Redwood Bar & Grill Los Angeles, CA
Contact: instagram.com/cliffroman
Web: facebook.com/p/romans-weirdos-100086473389541
Players: Cliff Roman, guitar; Jeremy Eagle, vocals; John Dimambro, guitar; Danny Dorman, bass; Sean Antillon, drums
It’s always awkward when there are more than one version of a band doing the rounds, and yet we’ve seen it multiple times over the years. Think of Gene Loves Jezebel, LA Guns, Great White, Sweet, Bow Wow Wow, When In Rome, and many more, and it’s easy to shrink inside yourself at the sheer weirdness of the situation. These people can’t get their shit together enough to work together for the sake of the music, so the fans are left to decipher their disfunction. It’s fucking silly.
On the subject of silly weirdness though, there are two versions of L.A,. punks The Weirdos floating around, for better or worse. There’s the band led by frontman John Denney, with Bruce “Ravens” Moreland in the ranks. That group is known simply as The Weirdos. Then there’s Roman’s Weirdos, featuring relative mainstay guitarist Cliff Roman. On all of the online stuff, on the flyers, etc., this band is called Roman’s Weirdos.
Again, it’s all really odd and super cringe-inducing. It’s akin to watching a couple argue at a nearby restaurant table. Even for the punk rock scene, it’s really not becoming.
All of that aside, there’s music to be judged. Due to the fact that Roman’s Weirdos only has the partial weight of the Weirdos name behind them, they tend to play slightly smaller shows and, in fact, that works to their benefit. The Redwood Bar & Grill has turned into a bit of a punk and rock ‘n’ roll Mecca in recent years; a shelter for misfits, miscreants and reprobates. There’s a fun dichotomy there though, because at first glance it’s quite a nice restaurant/bar.
As such, it’s the perfect venue for Roman’s Weirdos. Denney is one of punk’s great frontmen, so Jeremy Eagle has quite the task filling his boots. In all fairness, Eagle acquits himself admirably. There’s gleeful mischief etched on his face as he barks through Weirdos gems like “Happy People.” The cover of Love’s “7 and 7 Is” is a joy, and the iconic punk rock tune that is “We Got the Neutron Bomb” is given the performance that it deserves.
The rest of the band is solid, and Roman is given an appropriate hero’s reception by the Redwood crowd. Regardless of your opinion of the larger Weirdos situation, Roman has assembled a great band that puts on a superb show. That’s more than enough. It’s still weird though.
