Hollywood Apocalypse: Sunset Strip's Pride and Joy

Something strange has been happening to the enigmatic band Hollywood Apocalypse at the legendary music venues along the Sunset Strip. At the renowned Whisky a Go Go, a guitarist mysteriously lost their guitar, only to discover it hidden beneath the stage just minutes before their performance. Meanwhile, outside the Viper Room, another band member experienced a bizarre awakening in the parking lot, with no memory of the previous night and their camera missing. These peculiar incidents mirror the chaotic yet magnetic charm of Hollywood Apocalypse, a band known for its lyrical quirks like, “I need you to hold my hand like a gun,” and the playful “Go, kitty, go, kitty, kitty pow pow!” from one of their most successful new songs. The band has a 2000s rock vibe that’s like someone shoved Modest Mouse and Yellowcard through a generator turbine.

“I don’t even know how we do it,” says Ivan Hruska, one of the musicians behind the Hollywood Apocalypse that’s been using vectors like Spotify and Instagram to escape Sunset Boulevard and move through the larger music scene. “Somehow, we’ve figured out a way to unite the punks, hard rockers, emos, metalheads, ‘n goths. We’re one of those rare bands that can stick a ska song in the middle of a setlist and it won’t sound out of place.”

The Inscrutable Musical Power a Sunset Strip Band

“One time we arrived at the Viper Room with two drummers and ended up playing the show with zero,” Hruska tells of one of the band’s many wild stories. “Roland got food poisoning and Sky wasn’t allowed in ‘cause his underage son was with him.” Hollywood Apocalypse has this kind of classic rock’n roll vibe, where chaos surrounds the band, but once the lights go down and the mics are on, the songs and the talent behind them refuse to be held back.

Hruska credits the musicians for this kind of success. “This band has been through a lot! Like, a LOT!” they say. “There are so many stories and so many still in the making. We’re an absolute cliché rock band when it comes to show adventures.” The band is an eclectic group of musicians. Members Ivan Hruska, Celinda Chang, Lisa Lex, Rotten Rollin, Sky Lee Vague, and Proto all bring different kinds of experiences and influences, their sound including little pieces of each of them. It becomes something unique and powerful once they hit the stage, and the chaos they bring just lifts them up and adds to the vibe.

Is the Apocalypse Coming to Your Town?

Hollywood Apocalypse has a few projects in the works, including a live EP from a show at the Whisky a Go Go, which they’ll be releasing for free this month. The EP will include live versions of some of their best music, as well as a few new tracks.

This LA band also has several upcoming shows, including those near home—a show at the Slipper Clutch on June 13 and another at The Virgil on June 27—as well as a show in the far-flung and mythical New York, at Nickstock on July 19. They’re bringing their unique, genre-bending, reality-warping sound to more and more people every day, their reach extending through the internet and spreading from live venues in a storm of wild, surprising, and fascinating musical alchemy.

https://www.instagram.com/hollywoodapocalypse/

https://www.facebook.com/HollywoodApocalypse/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2wKoNq3rZpNizbnqfg3XHg?si=-Zw3YbSZTLi0S867uuibxg