Seeing LIKEHELL perform live is like being at a party in Hollywood’s underground. It’s 4 a.m. The dark and brooding are mixing with the mischievous and wild. The beautiful walk among the depressed. It’s a blur of all things carnal, experimental, glamorous and psychotic. Around every corner is another mesmerizing scene, another form of satiation, another potential explosion.
Formed in 1994 by brothers Nick Eldorado (vocals) and Tony Oliveri (drums), and longtime friends Frank Throwup (bass) and Matt Bockley (guitar), LIKEHELL is a band that defies categories. Its music is a merger of such genres as heavy metal, glam, psychopunk, ‘70s anthem rock and even a little bit of burning-through-the-desert-in-a-dusty-Cadillac country, and lyrics that are direct and deadpan.
The hard driving backing of Oliveri, Throwup and Bockley serves as a catapult for the always theatrical Eldorado, a sexy, cherub-faced madman who is mellow one second, desperate and explosive the next. The band’s tight-knit history and common philosophy that the show is the antecedent to the ‘biz’ combines to form a cool and easy, creative and ferocious stage presence that makes for a raucous and unpredictable live performance.
An underground band at its heart, LIKEHELL has nonetheless stepped into the spotlight since its inception, sharing the stage with an impressive array of bands, including The Cult, Beck, Iggy Pop, Soul Asylum, Motorhead, Queens of the Stone Age and Buckcherry. Over the years, the band’s hard work, diverse appeal and reputation for incredible live performances have earned them a loyal following of fans, who come from all corners of the music spectrum and will continue to cross genre lines to witness the rock ‘n’ roll spectacle that is LIKEHELL.
