Mystery Lights

A lot has happened to the Salinas garage-rock band The Mystery Lights over the last two years. The group – 19-year-old singer/guitarist Mike Brandon, 20-year-old drummer Steve Miller, 21-year-old lead guitarist L.A. Solano and relative old man 23-year-old bassist Joe Dellamora – has witnessed a bloody brawl erupt at one of their Brookdale Lodge shows, gotten their touring van impounded during a tour stop in Los Angeles, had two members graduate high school, seen four members come and go and has gone through blues, ’60s garage rock and punk phases. And, oh yeah, they finally finished their long awaited debut CD Teenage Cat Girls and The Mystery Lights Show, whose release will be celebrated Saturday at Jose’s.

An exuberant mixture of Brit Invasion rock, garage, surf and punk, Teenage Cat Girls and The Mystery Lights Show was recorded at Sam’s Lab Recording Studio in Chualar and, to add a gritty element, in a Fort Ord garage. “We wanted to go dirty with our sound,” Dellamora says.

The 11-song CD features the delirious punk song “The Renouncement” along with “21 and Counting,” a stomp with a guitar solo that tears into the song’s first section like a wayward lightning bolt. It also includes ambitious tracks like “2012,” which begins as sunny sounding oldies rock and ends with a ferociously rocking section aided by a flurry of drumbeats.
- Monterey County Weekly

The Mystery Lights were intense. They were completely high-energy, fueled garage rock action. From a first look, these guys were young, way younger than they sounded. I was not expecting what was in store for me. As they warmed up and did a sound check, you could easily tell that the energy and suspense building up in the crowd was overwhelming.

Dressed like Dee Dee Ramone, lead singer Mike Brandon was full of raw energy. He was a blur onstage most of the time, legs thrashing, arms flailing, jumping and just going crazy with the microphone. He had a really great voice too - it was perfect for the bluesy 60s garage sound they were going for. The band played loud: a wall of guitar riffs with a pounding bass line and thunderous drums. Their sound was massive for just four people.

The songs themselves were absolute nonstop action. They seemed to move from really fast overgained guitar-driven rockouts to slow bluesy bass groves on a whim, and the dichotomy of these two never got old. How they managed to keep up all that energy for the entire show, I'll never know. After walking onstage, they assaulted us for what felt like a scant 20 minutes, then they were done. I wanted way more. I know they played for over an hour, but seriously, it was still way too short.

After the show wound down and the world settled back on its axis, I picked up a copy of their album Teenage Catgirls and The Mystery Lights Show. It's good, but it really doesn't capture what these guys are all about. It's slower and quieter than their stage show, but I guess that's not a surprise as their sound was monstrous onstage. All the same songs are there, but the execution just isn't the same. Anyway, you can listen to the album and snag a copy from Closet Trekkie if you're interested.

It looks like after the few East Coast shows they've done in the past few days, they're heading back to CA. If they ever make it back to CT, it's definitely worthwhile to check them out. It was a hell of a show, absolutely the most energetic and charged shows I've heard in a long time. - http:?/?/?ctindie.?blogspot.?com/?2009/?08/?mystery-?lights.?html