THURSTON MOORE
"The Entrance Band's new music is the most alluring and, yes, entrancing vibe I've yet to experience in this new age. A soundtrack for the new groove"
LA TIMES
"Their music creates the feeling that something fresh and powerful is afoot. A potent mix of
political mindedness -- including a few conspiracy theories -- and musical virtuosity,
their songs throb and wail and strive to open minds.
WASHINGTON POST
"The Entrance Band plays apocalyptic psych-rock that is so good it will make you welcome
the end days with open arms, as the guitars menacingly swirl in the background and the
drums echo the sound of the four horsemen."
THE FADER
"Some dudes play guitar solos, Guy Blakeslee shreds. In The Entrance Band,
along with Paz Lenchantin and Derek James, hes reined it all in, harnessed the guitar
magic to ridiculously tight drums and bass and turned the whole thing into much more of
a group effort. Who knew wed be able to dance to half of this album and imagine taking
acid to the other half?"
THE STRANGER (Seattle)
"The Entrance Band play tempestuous psych-blues songs that often tilt toward the epic.
Blakeslee's serpentine riffing and fists-shaking-to-the-heavens vocals attest to rock's
reputed redemptive power."
RCRDLBL
"Listening to their music is like sojourning into a cactus field at midnight with nothing
but a jug of wine and some Gun Club records."
BALTIMORE CITY PAPER
"The Entrance Band, has honed itself into a rock-solid, mass-appeal beast that could shake
the White Stripes from their throne. "M.L.K." is both breathtaking and soul satisfying in
its massive, alluring riffs (every song has a thick, ringing riff for, like, every day of
the week); simple, reverbed-out vocal hooks; and crystal clear populist message:
"Hey, there's a reason I sing/'cause I want to hear freedom ring/ and I'll remind you all
of one more thing, remember Martin Luther King." The cloud-scraping chorus hook of
"That Is Why" could tame a lion; "Sing for the One" chugs along in a grubby stoner-rock
roil; "Hourglass" sounds like it could fucking own an arena, complete with Jumbotron shots
of Blakeslee shredding like some newly anointed high priest of rockdom.
Basically: watch out."
L.A. RECORD
Headlining that night was The Entrance Band. Not missing a beat, their set seemed to
explode from the moment the members took the stage, with a fierce combination of
psychedelic, blues, and rock. It almost feels like a Martian attack on your soul,
especially as Guy Blakeslees vocals reach their coda-like watching the sky opens up
for the birth and death of an actual star accompanied by his beyond stellar,
words fail me, wicked-sounding guitar, giving proper due to Steve Vai and Zappa for
us youngins. Bassist Paz Lenchantins thunderous sonic mind fuck comes via a much
needed catharsis by her instrument. She maintains the same amount of attention as the
rest of the heavy elements, while the orchestration still makes you feel cleansed and
free. Please do yourself a favor this summer and get lost in this bands mystique.
By JOHNNY RIGGS:
"Seeing The Entrance Band was one of the most amazing displays of musicianship
I've witnessed in decades. I found myself watching Paz Lenchantin, the bass player
and literally shaking my big grinning head at her bass runs and rock star poses while finding
it difficult to take my eyes off of Guy twirling around in circles, playing the kind of
guitar that would force the sons of Jimi Hendrix (think Robin Trower, Uli Jon Roth) to
allow him membership into their club. He made it look effortless. Guy would oscillate
constantly, stomp on one of the oodles of pedals in his effects arsenal, and kick wildly
at invisible fairies hovering about shin-high, while playing complicated solos and power
chords I couldn't pull off with my best try on my clearest day. Even if I concentrated
with all my might and attempted it at half speed, I think that anyone looking at me would have seen one of three things:
1) A wide grin
2) A slack, open jaw w/ matching google-eyed stare
3) A head shaking back & forth in worshipful amazement.
I can't say enough about how Paz has impressed me with her bass playing abilities over
the years.... she has the perfect balance of chops and style. Meaning she plays in a way
that would impress real musicians, but acts like a rock star. Pulling some of the best
"I'm fuckin' rockin' out" faces combined with Elvis-as-a-girl hip moves, you might almost
not notice that she's one of the greatest bass players on the planet. One of my favorite
humans I've met in ages."
