The Living Tombstone Party at the Roxy: At the recommendation of this writer's young son, we interviewed the Living Tombstone a year ago and 50% of the project, Sam Haft, told us that, "We treat this as a very structured full-time job, and in spite of the fact that now we have moved into the music industry formally instead of just being on YouTube, we still operate in that DIY fashion. Other artists get very surprised at how much we do ourselves. We almost act like our own creative agency. It’s been a DIY operation since Day One, and that’s how we’re most comfortable working.”

The Living Tombstone might be a DIY project, but it's a damned successful one. On Sunday night at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip, two days before Halloween, the venue was full to bursting with hyperpop fans who were simply determined to have a great time. Rarely has a crowd looked this good, decked out in costumes from their favorite anime and/or cartoon. Further, songs played over the PA between the bands, such as Radiohead's "Creep" or Marina's "Bubblegum Bitch," were sung full-voiced by this crowd like some sort of alt-choir.

The two openers were a revelation, and clearly well-known to fans of the Living Tombstone. QBomb have worked with TLT before, so they're practically family. Their approach to hyper pop comes from a punky direction, and that's very welcome.

Meanwhile, ElyOtto scored an online hit with the super-infectious "Green Apple Paste" and that went down a treat with the Roxy crowd, but to be fair, so did the whole set. ElyOtto was alone onstage with a laptop, dancing like no one was watching and it was a joy to behold. For the final song, some friends joined them and it looked like an anime love-in. We were totally there for it.


The Living Tombstone set was divided into two parts. There was the "DJ" bit, when Haft and Yoav Landau were on stage behind their decks in their regular clothes, playing some of the songs  that earned them mega streams online as they appealed to fans of Five Nights at Freddy's and My Little Pony. That was cool enough.

But then then the curtain dropped, and they reappeared in full Tombsona costumes (designed by Fonco), for the first time on stage ever.

This was a treat, but also the sort of visual flex that we'd expect from these guys. From there, the set was a fan's dream: "Sunburn," "My Ordinary Life" and of course "Five Nights at Freddy's," the latter recently spotted on the soundtrack to the new movie of the same name.

This really was a party at the Roxy, and the Living Tombstone brought the tunes.

The Living Tombstone Party at the Roxy: Go to theroxy.com for more info.

 


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