Blog — Page 1 of 275

Lung @ Lee's Palace
Toronto, ON Canada
November 19, 2024

Have you ever heard a distorted electric cello, with intense vocals and heavy drum beats?

Powerhouse duo, cellist Kate Wakefield and drummer Daisy Caplan, are not to be underestimated! Seeing them for the first time perform live has left me wanting more!

Better Lovers are making the rounds again, this time with a new full-length LP, Highly Irresponsible, released earlier this Fall. The hardcore mash-up of ex-Dillinger Escape Plan and ex-Every Time I Die members recently brought their show to So-Cal, and I had the pleasure of seeing how things have been going since last year. They brought along midwestern Shoegazers, Cloakroom, Hardcore Punk quintet SPY, and Grindcore act Full of Hell.

After getting stuck in traffic due to multiple accidents on the freeway, I found myself arriving just in time to catch the end of Cloakroom's set. Next up were SPY from Nor-Cal. The audience seemed anxious to get riled up and Spy were just the band to do it. A clash of hardcore dancers and circle pitters occupied the floor while the band roared on stage.

Full of Hell followed. I'm unsure if there were mic issues at the start, or if the band just played that loud, but frontman Dylan Walker was inaudible at the beginning of the set. It was a bit jarring to see Walker throw his head around with constant screaming faces but not hear anything. It seemed to be fixed by the second song, though the band did indeed just play so loud that it was still difficult to hear him.

Better Lovers were about to take the Observatory stage. The last time the band played here, it was in a small room no bigger than a Starbucks that sits inside the Observatory. The 1200-capacity room was packed by the time their intro track, a hodge-podge of songs about, or including the word "Love," began to play. It was a different vibe, but the energy in the room was the same. The band jumped into "Lie Between the Lines" from their new album, Highly Irresponsible. The band amped up the production with a half dozen strobes to mess with your senses and add to the chaos as frontman, Greg Puciato, screams in your face.

The band continued to chip away at tracks from Highly Irresponsible like "Future Myopia" and "Love as an Act of Rebellion," as well as throwing in tracks from their debut EP and singles "The Flowering" and "Two Alive Amongst the Dead." Crowd surfers made their way to the front aplenty. A small child even appeared to be offered up as a sacrifice. Don't worry, she made it back to her father. Better Lovers never faltered and ripped through their set without ever taking much of a breather. The band is only getting better. The night reached its apex as they jumped into their last song of the night, "30 Under 13." The crowd saw it as their last chance to go all out, so a few didn't hesitate to make their way onto the stage to head-walk or stage dive. Everyone in Better Lovers has been doing this for a long time. Between a new album that rips and an intense live show, it's clear that they have no intentions of slowing down.  Be sure to catch them when they tour with Poison the Well in 2025!

Rise Against decided to hit the road this past fall and brought along L.S. Dunes. Depending on your city, different acts opened the show. Cleveland, Ohio's Cloud Nothings covered the crowd warm-up duties on their run through California. With a bill this stacked, I didn't want to miss it.

Midwestern Indie-Rock trio, Cloud Nothings, have been touring to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their 3rd studio album, Here and Nowhere Else. While the band isn't playing the album in full as their support act for Rise Against, they are filling their short set with tracks from the album such as "Psychic Trauma," "Pattern Walks," and "Giving into Seeing." Cloud Nothings ran through their set with ferocity and swiftness. Between Here and Nowhere Else, they threw in tracks such as "I'd Get Along" from their new album, Final Summer, and "Stay Useless" from their 2012 release, Attack on Memory. They have a few headlining shows coming up in Minneapolis and Chicago. Be sure to catch them!

Next up was the supergroup, L.S. Dunes. They're comprised of members from Circa Survive, Thursday, My Chemical Romance, and Coheed & Cambria. The band came out and opened with "2022" from their debut Past Lives. The band was encased in darkness as vocalist, Anthony Green sang the opening lines before madness ensued. I've been watching him perform for nearly 2 decades and he's as active on stage as ever. Truly astonishing. The entire band put on one of the best sets I've seen all year. the band only has one album out right now, but have a new one on the way in 2025. They're testing out new tracks "Machines" and "Fatal Deluxe" from their upcoming sophomore album, Violet. Both tracks received a positive response from fans in the crowd, as well as those previously unfamiliar with the band.

