole an obligatory affair. Even more so when it’s a ska band with more musicians than necessary and their name has ‘pigeon’ in it. That being said, it’s one of my favorite parts of any show to watch the opening band for two reasons. One- they might surprise you and end up being good, if not a little rough, and then you get the always-gratifying sensation of discovery. Two- even if they are mediocre at best you get to satirize the whole experience and people watch. At the Echo for the ESG show on Friday, February 24th it was the latter that occurred.
That’s right, I said ESG. Emerald. Sapphire. and Gooooold. A little background? ESG formed in 1978 by the three Scroggins sisters and their friend Tito. Now the front woman’s and drummer’s daughters join them on stage. Their stripped down sound, focusing on bass, drums, conga and a precisely executed cow bell, coupled with their repetition and simple lyrics makes them one of the biggest foundations for hip hop and new wave sampling- which is likely the only place you’ve ever heard them. The KCRW DJ who introduced them said it best, “As a DJ, you play ESG when you want to gain back some credibility.” But as their late 80’s release reflected in the aptly titled “Sample Credits Don’t Pay Our Bills” they were never able to really break out of the underground and underrated (except among musicians) position they were put. Its easy to see though that they still have a lot of love and respect as they played to a full house of enthusiastic, happy fans who worked 2 encores out of them. The best part of the show was watching front woman Rene Scroggins groove with a serene smile that never faded while her daughter, Nicole, worked the room with a hair style that could best be described as a haystack on a spring and smooth jazz sex appeal. Her love of working the crowd was apparent when she led us eagerly into a participatory version of ‘step off’ and later instigated a competitive ‘ESG’ shout off. Our side won of course.
The funkdafied groove sometimes clashed with the visual spectacle of varying degrees of hipsters that is the usual clientele at the Echo. The vibe exceptionally clashed with that of a shoulder button flap group in front of us who, by all accounts, appeared to be spawning and seemed to really like yelling out unfunny phrases such as “you stink” to the band and then laughing riotously. This was an all ages show but these boys were wearing wristbands so I don’t allow them any excuses. I feared for the well being of my nose often. At one point they all seemed to pseudo gang bang the only girl in their crew- who then added a whole other level of surrealness to the situation by pulling out a can of mister (?!) and spraying them all off, laughing and giggling while their fervor increased. It was really, really, odd- and they ruined shoulder button straps for me. ESG was awesome though, and seemed really grateful for the support. Counted among those supporters was Chloe Sovigny, who my friend spotted post show at the bar and who may be the only woman ever to pull off a leather biker hat successfully.
A great interview with ESG can be found here.
For your listening pleasure:
Purchase ESG albums here.