JOHN ~ TUNIC ~ BLOOD
**All shows 21+—valid ID required** Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 7:30 PMJOHN“Limitations are key for us,” says John Newton, drummer and vocalist in JOHN. “I never view being a two-piece as a minus – it’s a key idiosyncratic element of what the project is.” For the last decade, the duo of Newton and Johnny Healey have constantly redefined and expanded the role, function and parameters of what a guitar and drum two-piece can be, with a sense of balance, contrast and duality fundamentally at the heart of JOHN. They are an outfit who on the surface are stripped back to a bare bones essence, a format perhaps lazily synonymous with just primitive rock, yet their work is richly layered and multifaceted – resulting in something that eschews and evades easy genre categorisation. This is crystalised in the band’s name too. “It’s a statement against colouring the music with superfluous attachments,” explains Newton. “It says: ‘we’re not going to be sensational’. It doesn’t mean to say it’s not intensely theatrical but I think there’s enough theatre in the actual energy that’s on the stage.” The band have a rich history of independence and doing things for themselves and as a result they have shaped every aspect of JOHN with great thought and detail. They formed their own label Pets Care Records and built up such momentum that they were invited to support bands such as IDLES, Mclusky, Viagra Boys and METZ and by the time of their second album, 2019’s, Out Here On The Fringes, they found themselves in Top 40 of the UK Independent Vinyl Chart and recording a live session for the esteemed US radio station KEXP. 2021’s album Nocturnal Manoeuvres proved to be an even more formidable trojan horse, finding it’s way into the Top 75 of the UK album chart, and subsequent standalone 7” Theme New Bond Junior (released in March 2023) gained the duo a coveted No.1 in the UK Vinyl Single Chart. https://www.johntheband.co.ukTUNICFor all the chaos and aggression in Tunic’s songs, the Winnipeg trio is haltingly perceptive and emotionally resonant. Composed of singer-guitarist David Schellenberg and drummer Dan Unger, the punk band is responsible for bracingly intense full-lengths about the anxieties and insecurities of daily life, including the 2021 LPs Quitter and Exhaling. But with their third album Wrong Dream, which is out via Artoffact on April 28, they’ve written their most introspective and adventurous music yet. Across nine unpredictable songs, they grapple with integrity, grief, tumultuous relationships, and universal questions that come with trying to do the right thing. Co-produced by Seth Manchester (The Body, METZ) and stand-in bassist Drew Riekman (Blessed), it’s a document of a band pushing themselves as far away from complacency as possible to make something intentional and compelling.BLOODHailing from Philadelphia, Blood basks in grasping the most opposite poles of energy, making them sit right next to each other to see what gold can be parsed from the uncomfortable. Their latest record sits at this tension of being pushed away only to be pulled back in. The collage of deviating styles and pretty mistakes brought up in the mix, reveal a band pleasurably crashing their previous vehicle, which was not yet ready to stray from the tired masculine bravado of contemporary punk.
L’Eclair ~ sunking
**All shows 21+—valid ID required** Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 7:30 PML’EclairL’Eclair is a cosmic instrumental six piece from Geneva, Switzerland. Their origins can be traced back to 2015 when, while studying in London, keyboardist Sebastien Bui and guitarist Stefan Lilov recorded several demos together in their hotel room. Hearing something special in this batch of songs, they returned to Geneva and enlisted Yavor Lilov (drums), Alain Sandri (percussion, keyboard), Quentin Pilet (percussion) and Elie Ghersinu (bass) to flesh out these ideas into a full fledged band. The relentless grooves, classic tones and silky smooth melodies were instantly present, and L’Eclair was born. Their debut record Cruise Control was released in 2017, to positive reviews. Touring extensively in Switzerland and abroad, they further honed their trademark sound while steadily growing their audience. They soon convened in Haarlem, Netherlands to record with famed studio wizard Jasper Geluk (Altin Gun, Jacco Gardner, Allah Las). These sessions became their second studio album entitled Polymood, which was released in 2018 on US label Beyond Beyond is Beyond, opening up even more opportunities for L’Eclair. On the heels of Polymood, L’Eclair