Night, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the Regrettes, was performing at the Growlers’ Los Angeles waterfront music festival, the Growlers Six, when that bizarre -- and scary -- scene transpired.
"She was on drugs and it was really sh----," Night told me over the phone last week.
"She looked at me with these eyes like she was either going to kiss me or kill me. I just froze and ran," Night added.
Before that incident, concerts were mostly positive experiences and safe spaces for Night. Going to shows is what she grew up doing.
"How it all started for me is my dad took me to a concert -- this band the Donnas -- and that's what kind of started it all," Night said.
"I have a musical family of people that don't play music, but they're very big music fans and music lovers," she explained.
Luckily for the Los Angeles-based musician, being raised on a love for music has translated to incredible talent and an already prolific music career -- despite the fact that she's only 17.
Night started her first band when she was five or six, according to her, serving as the frontwoman -- like she does for the Regrettes. When she was just 12, she played South by Southwest with a two-piece called Pretty Little Demons, eventually catching the attention of actor/musician Ryan Gosling, who recruited her for his band, Dead Man's Bones. When she was 15, she formed the Regrettes and quickly signed to Warner Bros. Records.
Some of her most exciting work is happening now, though. In May, the Regrettes were "Hamilton" musical director Lin-Manuel Miranda's featured Hamildrop.
The Hamildrop series is bonus content related to the award-winning musical that Miranda has been dropping every month since the end of 2017. Last month's featured the Regrettes putting their own garage rock spin on "Helpless," Night's favorite song from the musical.
"Our producer Mike [Elizondo] is friends with Lin and Alex [Lacamoire, orchestral director] over at 'Hamilton.' He had worked on the previous Hamildrop.... Alex had been to one of our shows and was a big fan," Night said.
"I chose that song instantly because I'm a huge 'Hamilton' fan. I thought it would be way harder than it was [to re-interpret], but it wasn't too hard," she added.
Easy for Night to say, considering she's been more successful as a teenager than most of us have been in our entire adult lives.
The Regrettes headline Che Cafe on Saturday, June 30. The show is now sold out.
Rutger Ansley Rosenborg has been an Associate Editor at NBC SoundDiego since 2016. Find out more here, or contact him here.
