Only a day after dropping their first full-length album The Gutter, ALEXSUCKS sells out the Roxy inspiring a cataclysmic revival of unearthed chaos in the crowd. I’m talking stage dives mid-song, letting the loyal front row sports pluck a bass chord, and a mosh pit full of elbows screaming the iconoclast lyrics back to frontman Alex Alvarez. Watching him onstage, I could tell the same question was circling through our heads over the buzz of a maxed out sound system – How did I get here?
The genesis of ALEXSUCKS begins in a bedroom with a self-produced seed of passion that has since swept the Sunset Strip under its influence. You can hear it in his grippingly visceral vocal that reaches out to touch you with corporeal scars, redefined rock bottom lyricism, and echoing chant of his audience (“I need a 6 pack and some cigarettes.”) – Alex Alvarez isn’t trying to be an artist, it’s just what he was born to do.
Whether you were a hand on Alex’s back in a sea of misfits building a tidal wave up from the pit toward the spotlight, the kid in the crowd singing into the mic on “Talk To You”, or part of the anthemic pulse that bounced against the atmosphere – everyone was a part of that performance, and transitively, a part of history. His sound had undeniably sparked a movement – like he tossed out a cigarette, thinking nothing of it, only to become a full-fledged dumpster fire.
There is so much heart in this band’s music. Whether they are reminding you of “Better Things” on the horizons of boundless youth or extending a familiar handshake up from “The Gutter”, ALEXSUCKS never sells their soul to the superficial.
Closing with an unabashed shredder on “6 Pack and Cigarettes”, ALEXSUCKS supplied everyone with the fix they’d been craving and a surprisingly swift cadence from Alvarez on the guitar. Playing just a smidge faster than the recording (which was already cracking at lightning speed), ALEXSUCKS once again proved an affinity for exceeding expectations, as they had from the moment I walked in. In light of a sold out Saturday show at the Roxy and fresh album swimming through the currents, ALEXSUCKS is a name you can bet on – and if you didn’t, you’d regret it.
Listen to The Gutter on Spotify, here.
Review By: Grace Holtzclaw, @grocolini
Follow ALEXSUCKS: Instagram // Youtube