continued to tour across Europe, playing in the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and France, and quickly becoming a live staple on the festival circuit. Appearances at Montreux Jazz Festival, Paléo, Kilbi, Les Transmusicales de Rennes, Eurosonic, and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival gained them critical acclaim and a cult following. Expanding their sound, their third album Sauropoda came in 2019, as well as a collaborative EP with friends Mauskovic Dance Band, both released by Bongo Joe. These projects displayed the band’s increasing propensity toward more electronic sounds, while still firmly rooted in their trademark organic grooves and rhythms. Another fruitful collaboration, this time with LA musician and producer Frank Maston, resulted in the album Souvenir (2021) and several tours in the US and Europe in late 2019. L’Eclair continued their growth as a live band supporting the Cinematic Orchestra at O2 arena, playing to their biggest audience yet. sunkingsunking is the collective experimental sights and sounds of Seattle natives Rob Granfelt (aka Bobbyy) & Antoine Martel (aka sous chef). Originally intended as a passive outlet to explore the crossings of avant-garde, hip-hop, jazz, and experimental music, sunking has morphed into a full-fledged project of its own that today is announcing its signing to ANTI- Records. Granfelt and Martel are also members of High Pulp, a Seattle jazz act that also recently signed to ANTI-. To celebrate their signing announce today, sunking has released the new track “Parcel” Feat. Teleporter. ““Parcel” is a hazy vignette, something based in the experience of nostalgia,” Granfelt explained of the song. “We knew the song had achieved its goal when our good friend Elliot Gitter AKA Teleporter layered lush synth textures as well as the dreamy vocal samples.” Sunking released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album in February 2019 and it received praise from Earshot Jazz who said: “sunking’s self-titled debut exudes an abundance of uncaged creative accomplishment.”https://open.spotify.com/artist/3P5WQ1fr1bhAZczPRUf4HX?si=xFUvURysQoC8Qg3D0mVecA
Bell Witch ~ Spirit Possession (in The Sanctuary)
**All Ages** Doors: 8:30 PM Show: 9:15 PM Bell WitchNothing’s bigger than life. All vastnesses — expanding space, infinite time — crouch inside of consciousness. On a historical scale, to say nothing of a cosmic one, the individual human life vanishes, and yet it’s the only aperture any of us get into reality. It’s barely there, and it’s all there is. That’s the paradox Bell Witch drives at. For more than a decade, the Pacific Northwestern doom metal band has sent tides surging over the seawalls of the song form, unraveling conventional expectations about the ways music stations itself in time to absorb a listener’s attention. Rather than seek catharsis, the duo’s songs heave themselves through time at a glacial pace, staving off resolution in favor of a trancelike capsule eternity. Invoking both boundlessness and claustrophobia in the same charged gesture, Bell Witch cultivates a sense of time outside of time, an oasis inside an increasingly frenetic media culture. For their new album, The Clandestine Gate, bassist Dylan Desmond and drummer Jesse Shreibman exploded Bell Witch’s bounds. Like 2017’s lauded Mirror Reaper, The Clandestine Gate is a single 83-minute track — a composition that pulses and breathes on a filmic timeframe. It constitutes the first chapter in a planned triptych of longform albums, collectively called Future’s Shadow. Spirit PossessionStrange and erratic black metal manifestations from Ash Spungin (Taurus / Ormus / ex-Insect Ark) and Steve Deacock (Ulthar / Mandiscordian Recrogenesis / Alasterp)https://spiritpossession.bandcamp.com/album/of-the-sign
NECROT ~ Skullshitter ~ Oktas ~ Radian ~ Drifter
**All shows 21+—valid ID required** Doors: 6:00 PM Show: 6:30 PM NECROThttps://necrot.bandcamp.com/album/mortalSkullshitterhttps://skullshitter.bandcamp.com/album/goat-claw Oktas Oktas is an epic post doom metal band from Philadelphia. “A righteous, true exercise in brutality and breadth. The Finite is your lungs and The Infinite is the amount of concrete being poured in them. All this low end onslaught and a human, emotional resonance too? Even more devastating.” – JJ Kozcan https://oktas.bandcamp.com/album/the-finite-and-the-infinite Radian RADIAN’s debut LP, Chapters, was dubbed by BrooklynVegan as, “…roaring sludge metal that fans of High On Fire and early Mastodon should probably feast their ears on.” The Obelisk wrote how the album, “…smashes and crashes with just