I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: January 20, 2023] Oxymorrons

My son and I saw Oxymorrons open for grandson about a year ago.  No opening band has made such an impact o me. They were intense and fun and catchy and crazy and just all around wonderful.

So when they announced this mini tour and that it would hit the Foundry, I knew that he and I would have to check them out again.  But I was sure the tint Foundry stage wouldn’t be big enough to keep them in.

I was also sure that the show would sell out and we’d be in for a massive thrashing mosh pit.  That’s why we stayed to the side the whole night (he wasn’t in the mood for slam dancing).

This meant we were right next to guitarist Jafe Paulino.  I suggested that the stage was too small for them and he laughed and said he’d be hopping over those guardrails in no time.

When they came out, drummer Matty Mayz, (I had forgotten how much fun he was) had his laptop set up and he got the intro pumping as the frontmen, Demi “Deee” and his brother Kami “KI” came bouncing up on stage.

Deee and KI were great at engaging the audience.  They are excellent at getting everyone hyped up.

What I love about Oxymorrons is their relative simplicity–one guitarist playing the riffs–belies how solid and huge they sound.  Matty Mayz is a beast on the it and Jafe Paulino has a setup that makes him sound like a whole crew of musicians.  After the show last time i had a chance to talk to him and he mentioned a series of looping pedals that he employed to make his sound bigger and they absolutely work.

Their songs have big punk riffs that are catchy and powerful.  And that’s when Deee and KI come in.  The verses are rapped and the choruses are sung.  It’s not “rap rock”, it’s an organic blend of punk and rapping that works perfectly, blending rap’s rage with punk rage.

It’s hard to make them sound different on page.  Luckily, they more than make themselves sound different on stage.  They are an outstanding live force.  The crowd is rapt, singing along and then laughing at their interludes.  Which are not skits, but are genuine human interactions with a bunch of funny guys.

The new songs are fantastic.  The riff for “Enemy” is heavy as anything and the verses are quiet with some complex drumming.  Then comes the powerful chorus.  By the end of the song we were all singing along “I’m Not Your Enemy.”

Both times we’ve seen them, they’ve ended with “Justice,” a sing along that gets the whole crowd waving along (phone lights on, house lights off).

They did one encore.  A cover of N.E.R.D.’s Lapdog, which I didn’t know.  Apparently N.E.R.D. were on of the pioneers of adding heavy guitars to rap.  So I may have to check them out.

Oxymorrons are real punks.  Their songs are short.  Their whole set was barely an hour.  In fact, the whole night was barely three hours.  But it was three outstanding bands, and it felt like a full night of hard rocking excellence.

C. is sure that they are about to break big.  And I agree with him.  I’m pretty tickled that I Was bale to get one of their posters (out of 500).  To say I knew them when.

µ Mohawks & durags (2021)