Story: Brian Schmidt
Photos: Brian Schmidt and Spencer Fleming
Happy Birthday Josh! First and foremost, your show was an awesome excuse for me to start an article with “Happy Birthday Josh.” Well, I guess that’s not entirely the reason for it. Secondly, what a fantastic way to usher in a new decade of your life! You get to party with all your friends, see some of the coolest bands in town, and bring so much joy to so many people. Lastly, I hope you didn’t die. I saw you taking that line of shots as I was leaving, and that much alcohol would put me into a coma. Thanks for the party, Dude!
Dullparty ollied onto stage with their makeshift skate deck pedalboards, (genius idea), spreading chill vibes all around with their garage rock street surfing tunes. Within their first song, I was transported back to listening to the original Spider-Man 2 soundtrack while eating lukewarm pizza and playing Halo 3 split screen at 2 in the morning before passing out in a beanbag chair having to use the pizza box as a makeshift blanket because homie didn’t give me no blanket before he passed out on the couch. Even though the band’s set had a few technical issues, (props to the lead singer for continuing the song even after his low E string broke), and the band played the entire set with several stray mic stands planted firmly in front of the stage, I really enjoyed the experience.
The lead guitarist was very charismatic and was playing it up like he was the biggest rockstar in the world, climbing on top of monitors, jumping down and playing through the crowd, as well as getting right up into the camera with his best battle-ready grin. Dude looked like he was having a blast and it was infectious.
Also, their bassist had the best fit, sporting a dad hat, pigtails, pink booty shorts, and low cut Timbs with green eyed socks to match. Dullparty’s dull party vibes were the perfect start to the show.
Check out Dullparty’s new single on their Spotify page here
As well as the accompanying music video at ACID (Official Music Video)- Dullparty
Next up was Rivulus who manual-ed onto stage with two, admittedly shaky Ghost covers, “From the Pinnacle to the Pit” and “Circle”. To be fair I’m not a huge fan of Ghost, so I may be a bit too critical.That being said the band turned it around with their fantastic cover of “Hunting Humans” by the Misfits as well as a few other tracks I did not recognize that had some angelic vocal harmonies! The band had the swagger of classic rock icons on stage. At one point their bassist did an Angus Young style whatchamacallit, where he ran in a circle while lying on the ground; Classic!
The band ended on a phenomenal cover of “Seek and Destroy”, although I honestly think my favorite tracks were the couple of ( I think there were more than one, but only one was officially announced as an original) original songs, one of which was a super jazzy Zeppelin III style tune which had more vocal doubling on par with Bon-Y-Aur Stomp. That level of writing takes some talent. I hope to hear more originals in the future.
Go follow Rivulus on Facebook and Instagram for future updates, and hopefully some new singles soonish.
Between sets I had the opportunity to pound some Jager bombs with the slightly inebriated birthday boy. Josh has been one of the leading forces for bringing metal shows to the metro area with his years of service at local promoters Aorta. I did an interview with Josh years ago and since then have had a fantastic working relationship with the guy. He’s super awesome every time we interact, and the guy has brought so many of my favorite bands to the area. It’s nice to once again have the opportunity to bring some love to the guy. I also learned that his favorite drink is this IPA called Fairy Nectar. I hate IPA’s but Josh made it sound awesome. Check it out if you like IPAs or buy one for the guy next time you’re at an Aorta show.
Check out my interview on Slime&Grime at https://www.slimeandgrime.net/post/petersen-interview
Bringing the thunder with their soundcheck, a few seconds of “Astro Zombie”, of which they said they would not be playing, Even Coast did anything but coast. They practically landed a Fakie Bigspin 720 Body Varial (skater jargon for doing a bunch of flips and spins.) It was about this point when I realized all the bands were playing mostly covers tonight. How in the world did I manage to get, not one, but two degrees, but barely graduate from the school of rock and roll? Even Coast played several classic punk covers, most of which I have definitely heard before, but could not for the life of me remember the names of, to a flurry of blowup dongs, breasts, and a singular blowup doll named Dorothy, all of which were battered around by the crowd. At one point the doll was batted upward and got caught on a cable line 20 feet in the air.
Fortunately, the wind came and blew it down. Unfortunately, the doll quickly deflated after being trampled in the pit. The EMTs in the pit were seen attempting CPR but could not resuscitate. Dorothy is survived by her phalluses and two partially deflated beach ball boobies. To end their sexy set the band lied to us and finished off with “Astro Zombies”. Partially because it was requested by fellow Stories Crowdtician Spencer.
You can donate to the Dorothy Doll’s fellatable family fund at: https://linktr.ee/Evencoast
Lastly was Pop Shove-It, whose namesake comes from playing entirely too much Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and subsequently covering a ton of the soundtrack. Pop Shuv Mctwisted their way through nostalgic 2000’s pop punk anthems covering such hits as “The Middle” and “Dear Maria”, the latter of which was the highlight of the show for me, having grown up a midwestern emo kid myself until ditching the genre in favor of the heavier and harrier styles, or at least less hair-sprayed ones.
At one point the bassist ditched his instrument entirely to jump in the pit mid song, which is pretty freaking metal! Upon exiting his knee was covered in blood but he hopped right back on stage and continued playing the rest of his set.
Pop Shuv capped off their set with a cover of Ocean Avenue, leaving the crowd wanting more. Unfortunately, the party had to end due to quiet ordinances as it was pushing 11pm and the show was set up out on the patio. I got to give a shoutout to Drummer Jordan who is also in local favorites Witherfang, as well as Odd Man Out, and probably a million other bands. Dude consistently kills it.
You can find the band Popping, scooping, and jumping off the tail of their boards at
And
Also, show some love to Josh and the Aorta dudes. They make all these cool local shows possible.
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Pop Shove It
Even Coast
Rivulus
Dull Party
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