Girl at the Rock Shows

We got a surprising amount of snow on Thursday. That’s not a complaint, but the five inches we got seemed to catch people off guard. It had me so excited but also a bit nervous to drive downtown. Although I’m a damn good winter driver, having grown up in this kind of stuff in Iowa, my nerves always start to get the best of me when I get on the road and see more white than pavement. That being said, nothing was going to stop me from going to the 7th Street Entry on Thursday, and thankfully, I was not the only one who wasn’t going to be stopped by some snow. The room wasn’t full, but it was cozy as the show started, and the people who braved the roads and the snow that started back up towards the end of the show were given a perfect pre-holiday gift.

I’ve already seen and written about Unstable Shapes three times this year, so I will spare you my praise for this local band and purely remind you that this group is absolutely worth your time and attention. Like all of the other ones, their set on Thursday night was flawless. Although it was the same songs I’ve been hearing from this band all year, each song was presented with Unstable Shape’s signature and distinct sense of intensity that is impossible to ignore. The seriousness and depth of Unstable Shapes was only broken when the band closed their set out with a surprise cover song and guest. Joined by Geoffrey Lamar Wilson of local darlings Laamar, the band treated the audience to an odd but oddly perfect cover of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Although vocalist Andrew Cahak ended the set by mumbling, “Well, that went about as well as it would have,” I can tell you that this song definitely got everyone in the holiday spirit if you weren’t already feeling it from the snow. Charm, brains, and angst– Unstable Shapes has it all and is absolutely going to be on my top list for local bands this year.

A sense of severity and intensity radiated from the stage as the next band, In Lieu, performed, which both scared and intrigued me. I mean it when I say this band is intense. Sure, there’s intensity in their unique brand of post-punk meets subtle noise meets sludge, but I’m talking more about the presentation of their unique sound. There was something ferocious that came off of each of the four members of this band. I wish I could expand more on that, but as I sit here trying to write this, I find myself completely lost for words. This makes sense, as this band had me lost in their world throughout their short time on the iconic 7th Street Entry stage. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved the sound of In Lieu. I was catching onto a bit of a fuzzy Distillers sound but with a super ear-catching sense of noise around some of the guitar work. My boyfriend and friend and I probably both heard different things, but by the end of the set, I realized that we had all inched just a bit closer to the stage as if we were a defenseless bug in In Lieu’s web just patiently waiting to get eaten alive by the fierceness (while with a smile on our faces).

The name of the game with Thursday night’s local show was intensity. You got intense emotions from Unstable Shapes, intense severity from In Lieu, and then intense face melting from Curve. This trio has an almost 90s grunge inspiration behind some of their tracks, but they are presented with a sense of fuzzy post-punk tendencies. It reminded me a bit of Clutch, but unlike Clutch, Curve had me captivated throughout their set. I’ll admit, their songs all did kind of sound the same to me as I’m a bit unfamiliar with this post-COVID local band, but even with that being said, there was a thrill that came from watching this trio perform. You could tell that the three members of this band were up on that small stage doing what they loved, and that was more than enough for me to get lost in their sound and world while they were on stage.

Closing out the night was the local band Upright Forms. This is a group that has been on my “need to see” list for quite some time, so I was stoked to finally see what this trio was all about. Much like Curve, Upright Forms had a sound that blended post-punk with something a bit more classic and nostalgic. The fuzzy sound that Curve had laid out seemed to persist into Upright Forms set but it took a different kind of shape. On top of the fuzz was this intensity that came from vocalist Nick Sakes. Don’t get me wrong, all of the members of this group brought a sense of flawless and slightly intimidating intensity to the stage and were fun to watch, but there was something about Nick that intrigued me a bit. The sound coming through the speakers would be stunningly intense and, quite frankly, brutal at times, but watching him, it seemed like he was just being normal, not screaming his soul out to the ethers. Okay, maybe I’m crazy, maybe this was me having one too many Red Bulls prior to this show but it was one of the many things about this band that caught me and has me wanting another chance to catch Upright Forms live again.

Line Up:

Unstable Shapes

In Lieu

Curve

Upright Forms

Venue: 7th Street Entry

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 34

Crowd Surfers- None

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 1 out of 10

Broken Bones- None Spotted

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None Witnessed

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 0

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember)-

Unstable Shapes – 4

In Lieu – 0

Curve – 0

Upright Forms – 0

Celebrity Sightings – Members of Battery Eyes

Overall Score – 8 out of 10

Show on Deck —Rifflord / Dug / Murf

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