that extra bit of aggression one finds underlying the most satisfying of sludge metals,” continuing, “…the crux of Chapters is roaring and pissed off and the formative dynamic in the tracks serves as much to highlight that as it does to contrast it.” The Sludgelord asserted, “The heaviness of Chapters cannot be understated. Low tuned riffing rattles the earth to its very core, with punishing density and a molten anger that burns clean through the soul. Melodic lines sing like weeping angels, creating a stark contrast to the destruction RADIAN unleashes.” https://radianakron.bandcamp.com/album/discordian Drifter Power trio cosmic sludge from Atlanta. https://drifteratl.bandcamp.com/album/drifter
XIXIX ~ Tucked In ~ Moustapha Noumbissi
**All shows 21+—valid ID required** Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 7:30 PM XIXIXBorn out of quarantine boredom, XIXIX is the solo project of Philadelphia based music producer Will Brown. Pulling influences from the synthesizers of LCD Soundsystem and The Cure to the screaming guitars of Neil Young and Built to Spill, XIXIX is best served to an intentional listener who can separate intrapersonal lyricism from a highly approachable soundscape. Released in fall of 2021 his debut album set the stage for an ethereal synth pop experience, only to be juxtaposed by a raw and aggressive live show driven by Brown’s guitar playing and affinity for punk and hardcore. With nothing left to the imagination besides how to pronounce the name, there’s no sense that Brown is playing a part when he brings himself onstage. Brown’s effortless genre-blending style is credited to the way he’s been able to chameleon himself into an amalgam of different bands and collaborations across his career. His debut record featured credits from Grammy Award winning engineer/producer Nicolas Vernes (War on Drugs, Animal Collective, Deerhunter). He has since collaborated with producer Nick Verruto (Tierra Whack, Meek Mill) and worked in the studio with countless other Philadelphia artists including Caiola, Julian King, and Ali Awan among others.https://open.spotify.com/artist/2i6PxJ8bSLsQ89SiZXjHWs?si=VYYAAqe5QsGanCgWLQtttw&nd=1Tucked InBorn in Brooklyn, New York at Pete’s Candy Store, Tucked In began as a duo with Gunnar Flinchum (vocals) and Shae Ferguson (guitar). The group’s evolution has taken them through the indie rock scene in New York to the sandy shores of Vero Beach, FL to their current residence in Phoenixville, PA. Along the way, the group has won the attention of their audiences with their raw instrumentation backed by refined vocals and tight harmonies. Drummer Connor Lord and recent additions Dan Rodgers (bass) and Carrie Morgan (keyboard/vocals) have taken the band’s sound a step further. The five members spent the fall of 2022 writing and recording the band’s most recent EP, Cocoon.https://www.tuckedintheband.com/Moustapha NoumbissiMoustapha Noumbissi is a songwriter/multi-instrumentalist based in Philadelphia, PA. Born in Belgium to Cameroonian parents, Moustapha grew up a participant of many musical traditions including–West African drumming, American pop, and choral music–his latest recordings favor Indie Rock and Psychedelic Soul. His recent work with producer Lee Clarke is testimony to liminality, self-definition and simultaneous reverence for and refusal of genre.https://moustaphanoumbissi.bandcamp.com/
Freeze MF ~ Fromjoy ~ Age of Panic ~ Strangers
**All shows 21+—valid ID required** Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 7:30 PMFREEZE MFfreezemf | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook | Linktree FROMJOYfromjoy – Listen on Spotify – LinktreeAGE OF PANICAge Of Panic | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook | LinktreeSTRANGERSInstagram
BEES! ~ Wisher ~ Haha Charade
**All shows 21+—valid ID required**Doors: 7:00 PMShow: 7:30 PMBEES!beesphilly.com WISHERwishertheband.comHAHA CHARADEhahacharade.com
Thotcrime ~ Cocojoey ~ Zombieshark! ~ The Civil War in France
