the health club
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the health club

Los Angeles, California, United States | SELF

Los Angeles, California, United States | SELF
Band Rock Punk

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"40 band in 80 minutes gets another amazing review"

Ironically, the best and most memorable song of all comes at the very end. It’s by the Health Club, and it’s one of the few tunes here that has a tune, pushed along insistently by doomy Joy Division/Middle Class-style chords and a nicely dour atmosphere. A successful experiment in rocking out.
-Falling James, Carbon 14 Magazine - sean carnage


"the health club live @ pehrspace"

Then ... argh, The Health Club. Every time I used to see them, I was shocked by how fascinating they could make all those familiar elements that should be tired by now, and just how it was they conjured that mix of vitality and chops that sets them apart from all the other garage-y punk bands--the ones that are little more than groovy drinking music. Then, finally, a couple months ago at pehr, I stopped being shocked by it and realized that, dammit, that's just how they are, and I'd have to deal with it. So they were high on my list to play this show, and, even with a modified lineup (a fill-in drummer, with Gabe, their injured, be-slung regular drummer on slambourine and backing vocals), the familiar songs remained full of life. They were efficient but never perfunctory, gleeful but never cloying. Rocking and always rocking.

"You know what," I said afterward, in the parking lot, The Health Club's afterglow remaining, the space filling up beyond my expectations, "I was dreading this night a little bit. But this ... this is really nice."

Who was it saying words like that? You got me. - the 704 blog


"the health club live @ lot1"

The Health Club closed things out. You've probably seen them. I never had. And I'm glad I did. Their set was all-business, a bath of garage-y adrenaline--boozy, bleary fun. (Yeah, yeah, I don't remember the specifics. Sue me. It was fun, though.)

- the 704 blog


"The Health Club Live @ the Echo Curio"

The Health Club was outstanding. Fuzz, Crunchy, Pop! Rock Crispies. Tonally and texturally, I thought of The Beta Band or No Age on record. But what I saw was a band that was 100% true to itself. They got-up there, played their songs, and let the music do the talking. No nonsense, no fiddling around with the set-up, and no apologies for anything. (There was nothing to apologize for.) No pretense, no gimmick, no shtick, no long list of influences. Just simple, beautiful expression in a musical vessel.

Every crisp drum hit wounded; every shimmering guitar lick soothed. The vocals got you lost and the bass line showed you the way. I'd listen to a long section of a song and feel like I could groove to it forever, and right then the music would climax and I would feel like it was the only place the song could go. In fact it was the place the song had to go.

For me, The Health Club's set at Echo Curio on Saturday night was a case of the right sound, at the right venue, at the right time. Presentation-wise, they weren't much to look at... but I had my eyes closed most of the time anyway. They played one of the ten best sets I have heard all year in context of the venue and the band I was seeing. Fucking loved it from the first bar to the last. - classical geek theatre


"rock picks"

At the very end of the recent DVD compilation 40 Bands/80 Minutes, after 80 minutes of arty-noisy combos and following 20 minutes of bonus footage of similarly atonal cacophony, something resembling a melodic song finally emerges from the post-punk wreckage like a flower rising from the ashes of a brushfire. That song is by the Health Club, the last (and arguably best) band on the whole megillah. The L.A. trio also have post-punk influences in the way Katya’s bass lines and Gerard’s guitar patterns intersect with an angular, Joy Division majesty, but the songs on the Health Club’s Rarities & Outtakes CD stand out with bright hooks that contrast their gray, minimalist settings. “Summer Rolls” and “Calm Down” chug along with drummer Gabriel’s sludgy tempos, a wall of fuzz and Gerard’s deadpan Jesus & the Mary Chain–style vocal delivery. Gerard laments the disappearance of beautiful inspiration on “The Muse From Venus,” and he finds himself caught up in the intricate architecture of his girlfriend’s fishnet stockings, reveling in their whispery, tactile sensation on “Fragile.” The Health Club are bursting with potential, and tonight you won’t have to wade through 39 other bands to hear them. (Falling James) - falling james (of the leaving trains)


Discography

Rarities & Outtakes (2004)
Lightning Bolt-Single (2009)
The Good The Bad The Health Club (2011)

Photos

Bio

The Health Club was formed in Los Angeles in 2002 with Katya Arce[bass], Gabriel Montez[drums and vocals] and Gerard Fortich[formerly of SST recording artist the Muddle] on vocals and guitar. Their raw expression is garage punk, influenced by bands such as Television Personalities, The Cure, Duran-Duran, The Sex Pistols and The Fall[which they opened for in 200?]. Since then, they have released two full length albums "Rarities and Outtakes" [2004] and "The Good, The Bad, The Health Club" in 2011. They are still currently rocking out in the L.A. underground.