Savage Night

Coolsville / Interscope released Savage Night on June 15, 1999 — the Los Angeles band’s major-label studio set after years as the house sound at Hollywood’s Lava Lounge. The group had formed in 1994 for that room’s opening and built a following with steel, reverb guitar, and a darker lounge tone than beach-party surf.

The album mixes covers (Lee Hazlewood’s “A Cheat,” Mancini’s “Experiment in Terror,” Tom Waits’s “Jockey Full of Bourbon”) with originals such as “Hot Rods to Honolulu,” “Trouble Bay,” and the title track. Vocals sit in the mix more than on Dale or Ventures records; the mood stays late-night bar rather than contest heat.

It is the 1990s LA tiki-club document next to Combustible Edison’s New England lounge revival. Use it when the room wants surf DNA with cigarette-end lighting.