Between the major, four-day Malibu Guitar Festival in the heart of Malibu to packed houses and sold-out shows at Casa Escobar — music made its way back to town in a big way in 2015, in part thanks to community driven efforts by Diamond Lane Entertainment and Live From Malibu.
And, to close out an already stellar year of sound and soul, Lenny Goldsmith and the New Old, as well as Shwayze (Aaron Smith) will perform and ring in the New Year at Casa Escobar.
“What’s really cool about this event is you’re getting the best of both worlds from our local Malibu favorites,” Live From Malibu’s Matt Diamond said. “What a great way to stay close to home and bring in 2016.”
Lenny Goldsmith and the New Old’s soulful riffs and funky melodies keep audiences out of their seats and dancing — a perfect pairing for their residency at Casa Escobar after performing around town and at the Malibu Guitar Festival.
Bring your dancing shoes on New Year’s Eve because Goldsmith’s bringing the entire band.
“I’m gonna have four horns, four singers, two guitars, bass, drums and two keyboard players,” Goldsmith said. “It’s a big sound. We’ll be doing originals and a few covers … mostly funk and it’ll be a real funky, dancy night. There will be some rock and motown, stuff like that.”
Goldsmith was a member of ’70s funk band Tower of Power and also Sweathog before retiring from music for 27 years to raise a family. His sons Taylor and Griffin easily found a love for music, too, and formed the band Dawes.
Family and friends have always been important to Goldsmith, just as important as his shared love of music and the stage. With more than 10 members making up the band, Goldsmith credited each individual for bringing a unique sound to the group.
“John Watkin is the only actual rocker in the band,” Goldsmith said. “He’s a guy that did not grow up connected to R&B and he brings an element to the band that is very primal. Everybody else in the band has an R&B background, but John … he’s an animal.”
After Goldsmith and the New Old start the night off right, Malibu’s Shwayze will keep the festivities going into the New Year.
Earlier this summer, Shwayze released his album “King of the Summer” at Casa Escobar, an homage to where he’s from and his breezy, beachpop with a bit of hip hop lifestyle.
“The Shwayze show was crazy,” Diamond said. “That was the first big show we did for Live From Malibu in July, it was the summer kick-off … That was a really good feeling. All of the locals were like ‘we’re bringing it back!’ We felt that energy like it was really coming back.”
The sold-out show and album release party was a success that not only helped catapult the song onto airwaves followed by heavy touring across the country, but also live music acts at Casa Escobar through Live From Malibu.
Following Shwayze’s high energy performance, Live From Malibu and Casa Escobar welcomed a packed house for Los Angeles-based band The Aggrolites.
Punk rock, ska and funk fused together for a night of mosh pits and melodies when Los Angeles-based band Fishbone brought the house down. The band formed in 1979, and lead singer Angelo Moore ran back and forth through the crowd as if it was his first time on stage.
Dick Dale managed to blend twentysomething music lovers with surf legends through his electric performance in October. The guitar legend performs each of his shows without a setlist and watches the crowd to pick up his next sound, with adoring wife and manager Lana by his side.
Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real filled the room with ambient melodies to a star-studded crowd. The band formed from mutual respect and adoration of Neil Young, which then blossomed into a wild ride into touring the world as Young’s backing band.
But on New Year’s Eve, the ticket to have in town will be to Casa Escobar.
“I think it’s great to be bringing the young and the old, covering all the styles of music,” Diamond said. “It’s the ultimate show, you know, to have the old soul, the classic rock — it’s a great combination. Our mission, our goal was to bring live music on a national level to the community of Malibu and we did a handful of shows over the summer, ending off 2015 with a bang — with some great talent.”
