BUZZ BANDS

Minibar restocks for sequel

A move down the food chain hasn’t ruined Minibar’s appetite at all. The London-to-L.A. transplants, dropped by Universal after one pretty but pretty much ignored album (2001’s “Road Movies”), have hooked up with Foodchain Records, home to such acts as the Januaries, Betty Blowtorch and Garageland. On the menu: the band’s follow-up album, “Fly Below the Radar,” due June 10. “I don’t think it’s a huge departure,” frontman Simon Petty says of the new material, which was recorded in part with Dusty Wakeman and in part with Wallflowers Rami Jaffee and Greg Richling. “Maybe it’s a little less alt-country than the first record, if that’s how people found that. There are more influences on this album. The harmonies still stack up West Coast-style, but the music nods more to our British roots.” The band, which performs tonight at Largo, is eager for a fresh start, though Petty notes wryly, “Getting dropped [by a major label] is a badge of honor these days, isn’t it?”

CD out, at Last

A seminal piece of Southern California pop-punk finally emerged from the vaults in January when “L.A. Explosion,” the album that put the Last on the map, was released on CD, more than two decades after it was recorded in an old church in Hermosa Beach. “But, hey, a decade isn’t what it used to be,” the Last’s frontman, Joe Nolte, says with a laugh. “At the beginning of 2002, my resolution was to somehow get it out on CD. Then it became, I just want people to hear our stuff before I die.” The 1979 album, reissued on its original label, Bomp!, offers a remarkable early snapshot of a South Bay music scene that would spawn such bands as Redd Kross and the Descendents, with the music straddling West Coast pop and a new, emerging sound, punk. In his liner notes, Nolte almost laments the album’s “strangely clean” sound, which belied the Last’s live performances -- “the Sex Pistols do ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ ” was one description. “I don’t feel wistful,” says Nolte, whose band went on to release five more albums between 1980 and 1996. “I’m just happy it’s finally come out.” And it won’t be the last from the Last -- the latest incarnation of the band has a new album, “Shank,” halfway done, Nolte says.

Fast forward

Wayne Everett, who’s had a hand in such shining lights as Starflyer 59, Prayer Chain and the Lassie Foundation, performs tonight at the Silverlake Lounge in advance of the March 25 release of his solo record, “Kingsqueens.” ... The Sinking Ships, whose debut, “Out of Key Harmony,” offers a healthy dose of jangle, play Friday night at the Knitting Factory’s Alterknit Lounge. ... Tim Scanlin (Actionslacks) and Scott Ford (Camp Freddy) will be among the performers at a benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on Saturday night at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood.

-- Kevin Bronson

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