possessed by the daemon spirit of empathy
There is magic in going to live shows...
-February 20, 2025; The Nile Theater, Mesa, Arizona-
Nightosphere – This band absolutely kicks ass and as soon as their set was over, my best friend and I turned to each other simultaneously and said, “we are gonna keep listening to them.” Nightosphere is a 3-piece band, guitar, bass and drums and they do one of my favorite things that bands do. Both the guitar player and bass player sing. Sometimes the guitar player sings lead; sometimes the bass player sings lead but then they also complement each other when needed with back up yells and such. They even switched guitar and bass for half their set. Their drummer was loud and rambunctious and perfect. This is a very dynamic band; there are quiet parts with beautiful soaring bright vocals that lead you right into a deafening wall of sound and chaos and screams coming from the bass player. Such an absolute stellar way to start the show. Nightosphere is perfect.
‘Comparing a band by naming another band based on inferred influences in cliché, BUT, Nightosphere is like if Radiohead and The Pixies had daughters and then abandoned them.’
Gouge Away – This band fucking rips. Dynamic, loud and feral; a perfect hard core punk set. The lead singer also does a great job of breaking up the vocals between yelling and singing. Now, who doesn't love a sick 90 second drag race of a hard-core song? That being said, Gouge Away does a great job of writing hard core punk songs that last longer than one or two minutes. They really leave it all on stage and they put themselves through three and a half minute sprints that were absolutely face melting. A fantastic middle set; absolutely zero boredom, no phone checking, no merch peeping, and no shifting from foot-to-foot waiting on the night to proceed; Gouge Away will grab your attention, physically move you around the crowd and then leave you adding them to your listening service. Couldn't of asked for a better set, thank you Gouge Away.
‘“This flower... is wilting.” Bobby Hill – King of the Hill. My immediate reaction to Gouge Away. She is so fierce there was also a hit of “oh my” by George Takei rising up in me.’
CHAT PILE – I need a young priest and an old priest! Raygun Busch is possessed by the daemon spirit of empathy and he gave a fiery sermon from the mount at The Nile Theater in Mesa, Arizona! What made me the most grateful was the crowd that assembled for Chat Pile; Arizona is the state where charities go to die; statistically, every charity in America receives the least amount of support from people in Arizona. Every time an artist tries to say something involving empathy or politics on stage, they always get heckled; Not tonight! Chat Pile opened with their crusher of a tune Funny Man and the fuse was lit. The second song was WHY! Honestly, this is one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard and if you woulda shaved my arm I woulda bled to death cuz you cut off all my goosebumps. Why- is a song where Raygun Busch screams into the crowd “why do people gotta live outside? We have the means! We have the resources!” And the crowd erupted like I've never seen and not one damn heckle. The mid song banter was also elite. With a tight 3-piece band, just one guitar, one bass and drums, which was surprising to me because they have such a strong sound I expected more band members, Raygun Busch would buy time by chatting us up. He said “yall are the used bookstore of the world!” He talked about the book he is reading currently, the book he and his guitar player are reading together and then he encouraged us all to read and go buy books! The other mid song banter would include every movie he could think of that involved Phoenix. Even someone in the crowd next to me blurted out loud “this dude kicks ass!” And I agree, I haven't seen such sweet mid song banter in years. Also, it appears that they were building their set list live and in the moment; after each song they would have a lil conference to see how to proceed, they even joked about how they now use a baseball system to throw signs at each other; which speaks of such a sensitive and conversational style of performance; they don't show up with a pre-planned set list and just cram the songs down everyone's throat; they play a song, see how the crowd reacts and then move forward with the crowd! Raygun Busch has a fierce stage presence and paces around the stage half falling, half stumbling, full commitment. You can tell they believe in the art that they make, and they are here to send a message. Technically, the band was an absolute machine, there was nowhere to hide mistakes, one guitar, one bass, one drummer and no oopsie daisies; in fact, I think you would have to argue over which you prefer, the recorded CHAT PILE or live CHAT PILE. They are the music that they make, no production tricks here, just raw talent and empathy. Their farm to table, organic, and improvised set list was brutal, fun, urgent & honest; and when they were done, half and I mean half, of the entire floor was a twirling push pit of humanity. I have never seen a group take control of The Nile Theater like I saw CHAT PILE; and they did it with love, empathy, peace and understanding. CHAT PILE for life!!!
‘Raygun Busch needs and exorcism and I'll fist fight every preacher that gets close!’
I take fuzzy pictures. Life is fuzzy. Memories are fuzzy. People are fuzzy.
Thank you all so much for reading. Go see Nightosphere, Gouge Away & CHAT PILE live. Go see live music. Support local artist. Support local music. Support small venues.
Cheers!