Review - Dave Davies Bandmates support Andrew, Café-Club Fais Do Do, Los Angeles


From: Rob Peirson
Date: 14 December 2004

I attended a performance of Andrew on Saturday, December 11, 2004, at Cafe-Club Fais Do Do in Los Angeles as part of the "International Pop Overthrow Presents" bi-monthly series. The performance commemorated the 15th anniversary of Andrew's first live gig.

Andrew is Andrew Sandoval, author, reissues producer and archivist. His orchestral pop records are in the spirit of the Left Banke, Beach Boys, Zombies and Love.

This "Andrewversary" show was a retrospective of his three albums and featured musicians who performed with Andrew over the years, including players from the Dave Davies touring band: Jim Laspesa (drums), Dave Jenkins (bass) and Kristian Hoffman (keyboards). Also, it should be noted that Sandoval himself was part of the early Dave Davies band formation and was the organizer of a charity benefit in 1995 at which Davies performed solo for the first time, and The Ravens were born.

We arrived midway through the evening line-up. We saw The Veronicas who are based in the Bay Area and then Phil Solem of the Rembrandts. Andrew was the final act and needed the extra time and space to set up his eight-member band, which included original members Sandoval (lead guitar and vocals), Jenkins (bass) and Matt Lederman (guitar). Also on stage were Laspesa (drums and backing vocals), Hoffman (keyboards) and Steve Stanley of The Now People (tambourine and backing vocals). They were joined by a two-piece string section with Carrie Bartsch on violin and Rebecca on cello. Rebecca, whose last name escapes me, was a last-minute addition and pulled through just fine.

The entertaining hour-long set included the following Andrew originals: "Friend of Mine," "Dream About You," "What Do You See in Me?" and "High Tower." The band also performed a Hollies' cover of "Headed for a Fall," a song Andrew beautifully recorded for the 1995 Eggbert Records compilation CD, "Sing Hollies in Reverse."

Part way through the show, Sandoval mentioned that this was more than just a reunion of former members of his band, but also a reunion of sort of the Dave Davies band, also know as The Ravens. (Sometimes Davies referred to his touring band as "The Ravens," a prior name of The Kinks.)

It was nice to see elements of Dave Davies' band playing together, and I'm sure they are looking forward to Davies returning to the stage, hopefully in the April 2005 time frame.


Left to Right: Kristian Hoffman, Steve Stanley, Jim Laspesa,
Matt Lederman, Andrew Sandoval, Dave Jenkins