PERFORMING LIVE AT HOTEL ZIGGY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2025, WITH THE DEBUT OF THEIR 1st ORIGINAL SONG CALLED “BLUE JEANS.”
It may be “a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll,” but if you are in the band called AZALEA, the top keeps getting closer and closer.
Written By Don Marcelo
AZALEA is a brand new (about 3 months old) all-female alternative/indie/rock band comprised of 4 angelic alternative young rockers and talented musicians from the greater LA area who quickly getting noticed by all the local venues lately, including a pretty big venue, called H.O.B. More on this later.
AZALEA was formed and founded in the summer of 2024 by the talented 18 year old musical genius, Multi-Instrumentalist, and Guitar Phenom Taryn Haze (Haze is her rockstar stage name), A Musicians Institute student in Hollywood and along with her best friend Madison Jones, a 17 year old High Schooler who has a powerful and seductive and smoldering voice, and a guitarist herself as well and comes from a family of artists and musicians.
Taryn and Madison immediately connected and recruited another great Multi-Instrumentalist as their bass player, 18 year old Candy Zhang from the same Music school Taryn Haze attends, The Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA. Candy is a trained Guitarist by heart, but also plays the Bass Guitar, the Cello, and the Piano. She came to America from China to study music at The Musicians Institute in the summer of 2024 and quickly became friends with Taryn at their Music School. For Candy, talk about taking a “Leap of Faith” and going for your dreams and coming to America to pursue your passion in music and leaving all your friends and family back in China. Now that’s powerful.
While hunting for a drummer, Maddie and Taryn recruited their long time friend, The Amazing 19 year old Savannah Tweedt on drums (another Multi-Instrumentalist) who studies at USC Thornton School of Music and was a Spotlight Grand Prize Finalist in 2024, and HLAG Champion in 2023, and plays with 3 other bands.
Altogether, Taryn, Madison, Candy, and Savannah form AZALEA.
The first time I photographed AZALEA was in November of 2024. Taryn and Madison played a stripped down acoustic set at a small family owned beer house in The City of Monrovia called The Pour House. Despite the fact that it was a stripped down acoustic version of AZALEA where only Taryn and Maddie were present, it was still an amazing performance by two amazing musicians. From their performance at The Pour House, I knew that AZALEA would be a band that would get a lot of buzz in the local LA Music Scene area and since I have seen Taryn performed in the past with her former band when she was only 17 at The World Famous Whisky A Go Go, I knew that her new band would be something special. What I saw at The Whisky way back then when Taryn was with her former band, I knew right away that she was going to be special with her cool and calm stage presence and her phenomenal axe shredding skills, just like her mentor, The Great Nita Strauss. Taryn delivers a style that you don’t see that much since she explodes on axe out of nowhere and then back to the cool smooth riffs. Thus, with so much photography competition in the LA area, I had to be the first to capture and cover AZALEA. And I was so glad I did because I didn’t know anything about Madison until this night. Madison or Maddie’s voice is something else as well where she can belt out those punk rock screams (as she was once with a punk rock/ska band) then back to that smoldering, deep sultry vocals that just invites you to listen to her sing while her voice melts your ears away.
After seeing the stripped down version, I finally got to cover the entire band in December of 2024 for their very first showcase at Hotel Ziggy and they packed the place. I met their super talented and super cool and badass bass player from China, Candy and also met the super phenomenal drum kicking, hair flipping, beat pounding, Savannah Tweedt whom I have photographed before a year ago with her other band. Together as AZALEA, they are a force to be reckoned with who are getting a lot of hype and attention in the greater LA area.
Right after their first showcase at Hotel Ziggy, I got to cover them again just before Christmas in The City of Long Beach at The Pike Bar. Once again they delivered a beautiful and outstanding set.
In January of 2025, I missed their performance at Corbin Bowl because I had prior engagements. But I made sure that on this night, February 1st, that I was there because I had the inside scoop of knowing that they will be performing their first original song LIVE on STAGE.
And sure enough their first original song is a banger and it’s called “BLUE JEANS.” I even got to record the entire song LIVE with my point and shoot camera on my left hand while shooting STILLS with my right hand (and scientists say that men can not multi-task, HA! Actually it’s true. It’s scientifically proven that men are bad at multitasking…but I digress…)
I had the opportunity to not only photograph and cover their amazing set for SLR MAGAZINE, but also got the chance to talk to Taryn and explain to me/us the meaning of “BLUE JEANS.”
Taryn Haze said to me:
**“The song ‘BLUE JEANS’ captures the excitement of a new relationship and the refreshing feeling of being with someone who truly understands you. It contrasts past toxic and unhealthy relationships with the joy of finally experiencing real love. Rather than dwelling on the past the song encourages embracing the present, letting go of hesitation, and taking a leap of faith even when it feels scary.“
Powerful and deep words coming from someone so young, yet so mature and profound. This is why I love this band. The freshness and their beautiful energy off and on the stage and their “LET’S GO DO IT AND HAVE SOME FUN” attitude is what makes them special. It’s so refreshing to see this type of no-ego attitude and the “let’s just play good music and have fun in a band”. This is AZALEA.
I love seeing bands grow and glow. Like a parent seeing their child bloom, bands that glow and grow excites me while they pave their way into the world of music greatness. As in every band, the more they get to perform on stage, the better and more exciting they become as they learn from each show and from each other of what works and what doesn’t work.
For AZALEA it is no exception. The members got so much better and livelier on this night compared to the previous shows I have seen. An example of what I’m talking about is this: Candy, who had a cool demeanor playing bass the first two times I saw her perform, on this night, she was rocking out hard showing off her hair flipping, her head banging skills, and her sassiness while playing her bass guitar, almost imitating Savannah which is expected to see since Savannah is well known for her hair flips and head banging skills while beating on her drums ever so flawlessly (I even told Savannah, jokingly this evening, “ Hey Savannah, no hair flips please…” and we both just laughed out loud). And of course, there is no further explanation of the great vocals of Madison Jones and Taryn Haze’s extraordinary axe shredding skills. This group is exciting and fun to watch and enjoyable to listen to. One must really need to see their performance LIVE ON STAGE in order to fully understand what I’m talking about.
Thank you for all your hard work AZALEA. I look forward to seeing more of you in the future. Oh and by the way as I write this, AZALEA will be playing at The House of Blues in Anaheim on Friday February 7, 2025…like whaaaaaat!!! H.O.B in Anaheim!!! Yes! Seriously. At The House of Blues in Anaheim in The Foundation Room. They also have another gig lined up in February in The City of Long Beach once again, and also in June at Universal Bar and Grill. Not too shabby for a brand new band who has only been around playing together for less than 3 months and getting booked. Great job AZALEA. And as The Great Casey Kasem always said, “KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND AND KEEP REACHING FOR THE STARS.” Stay real and authentic and I’ll see you around Los Angeles.
FOLLOW AZALEA ON ALL THEIR SOCIALS FOR MORE:
https://www.instagram.com/azalea.bandofficial
Photo Gallery of the performance by © Don Marcelo Photography 2025
MADDIE
TARYN
SAVANNAH
CANDY
BAND
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