Near the end of CSS’ set at The Regent, singer Lovefoxx reminisced with the crowd about the band’s previous gigs in Los Angeles. There was their first show in the city, somewhere in the Fashion District. At least one person in the audience was there. There was some back and forth about a show where Lovefoxx lost her voice. As for this show, it was jam packed. But, Lovefoxx said to the crowd, the love for CSS in the room might not have been about the band itself. 

“We were playing in the background of your life,” she said. “And I think that you’re all here because you just love your history and your songs. We’re just lucky to have been in the background on your MySpace page.” 

Short for Cansei de Ser Sexy, CSS formed in São Paulo and hit the scene in the mid-‘00s with songs like “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above,” “Alala” and “Music Is My Hot Sex.” Their music, at least on that first album, was a little new wave, a little Riot Grrrl and totally of its time. The “Death from Above” in the title of their breakthrough song is a reference to the Canadian band, who you would have known if you were tapped into the indie world (who happen to be playing L.A. next weekend). Their popularity spread IRL at dance clubs and online via file-sharing, music blogs and nascent social media sites.

Now, 20 years since the release of their self-titled debut album, and more than a decade since their most recent full-length, CSS played what might be their final show in L.A., where some of the band members live. It was an early show. I met up with one of my friends at 7:30 p.m. and, by the time we got inside the venue, opening band Agender was at least midway through their set. Moreover, the floor level of the Regent was already extremely full. We headed up to the balcony and staked space close enough to see the stage and far enough away to ensure that every pic I took looked like it was taken with a RAZR. 

Agender are a local punk band with a good following and new album out in March, singer Romy Hoffman announced to the crowd. What I saw of their set last night was fantastic, very high energy and with an enthusiastic response from the crowd. I don’t know who was DJing in between the live sets, but the vibe was The Breeders-meet-Robyn if you will. The music grew louder and more intense CSS’ set time approached, with “We Like to Party”— yeah, the Vengaboys song— serving to hype the crowd right before the band took to the stage.

Opening with “CSS Suxxx,” the first song on the debut album, the band immediately dropped the audience back into the ‘00s. Nostalgia was certainly part of the show, but the band was cheeky about it. Lovefoxx noted that a 15-year-old listening to their debut album today was akin to them listening to The Clash’s London Calling when they were 15 and wondered aloud if that made them a classic rock band. 

But, if you watched the videos playing on the screen behind the band, there was a little more to this show than reliving the ‘00s. The images ranged from ‘80s cartoons, He-Man and Care Bears amongst them, to today’s memes of dancing kids and bats who look like they’re at a goth club. CSS was connecting the past with the present while playing through their catalog. 

And the band did play a good range of songs from across their releases. Obviously, the hits from their debut made it into the set, with “Alala”closing the show. They also dropped a few tunes from sophomore album, Donkey— like “Let’s Reggae All Night” and “Move.” A good amount of songs from their excellent third album, La Liberación, made it into the set, including my personal favorite “Hits Me Like a Rock” and the song that Lovefoxx noted was very appropriate for the moment, “Fuck Everything.” They played a couple tunes from the overlooked 2013 album, Planta, including “Dynamite,” which references the now-closed L.A. bar Smog Cutter. And they dug deep for early covers like their version of Madonna’s hit “Hollywood” and the Jennifer Lopez/Sleater Kinney mashup “I Wanna Be Your Jlo.” 

Lovefoxx said that she hoped the show would help people reconnect with the “silly energy” of their heyday. “I hope you can bring this back to your life for the next month or the next year,” she said. It was a great sentiment. Just because you grow up doesn’t mean you have to be serious all the time. You can still have fun, even if the shows for your old favorite bands are now early af. 

It wasn’t even a quarter to 10 p.m. when Lovefoxx commented on the “sensible times” of their shows today, adding that people could be in bed by midnight. To tell you the truth, midnight was around the time I fell asleep while writing this. 

Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs. Follow on Instagram for more updates.

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