By ERIK DAVIS
"Some nights ago I swung by San Francisco's Café Du Nord to catch the Entrance Band,
a psychedelic trio from LA that is riding a wave equally composed of fuzz and buzz.
It was the Noise Pop festival, and the crowd was full of groovy twentysomethings moving
and shaking, in denim and suits and skirts, with thin-brimmed fedoras making a particularly
notable showing. I hunkered down in front of the stage with my pint of bitter, chatting
with bearded young men who were most psyched for what we were about to witness.
Trios are the most musically honest of rock combos: the singing is often secondary, and
the guitarist has to carry a huge load. All sorts of interesting modulations between riff
and solo are possible, with the wank potential of the latter restrained by the need
to sustain the flow with a thickness of tone and a rhythmic sinuousness.
In a trio, everyone has to be up to snuff, and all three of these characters; guitarist
Guy Blakeslee, drummer Derek James, and bassist Paz Lenchantin were up to their nostrils
in the stuff. Ferocious entertainment.
Usually I only stick around past the first couple songs if the drummer is actually
saying something, or at least respects the groove and does not rely on cymbals and
bash to conjure up energy. Derek James was definitely on. He played with intensity but
without slop, he held the beats tight while shifting the center within and between songs.
But I didn't really pay a lot of attention to the guy because I was getting all
weak-kneed before Blakeslee's guitar.
A lanky lefty with long hair and skinny wrists, Blakeslee's one of the best young rock
players I have seen in a while. His restless intensity is balanced with a methodical cool,
and he managed to fuse far more eras and styles than your more typical devotion to '60s
blues-rock requires. Along with reviving the bends and boogie of Fillmore West lysergia,
he also explored a raft of later metal and psych styles, including some minor key and
middle-eastern modes that added witchiness to the bemushroomed killin floor. He also
milked much fun from dense clusters of melodic hammer-ons that reminded me of, believe it
or not, Eddie Van Halen (and that's a compliment, chumps!). And while Blakeslee coaxed
lots of delicious analog-sounding spooge out of his rack of FX, he was also perfectly
willing to exploit the more crystalline echo labyrinth of fully digital effects.
Looking past the long hair and the classic Fenders, I saw a band that was way more
Now than retro. Just the way that Brett Morgan's new animated doc has rebranded the Chicago Seven as the Chicago Ten, the Entrance Band has rebranded 60s political and sonic clamor into something that a slicker, media-saturated era can embrace. Their riffs are not pop, but the band has an infectious charm that will, I hope, take them beyond the velvet ghetto of contemporary psych.
I mostly chalk up to this charm to their sense of the beat, which has definitely
passed through the eras of disco and New Wave and survived. Bassist Paz Lenchantin,
who both fulfilled and transcended the archetype of the chick bassist, devoted herself
to a steady pulse that communicated both conviction and pop propulsion. A couple
times, and without the usual feel-good grin, she raised her hands over her head to
clap out the beat with the crowd. There was something almost communal about it,
like she wanted to draw the audience back into the Movement through shared fusion in
the beat. Okay, I clapped along with everyone too."
HOUSTON PRESS BLOG
There's some confusion, understandably, about exactly what LA's Entrance Band
purports to be. Are they good-time classic-rawk hash slingers? Psychedelic adventurers?
Protest-rock revivalists? The endpoint where bassist Paz Lenchantin -
she's done time with Zwan, Pajo and A Perfect Circle, among scads of other projects -
finally quells her nomadic impulses? Judging by the trio's new self-titled Ecstatic
Peace!/Universal album, the answer is "all of the above.
The disc explores hoary agit-prop poses, echo-chambered vocal kaleidoscopes and dark,
winding blues riffs. Guitarist/singer Guy Blakeslee, drummer Derek James, and
Lenchantin want to have their cake, eat it and smear it in your face.
So The Entrance Band is by turns willfully lysergic ("Still Be There," lava-lamp
philosophy primer "Lives"), Black Mountain heavy ("Sing For The One"), unabashedly
amorous ("You're So Fine") and overtly politicized ("I'm raising my voice,
can you hear me sing?/ I voted for change, didn't change anything," Blakeslee
grouses on rootsy anthem "M.L.K.").
The Entrance Band, then, are whoever you need them to be.