POP MUSIC REVIEW : Concrete Blonde: A Voice to Reckon With

Your typical prominent rock band would treat a special small-club concert as an opportunity to call attention to the new album, to make some points with the industry people, to engage in some self-congratulatory, up-close communing with the fans before returning to business as usual.

Concrete Blonde isn’t a typical rock band, and at the Whisky on Sunday the veteran L.A. trio was in characteristically rambunctious form. They all but ignored their impending album as singer-bassist Johnette Napolitano conducted an impulsive, confrontational showdown with the personal and social forces that define her band’s view of L.A.

The group is perhaps second only to X as a gritty chronicler of the city’s tumult, and they depict it as a pressurized, frightening and inspiring place to be. On Sunday Napolitano all but grabbed her listeners by the neck and stuck their faces in the rage and sorrow that lay siege to hard-won idealism.

Angrily recounting the slaying last week of a restaurant owner in her Silver Lake neighborhood, Napolitano suddenly seemed to bristle at a perceived lack of empathy, and she was off. “Yeah, wait till it hits close to home,” she chided. “How many people here have lost someone to gunfire?” She studied the people raising their hands, believing some and warning others, “Don’t (mess) with me.”

The band was billed under its pre-fame name, Dream 6, and Napolitano explained the occasion by strongly suggesting that the new album will be the band’s last. But the powerful sense of urgency and community that she generated left little doubt that whatever the context, Napolitano will remain one of L.A. rock’s most vital and irrepressible forces.