'The bands of 2019'...and other shows this weekend
A bunch of bands born in the last year before the pandemic hit stages
HARK!
I hear…the Twenty Nineteeners…
A bunch of bands were born around Phoenix in 2019, that last glorious, pre-pandemic year.
After spending the last couple years playing dodgeball with pandemic lockdowns and slowdowns, these young bands are ready to bust out of their parents’ basements to rock out in front of real, live, screaming, cheering (and maybe booing) people…
As usual, the Trunk Space in downtown Phoenix and the Nile Theater in downtown Mesa are great places to catch young bands.
Indeed, the Nile has a show exclusively featuring made-in-2019 bands at the club’s underground space starting at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 12:
*The Grand Pricks
*ReRuns
*Popsiclestickairport
*Viper Club (pictured, above)
Ten bucks and proof of vax (or recent negative test) gets you in the door…
As the headlining band’s bio notes, “Viper Club is a cinematic, modern rock force to be reckoned with.”
The Phoenix band started out in 2019, with a first single called Beatrix.
Another fun Viper Club song: Reese Witherspoon. (And, yes, I agree…)
Jack VanDerPol is the Viper Club’s high-energy singer, backed by younger brother/drummer Nate VanDerPol, long-time friend Carl Gumpert on bass and Gianni Jinx on guitar.
Like a lot of bands, the Viper Club has been rollercoastering, lately. They were ready to bust out for a first tour out to Texas…then the band van broke.
The good news: After putting out a debut EP in December, the band has been working on a new song–and will shoot a video for it at the Nile.
The Nile is pretty much home base for the band:
“We played our first show as Viper Club at Pop Culture Festival in 2019 so it’s special to be back for our debut EP release show,” Jack VanDerPol said.
Born like Viper Club in 2019, Popsicklestickairport is an easy-on-the ears indie-rock band coming over the border to Mesa from Gilbert.
Tempe band the Grand Pricks, in addition to having a great name, plays power-pop-punk, with chaotic songs like the appropriately named “Entropy.”
Yep, they started in 2019.
ReRuns: a fuzzy indie band playing cocktail-friendly songs like “You” and “Sometimes”; led by Nathan Torres, they also started out in 2019…
What is it about that year?
Anyway, if you like the Strokes–hell yes on ReRuns.
New Wavers, rejoice!
Friday night, the Crescent Ballroom throws a free dance in the downtown venue’s “open-air lounge,” with DJ A Claire Slattery playing all that New Wave era stuff, from Joy Division to the Smiths with some Siouxsie and the Banshees and, of course, Depeche Mode …
If you want an inside concert at the Crescent, $25 gets you in Friday night to hear touring act Shawn James sing “a combination of the gospel choirs he sang with as a youngster and his training in classical music and opera.”
Saturday night at the Crescent, the free outdoor music is Dj MyGodComPlex and others turning up electro-funk, world beats and hip hop.
Inside the ballroom Saturday night, Oregon indie-folk band Joseph–three sisters, Natalie Closner Schepman with twins Allison Closner and Meegan Closner– plays from its new album, “Good Luck, Kid.” Tickets are $30-40.
Local alternative rockers Balto play “Black Snake, Mojave Blues” and more songs at a free show Friday at the Lost Leaf.
Pocono Mountain rockers Don’t Panic headline a Friday night show at the Rebel Lounge.
Local hardcore band American Standards will crush eardrums at the Rebel Saturday night.
Need a St. Patrick’s Day tuneup?
Socks in the Frying Pan, an award-winning trio from County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, plays Irish traditional music Saturday night at the Musical Instrument Museum.