I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 3, 2026] Guerilla Toss

Back in December, Built to Spill and Guerilla Toss played a show at Union Transfer.  I was really excited to go, but it was right after my surgery so I couldn’t make it.  I was especially bummed because I have wanted to see Guerilla Toss for a while.

So it’s awesome that they continued the tour together this summer.

I had heard a lot about Guerilla Toss’ live show and how wild it was.  Reviews I’ve read suggest that back in 2014, Guerilla Toss was a wild band with nudity and short sets.  They have now become far more traditional, but they are still plenty weird.  It’ sjut that now there are catchy, danceable moments within the noise.

So, this show wasn’t particularly wild, but the songs were great and weird and singer Kassie Carlson is a wonderful presence onstage (with great vocal dynamics).  She has a diverse delivery style, sounding at times like the B52s, but also making some fascinating squeaky sounds.

Their bassist Zach Lewelleyn has some fantastic bass lines in the songs.  He’s also either really tall or playing a fairly small bass guitar.  Guitarist Arian Shafiee (who founded the band) plays equally weird riffs and chords.

I couldn’t really see Peter Negroponte (another co-founder) on drums, but he did sing backing vocals a lot.

Most of the songs were from their most recent album, but they touched on their earlier release as well.  The sounds on Can I Get the Real Stuff were definitely a little weirder.  The keys were unusual and the way Kassie sang “Can I get, can I get can I get) while reaching out to the crowd was a little creepy.

Future Doesn’t Know is really catchy–a series of melodies that get higher and then head back down the scale–so catchy!

Since I didn’t know their music very well and since their songs have lots of stop and start sections, I wasn’t entirely sure how many songs they played.  (Someone on the far side of the stage got a setlist, but the one that was right in front of us on the stage never made it out to us, boo).  The first couple of songs had definitive stops, but then a few songs segued into each other.   But usually you could tell if a major riff entered the song.

Like Red Flag to an Angry Bull, which is their most recent single and has the chorus easily understood.  When Dogs Bark was seriously heavy with a simple pounding rhythm that got darker as the song moved along.  And then, midway through the song, Kassie squatted down and pulled out a violin.  She faced away from the stage and the band did a 3 or four minute chill out jam section.  It was a bold move, and was a little boring (you couldn’t hear the violin very well), but when they were done, Kassie stood up and they continued with the intense Dogs.

Diamond Girls is the oldest song of theirs that they played and it has the weirdest vocals with Kassie singing in really high squeaky register for occasional words. But the bassline (two strings at the same time, smoothly bouncing two notes at a time was super catchy.  They ended with a tribute to Neu! with a song called Zum Herz.  It has a pulsing bassline and must have some Neu! component to it since they are given credit on the streaming services.

It was a really fun show and I’d love to see them again. At the end of the set while they were cleaning the stage, Kassie brought out Watley, a big fluffy dog who was adorable.

The following night, they played Bethlehem.  I would have loved to go to  this show as well as both bands played slightly different sets.  But I couldn’t make it. They played these songs in Bethlehem instead: Panglossian Mannequin, Trash Bed, Life’s a Zoo and 367 Equalizer.  I’d love to see them headline.  I also really want to see the song I know best by them Betty Dreams of Green Men.

• Krystal Ball ℵ
• Psychosis Is Just a Number ℵ
• I Got Spirit ⇑
• Can I Get the Real Stuff Ø
• Future Doesn’t Know ¥
• Red Flag to Angry Bull ℵ
• Deep Sight ℵ
• When Dogs Bark ℵ
• Diamond Girls Δ
• Zum Herz ⊥