First sights upon entering Vinyl inside of the Hard Rock Casino earlier this month: wild dancing, a person being held back by a leash, and others asleep on the venue’s floor using a pillow brought from home. And all this while the bartenders fidgeted idly, as not one drop of alcohol had been sold by this point.
I guess it would make more sense if I told you these music fans were all too young for kindergarten, because this was a Koo Koo Kanga Roo show! The duo, who openers Kitty Kat Fan Club playfully described as “too nice” and “not jerks at all offstage,” specialize in child-friendly parody rap songs. As such, they had kids and their parents dancing to songs called “Awesome Rainbows,” “Cat Party!” and “No Crust,” the last of which had, shockingly, nothing to do with Aus-Rotten or Discharge and everything to do with sweet, delicious sandwiches.
The band, made up of vocalists Bryan Atchison and Neil Olstad with pre-recorded beats behind them (think Beastie Boys for the Daniel Tiger generation), taught manners with the friendliest rap battle I’ve ever seen, encouraged both the children on the floor and the adults in the “VIP area” to shake their feet (“We’re tired, we worked all day!” exclaimed one fatigued parent), and brought a mom on stage to help out with their signature dance, the “Pop See Ko.”
In direct support was the aforementioned Kitty Kat Fan Club, an indie rock band featuring Mike Park, founder of Asian Man Records (KKFC is on Asian Man, while Park has released KKKR music via his children’s imprint Fun Fun). Last time Kitty Kat came through Vegas they were supporting Streetlight Manifesto, so this was a very different audience for them. The lineup was also slightly different, with Maura Weaver of Mixtapes and Ogikubo Station filling in on guitar.
Despite not being a children’s band, Kitty Kat interacted with the pint-sized audience like pros. At one point, bassist Jonathan McMaster brought his magic, bass-playing fingers to the edge of the short stage to allow the little music fans an opportunity to “play along with the band.” The band later invited all the kids on stage to bop and dance around. And to not leave the oldheads out of the fun, they threw in a cover of Modern English’s “I Melt with You.”
By 8:45, the show was over. There was never a line at the bar and I was in bed with plenty of time to spare before work the next day. That was just perfect.
-Emily Matview
Photos by Aaron Mattern | https://www.flickr.com/photos/akmofoto/
No Comments