By snoadmin
IRVINE – A mass of people gathered at UC Irvine’s Aldrich Park as the sun came down and a breezy night replaced the scorching hot day. Things started to heat up again when Shiny Toy Guns took the stage to play a free show for UCI’s Week of Welcome, Sept. 23.
The stage was set up quite differently as drummer Mikey Martin played in the front of the stage rather than the rear, and keyboardist Jeremy Dawson on stage left, which left plenty of room for singers Chad Petree and Sisely Treasure to play their guitars and move around the stage.
During its long, yet entertaining set, the indie/electronic Los Angeles band delighted fans with songs from both of their releases, “We Are Pilots” and “Season of Poison.” During its hit “Le Disko,” which can be heard on the “Sorority Row” soundtrack, the entire crowd was on their feet and dancing as Treasure sang her heart out into the microphone and let out high-pitched screams.
The band also played its own renditions of “Major Tom” by Peter Schilling and “Stripped” by Depeche Mode. Petree acknowledged Depeche Mode as a bands that Shiny Toy Guns and the audience “shared a passion for.”
To please true fans, the band ended the set with one of its oldest songs, “Rocket Ship,” which had the audience jumping up and down to the fun, techno beat.
After the audience yelled loudly for an encore, the band came out again and played the danceable “Don’t Cry Out,” which caused the audience’s hands to go up in the air to count down from 10 with their fingers with Treasure. The band finished with its hit “You Are the One,” with the majority of the crowd singing along.
Treasure, a Long Beach native and the newest member of the band, replaced the previous singer, Carah Faye. With an energetic stage presence as well as flawless guitar playing, she proved her last name right.
Treasure got involved with the band after being friends with them for years and playing a show with its members in her old band, Boy Girl, at The Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana. She was a contestant on the WB’s television show “The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll,” which, ironically, Shiny Toy Guns never saw her on.
After becoming a member of the band, she said that it took some adjusting to perform in a band with a fan base already pretty well-established. However, that didn’t stop her from being lively on stage as she showed off her talented voice.
Dawson sat down for an interview as he mixed a drink for himself. He said the band plays college shows “a lot,” especially “during this time of year [the beginning of the school year] and at the end of the last semester, around April.”
He acknowledged that college shows are different than club shows.
“When [colleges] charge admission to shows, they train their music industry majors to promote a rock show, [those concerts] bomb. When a college books the bands and it’s free admission, the show is epic,” Dawson said. “At the same time, we are helping people learn to put together a show, who may work for A.E.G. or Livenation someday. It’s cool to be apart of that.”
When asked what’s next for Shiny Toy Guns, Dawson simply responded with “tons of new stuff to the ninth power … more new than you even know.” With energetic live shows and the strong compassion and commitment the group shows to their fans, whatever is in store for Shiny Toy Guns will be worth the wait.
