I arrived to Alphaville just a couple minutes before doors to the venue were slated to open. I snagged myself a Budweiser, as one does, and sat at the bar wasting time. A few minutes passed, so I approached the venue entrance, separate from the bar, where I was told that one of the bands was still doing sound check. I stood close-by, listening through the walls to what I identified as Free $$$ making chaotic noise, prepping for their set. The noise stopped, and eventually I saw a small group of people enter the venue. I followed them into an empty back-room with a small stage in the corner.

I stood on the side, leaning on the wall as Free $$$ took the stage. Lead singer and vocalist Ben Petrisor took a moment to put croakies on his glasses; a hopeful sign of a proceeding high-energy set. The self-proclaimed mutt of a NY post-punk trio had a short but extremely spirited performance that fell somewhere between Parquet Courts and IDLES. After a few songs complete with heavy riffs, frustrated energy, and raspy vocals, the band paused for a brief moment to give out “lucky magic coins.” Disappointingly, but reasonably, I later found out were simple dimes. The crowd was small, but this didn’t seem to bother the trio, or affect their energy levels, which seemed to peak when Petrisor fell to his knees with two microphones clutched closely to his lips, while shifting through pedal effects and took his shirt off. Through bellowed lyrics I recognized songs from their recent 2019 EP, “SUPPORT*”, available to purchase for the small price of name-your-amount-of-dollars on the Free $$$ bandcamp.

Despite not releasing an album since 2015’s “Floralia”, Painted Zeroes performed next, putting on a very humble, dreamy, and smooth set that seemed to juxtapose that of the opening act. After a couple songs of swirling synth and slow guitar strumming, lead singer and guitarist Katie Lau invited the newly filled room to step a little closer, close up the void in front of the stage, and enjoy themselves, to which they complied. With seamless transitions and catchy choruses, songs like This American Life brought a humble feeling of warmth to an otherwise bleak room, and left everyone in attendance bopping their heads and wanting more.

The Parlor walls set started soft and slow; so slow that I wasn’t sure if the single guitar note hit, and held, by lead vocalist and guitarist Alyse Lamb, was the set’s intro or a simple sound test. But what started softly, quickly erupted into a loud set filled with texture, grunge, synth, guitar, and a whole bunch of drumming (done by Chris Mulligan). Though sometimes seeming chaotic and disarrayed, their sound constantly complementing Lamb’s movement and stage presence, which at times seemed like a performance in itself. An erratic blend of punk and jazz, Parlor walls brought a truly unique sound to the back room venue of Alphaville.

In between the organized chaos of Parlor Walls and taking the stage for their set, Big Bliss lined the bottom of the stage with tube light, instantly instilling a sense of tranquility. Usually a three-piece, this was the band’s first show with a second guitarist. Right from the get-go, that Big Bliss sound filled the room with hints of Interpol and Joy Division; the essentials of a great post-punk sound.

Taking a moment to break from the music to introduce a new song, vocalist and guitarist Tim Race gave a short anecdote about the death of his father, which happened about a year ago, and had prevented him and his brother, fellow band member and drummer, Cory, from playing the preceding year’s Sweet Static Third Year Anniversary Party. The loss of their father, who was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, led them to writing their next song, an untitled track which Tim introduced as the closest they could get to writing about death and the feeling of a loved one lost.

It was at this juncture of the show that I really noticed the vulnerability and honesty evident in Tim’s voice lyrics, and at times, eyes as he stared off into the space. Not to say these themes aren’t apparent on recorded albums such as 2018’s At Middle Distance, but if you really want to see songs like fan-favorite Constants, or personal favorite Duplicate, shine, don’t miss out on catching a Big Bliss set in the flesh.

Parlor Walls, Big Bliss, Painted Zeros, Free $$$ At Alphaville

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