Bildungsregent
Spider Water celebrates Exit Plan release at Regent Theatre on Saturday, 12 October 2024.
Headsick, Wallower, and Robo Pumpkin sandwich the fourstack bill.
First ever collab showcase presented by Hump Nights and The 4th Wall. We doing more of these things or what?
Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
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Hump Nights
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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️
Hump Nights
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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
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Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️
Robo Pumpkin
Popper, punker, maybe some emo overtones Robo Pumpkin played a solo acoustic set to open the underground music showcase at the historic Regent Theatre. Lights, a few cameras, plenty of action as the soft strummer delivered introspective tunes in the key of coming-of-age. You know, Bildungsroman! Lessons learned and still being learned on the path of lyfe.
Spider Water
Hot on the heels of the streaming release of Exit Plan earlier in the week, the four-piece Spider Water unveiled some never-before-heard live versions of cuts from the new album.
And in case you were worried that the band was not going to cash out the visual possibilities of its band name, fear not, because the cover of the album is a hallucinogenic vision of a town hall-sized tarantula creeping its way through – you guessed it – water.
Speaking of visual possibilities, the band played in front of a massive projection, which depicted, in a series of animated clips, a cartoon protagonist ambling through an acid-goggled fantasy dimension. Half-Willy Wonka’s factory, half-Gorillaz videos circa turn of the millennium.
The compositions were pop, were rock, were pop-rock. Plenty of musical cameos throughout the set. And there was a little bit of a jazzy/proggy flair in the attack, which let different solos go off on walks during the songs. Maybe it was a bass solo, or synth, or a drum breakdown. Whatever added a little oomph on the record release night.
Spider Water Photo Gallery
Credit: Daniel Nova, Jr.
Wallower
The originally-booked Nicoteens took the night off with illness. Guess who showed up to save the day? Thanks, Wallower!
The band shares a bassist with the closer Headsick, so it might have been just a quick DM to his bandmates to set up the last minute gig.
What to say about Wallower that two 8-string guitars and one 6-string bass don’t say better by themselves? The doomy, proggy, vocals-forward metal wailers sent up a wall of noise that extended all the way up through the clouds and into the lower- to mid-stratospheres.
The set list included “Sentiments,” which is an apt song title for a band named Wallower. Shout out to the headbanging in the front row.
Headsick
There was more than one release party going on Friday. Emo pop punkers Headsick just dropped the single “Headsick 12,” a collaboration with Ringpop! Which follows a string of singles released this year, including “New Moons,” “Through My Teeth,” and “Voidsong.”
Looks like the sort of trend you see before a full album gets released – is one on the way?
Most of the band members were in the pit, banging the heads, during the last set. And the pit returned the favor when they took the stage, rollicking through a 35-minute set of high-tempo pop assaults. You’d almost call this band “post hardcore” with the level of intensity that they bring to performances — explosive percussion! — but there’s more of a melodic turn to the songwriting than you might expect with that tag.
Extra points to the bassist doing double duty, having just played the previous set. It takes a village… of six-stringed basses.
Photo Gallery
Spider Water celebrates Exit Plan release at Regent Theatre.