It was time for Rise Against to take the stage. The excitement between set changes had been building, with fans in the crowd screaming "Let's fucking go!" and guttural screams of "YES!!!" The band walked out and jumped straight into the hit single, "Satellite" and the crowd exploded. Oftentimes the crowd's singing drowned out the band until frontman, Tim Mcilrath pulled out a megaphone. The smaller room compared to the last few tours over the years made for a better crowd. The band made a point to mention how that venue was the perfect size, and I agree. They continued down the set with tracks from The Sufferer and The Witness, Appeal to Reason, and The Black Market. They took a moment to acknowledge that it was the 20th anniversary of their break-out record, Siren Song of the Counter Culture before delving into deep cuts of "Paper Wings" and "Dancing for Rain." With no new album to promote, the band was just out looking to have fun and it made for a more relaxed atmosphere.

During the encore, the band went all the way back to their first album, The Unraveling, and played "Six Ways 'Til Sunday" after talking about their earliest tours through Anaheim and playing the local legendary punk club, Chain Reaction. They closed out the night with their biggest hit, "Savior" which saw swarms of fans rushing to the floor. It was great to be in a room with so much energy and positive vibes. The band will be taking L.S. Dunes with them to Germany in February before a lengthy tour supporting Papa Roach with Underoath in the Spring and Summer.

It's been 10 years since the last Blood Brothers reunion. You wouldn't think a second comeback would hit as hard as the first, but the band is truly better than ever. The reunited post-hardcore troupe is back in celebration of their eminent album, Crimes, released 20 years ago. Different openers are filling in throughout the tour, and when they rolled through the Glass House in Pomona, they were accompanied by LA hardcore act, Entry.

I've become more and more familiar with Entry over the past couple of years just from seeing them open for other bands. They always deliver an intense set. Sara G. continues to be a force to be reckoned with. If you're not familiar with Entry yet and you're a fan of power violence and hardcore, be sure to check them out. Heck, odds are you can catch them on any hardcore bill in a 30-mile radius of LA.

The Blood Brothers used to play The Glass House regularly during their original tenure. Coming through with bands like Against Me! and ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead. The band coming back was like a sort of homecoming. The band walked out to the apocalyptic theme of The Terminator before the call of "Set Fire to the Face on Fire" kicked off the set. It was like nothing had changed. Co-vocalist, Johnny Whitney, spent most of his time throwing himself into the crowd and screaming with the fans along the barricade while other co-vocalist, Jordan, commanded the stage.

The setlist consisted of tracks across their entire catalog, including "Jennifer" and "Mutiny on the Ark of the Blood Brothers" from their first album, This Adultery is Ripe. The band brought back "USA Nails" from Burn, Piano Island, Burn -- personal favorite that I haven't seen, except possibly for the first time I saw Blood Brothers. The crowd went nuts for "Peacock Skeleton with Crooked Feathers" and Crimes single, "Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck." The energy from the band was palpable with very little discernable difference from 10 years ago, or even 17 years ago. They closed out the night with "The Shame," which seemed appropriate considering the results of the election that was happening at the same time.

The band made comments about this possibly being the last time they tour, so if you're a fan, I wouldn't skip this. Maybe they get a bit more winded now, but overall, The Blood Brothers are still one of the best shows money could buy. They give 110% and leave you asking, 'How are they still able to pull this off?" So put on your skinny jeans, find the white belt you donated at Goodwill, and relive your adolescence.

Vices, outlets, escapes... I'm not sure where things are at here in November of 2024. But as we battle our demons and look for meaning, or escape, music is a blessing.

Here's a new playlist. Many of these artists have been covered at Scene Point Blank, mixed in with tracks that just hit me personally for whatever reason.

Pay it forward. Share good things and be excellent to each other. #SearchPlayRepeat