“Nickel City” shares a suffocating strip-mall on a nowhere stretch of highway with Coyle Chiropractors, Brandau & Brandau Salon and Sushi Mania; where a third of the 9 member gang that makes up, The Love Language, were eating when we arrived. The rest of the band was strewn about the gray parking lot, some napping in the van like stray dogs, the others squinting into the California sun like they’d never seen a star, which was true for most of them (a ‘California Star’ that is). The band’s tour manger was staring at the purple and yellow cartoon nickel in disbelief, wondering aloud, “is this really the place?” We went inside to find an old kid’s playroom with balloons painted on the walls and sticky soda stained floors that -according to the arcade manager- moonlighted as a concert hall. But the band didn’t care, they were happy to be on the West Coast, happy to be playing music for a living and just happy to be together.
This video was Directed & Edited by Nate Chan