I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Lifeguard

Before this show I hadn’t heard of Lifeguard.  Which is why I was surprised that this was a co-headlining tour. But then I saw that in May Monster Children (yea, I don’t know what that is either) wrote an article called “Lifeguard is a band you should know.”

Their music is youthful, energetic and intentional, channeling the nostalgic sounds of bands like Dinosaur Jr and Fugazi while still remaining distinctly their own. They give a shit, putting all of themselves into the band and everything surrounding it, creating a sound that encapsulates this youth collective that they’ve played such a major role in creating.

I don’t know how old the members of the band are, but I assume they are teenagers.

And the first notable thing about them was that singer guitarist Kai Slater was on crutches.  So he sat for the whole set, his right foot in a boot.

Then he started playing guitar–a great crisp, punky guitar sound.  The reminded me a bit of Gang of Four.  Their songs were pretty catchy and yet they were absolutely unafraid to simply make a lot of noise–screamed vocals, angular sharp guitars and crashing drums.

Bassist Asher Case played a terrific low end, sometimes playing some high notes in a wild solo.  He also added backing vocals from time to time–oftentimes in a cool close harmony.

Slater was also remarkably proficient on the guitar–not in a soloing maniac way, but in a complex chords with suspended notes way.

It was fascinating to watch how calm and confident they were when they played three or four minutes of just noise–Asher feedbacking against his amp and Kai playing non-chords at the high end of the neck of his guitar.  I had no idea how many songs they had played–if these jams were part of a song or just an interstitial piece.

They played a song by The Wipers which I didn’t know but which I could see was called Telepathic Love (I could see it on the setlist).

Isaac Lowenstein on drums sat back for some of the feedbacky jams but when he joined in, he was loud and slamming.

What kind of blew my mind is that the band could have easily played their entire set in about 30 minutes, they played for about an hour–noisy jams with sharp, angular guitars and the kind of things that I feel like three people in their garage just having a good time making a lot of noise.  It makes it seem like they don’t give a damn–and somepeople did alk out during their feedback squalls.

But they are gaining buzz.  I’ll be curious to see if they become the next big thing and I can say I saw them at a tiny club in Philly.

1. I want to
2. Alarm ⇑
3. How to Say
4. Ministry/Energie
5. Typecast ©
6. Telepathic Love (Wipers cover)
7. Like You Lose
8. It’ll Get Worse
9. Red Four
10. Goat Lie
11. TLA
12. I Know I Know ©

© Crowd Can Talk
⇑ Dressed in Trenches