**All shows 21+—valid ID required** Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 7:30 PM ThotcrimeThe usual pitfalls and tribulations of getting a group of people into a room to write and record an album do not apply here. With members hailing from Champaign-Urbana, IL, Philadelphia, PA and Nottingham, UK, THOTCRIME’s approach to crafting their brand of Cybergrind is an embrace of technological advances and DIY collaboration via Discord servers, instant messengers and online community. Their latest release, D1G1T14L_DR1FT, the follow up to 2020’s ønyøurcømputer, sees THOTCRIME continue to gleefully abandon genre convention in favour of boundless individuality and invention. They cohesively blend together disparate influences from 100 Gecs to The Locust. D1G1T4L_DR1FT finds the international act steadfastly embracing exultation and conquering all that stands in their way. Tracks such as Tweet This! and Critical Codependence (featuring diana starshine) bubble enthusiastically with hyperpop-isms amongst grind and emphatic declarations of triumph in the face of modern day adversity – be that the relentlessly ill-disposed and cynical news cycle we all find ourselves plugged into, pervasive anxieties or interpersonal turbulence – whilst tracks such as the opening This Isn’t Foundation, Now Give Me Your Skin Please? and Central Dogma play to THOTCRIME’s more caustic hardcore and metallic edges with dizzying results. THOTCRIME’s prolific output to date has seen the band generate a buzz in online music communities and garner praise from Bandcamp Daily in the publication’s profile on the burgeoning cybergrind movement at large. This June the band will be together in person for the first time as they hit the road to play shows on the East Coast and in the MidWest. They are taking their friend and burgeoning hyper pop/cybergrind act Cocojoey for support. New single “A Better Kind of Shot” comes out 5/12. “We’re extremely excited to be performing together as a full unit for the very first time. When K and I started this project all the way back in 2019, I don’t think either of us expected we’d be able to do something like this. And being able to bring Cocojoey along with us on this run is really cool, their music is so fun and they bring such a great energy in their live performance.”https://thtcrime.bandcamp.com/Cocojoeyhttps://cocojoey.bandcamp.com/Zombieshark!https://zombieshark.bandcamp.com/The Civil War in Francehttps://thecivilwarinfrance.bandcamp.com/
No/Más ~ Knoll ~ UltraMantis Black
**All shows 21+—valid ID required** Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 7:30 PM No/Máshttps://nomasgrind.bandcamp.com/Knollhttps://knollgrind.bandcamp.com/album/metempiricUltraMantis Blackhttps://ultramantisblack.bandcamp.com/
The Women’s National Hockey League ~ Ripley ~ Best Bear
**All shows 21+—valid ID required**Doors: 7:00 PMShow: 7:30 PMTHE WOMEN’S NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUEThe Women’s National Hockey League is a “post mom rock” band from NYC and none of them play hockeySpotifyInstagramRIPLEY“How do I really feel?” This is the question the songwriter Ellen Tiberio-Shultz has been asking them-self repeatedly and relentlessly since 2009 when they first started the band Ellen Siberian Tiger. This desire to understand and articulate their deepest fears, desires and joys is the common thread that connects the acoustic music the band released at it’s inception to the grungier and darker sound of their most recent release, Cinderblock Cindy (October 2020). About the lyrical content of the album, Ellen says: “Existing in the patriarchy without benefiting from it feels to me like I’m under scrutiny, like people are looking at me and measuring me against what they think I should be and in the process rendering me a passive thing to be judged. So I tried to write about who I am without those expectations. I made this album to reject that passivity, and to take an active roll in shaping my own narrative as a queer, non binary person.” The band’s current influences include Guerilla Toss, Bjork, Deerhoof and Nirvana, although if you listen through their discography you’ll find nods to folkier acts like First Aid Kid and The Dodos as well. In addition to lead singer and guitarist Ellen Tiberio-Shultz, the band currently features Collin Dennen on bass and synth and Rich Straub on drums.MusicBEST BEARBest Bear is all about understated indie-rock, ethereal dream-pop textures, and heartfelt lyrics.At times lush and oneiric, at others raw and unapologetic, the band’s songs feel like a genuine portrait of the member’s life-long love of music. However, there is also an inclusive, community-driven element at play. Connecting with the audience and other artists drives the mindset of the band, which proudly identifies with the LGBTQIA+ community and values.Best Bear has released two well-received singles over the past few years, but the musicians in the band have continued to perfect their chemistry as a unit. They’re now set to release their first-ever full-length album “When”, which will undoubtedly be another milestone in the band’s discography and musical journey.Fans of artists such as Phoebe Bridgers, The Beths, Soccer Mommy, or Pinegrove should definitely tune in!Website