Radar Bros.' finale turns into an all-star night

Happy triumphed over sad on a wintry Monday night at the Echo, but not by much. The final night of the Radar Bros.' residency had the feel of a plot point in which an epic movie loses a beloved character, only to have fortune smile on another.

The occasion was the record release show for the Radar Bros.' new "Auditorium" -- and at the same time, bizarrely, a farewell show (at least for a while) for the veteran band in its current incarnation. With many of his players moving on to other projects, frontman Jim Putnam, a father figure to many in the Silver Lake/Echo Park music vortex, gave a stoic and sublimely beautiful performance to a crowd dotted with indie rockers old and young. Among them, even, was a promoter who remembered doing a flyer for a Radar Bros. show before Spaceland opened.

Yes, kids, there was a such a time.

A sing-along with friends, girlfriends and guest musicians capped the set, before the crowd graciously demanded and received two encores. You'd think somebody might have gotten a little misty-eyed, but, no, 15 minutes later there was Putnam back onstage, standing in with post-headliner band Adeline.

Earlier, the crowd got a good-natured acoustic set from Silversun Pickups frontman Brian Aubert (joined briefly by bandmate Nikki Monninger) that included covers of songs by the Movies, Joy Division and Bjork.

But the room was almost full for the night's opener, Everest, and with good reason. The fivesome of local players with distinguished indie resumes played a powerul and poignant set of rock-Americana as they continue to work toward their album release on Neil Young's Vapor Records in April.

This past week did nothing to slow their momentum. En route to a gig at the Sundance Film Festival, guitarist Joel Graves won enough money at a Mesquite, Nev., casino to pay for the band's rooms. Then, at the festival, Young himself took in a show.

Not that playing in front of his idol fazed frontman Russell Pollard. "Before the show, somebody told us he was in the audience and my face turned white," Pollard says. "So I went out and said hello and thanked him for coming. Two songs into the show I spotted him bobbing his head ... It was the most epic moment of my life."

Young liked what Everest was doing, his manager Elliot Roberts later reported. So did the folks Monday at the Echo.

I suggest catching them before they outgrow venues this size. [Next gig: Feb. 19 at a Radio Free Silver Lake showcase at Boardner's in Hollywood.]

Photos, from top: Friends join Jim Putnam (left) for a sing-along during the Radar Bros.' finale; Nikki Monninger and Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups cover the Movies' "Creation Lake"; and Everest's Russell Pollard performs. By Kevin Bronson / LAT

Comments

[Pablo]

The Bentleys are opening for Everest on the 19th of Feb. I highly recommend you catch them. www.myspace.com/bentleys

Seriously, Everest is great, but the Bentleys are definitely worth your time. Catchy, loud, fuzz drenched riffs, great songs all around. They're the closest thing we've got to a genuinely great pop/rock band in the vein of Pixies and Supergrass. And the singer has a bit of that Walkmen thing going on...

Oh, and request them on KROQ! They're getting some airplay there.