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Archive for the ‘Rhododendron’ Category

Voivod / BAT / Rhododendron (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2026) [TOUR CANCELLED]

Posted in BAT, Cancelled, Philadelphia, PA, Rhododendron, Underground Arts, Voivod on October 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: October 11, 2026] Voivod / BAT / Rhododendron

I was pretty excited for this show.  I love Voivod and have only seen them once.  The chance to see them at Underground Arts was just amazing.

But last week they announced

Dear Fans,

It is with heavy hearts that we must cancel the US tour dates with BAT due to family health emergency in the Voivod clan.
We would like to say postponed and give you a new time period but Voivod can’t commit to any dates right now.
Tickets will be refunded at point of sale, we ask fans to wait a few days until the ticketing systems have been alerted.
Thank you for your understanding and support.

So that sucks.  More for them than for me and I hope all is okay.

BAT are a heavy band from Virginia that I’d seen on posters but didn’t know much about.  Well,

The brainchild ofMUNICPAL WASTE guitarist, Ryan Waste, BAT’s origins actually go back to 2008 when Waste and former D.R.I. drummer, and Texas native, Felix Griffin, hatched the idea of working together. “We’d see each other when I’d pass through Texas,” saysWaste, “and we talked about doing a project where I played all the instruments—guitar, bass, and vocals— and he would drum. We both love Discharge and Celtic Frost and we wanted to do something real straightforward, no frills.”   “As big of a heavy metal fan as I am, I think the dirtier side of it fits better with my vocals,” he says. “But we try to push the boundaries in BAT between heavy metal, punk and rock ‘n’ roll to where you can’t quite put your finger on it. Dynamically it all coagulates together with our dirty sound. I call it primitive heavy speed. It’s just the nastiest mix of all of the above.”

And that’s pretty accurate.  They play fast and heavy, in an old school way.  And the vocals are old-school growly where you can hear the words clearly but the singer is snarling at you.  It reminds me a lot of Venom or Celtic Frost.

Rhododendron were formed in 2019 in Portland, Oregon while the band’s members were still in high school, Rhododendron’s Ezra Chong (guitar, vocals), Gage Walker (bass), and Noah Mortola (drums) set out to push their musical limits without regard for genre boundaries or audience expectation.  In the past 7 years the trio has developed a sound rooted in technical precision and repetition. Drawing from the angular experimentation of underground rock in the 1980s and 1990s alongside elements of jazz, ambient, and progressive music, their compositions are deliberate with intensity. Riffs fracture and reform, rhythms lock into patterns only to break apart, and extended passages build pressure before shifting direction.

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Rhododendron / Massa Nera / Gre/ay / Sodaseas (Cousin Danny’s Lounge, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Gre/ay, Massa Nera, Philadelphia, PA, Rhododendron, Sodaseas on October 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 11, 2026] Rhododendron / Massa Nera / Gre/ay / Sodaseas

Rhododendron were supposed to open for Voivod tonight, but that tour was cancelled because of someone getting sick.  And they found a new place to play the same night!  So that’s awesome for them.

I’ve never heard of Cousin Danny’s Lounge, but it sounds like a real punk haven.  The show was put on by the folks at Yarga, whose ethos is two fold:

1. Booking high energy live shows that encourage altered states of consciousness and true communication.
2. Promoting art and music that push the boundaries of commonly accepted modes of thought and creation. In these small endeavors we seek to break with systemic alienation and complacency.

Rhododendron surely fit the bill

Formed in 2019 in Portland, Oregon while the band’s members were still in high school, Rhododendron’s Ezra Chong (guitar, vocals), Gage Walker (bass), and Noah Mortola (drums) set out to push their musical limits without regard for genre boundaries or audience expectation.  In the past 7 years the trio has developed a sound rooted in technical precision and repetition. Drawing from the angular experimentation of underground rock in the 1980s and 1990s alongside elements of jazz, ambient, and progressive music, their compositions are deliberate with intensity. Riffs fracture and reform, rhythms lock into patterns only to break apart, and extended passages build pressure before shifting direction.

They sound pretty great too.

Massa Nera also fits the Yarga bill.  They are from Linden, NJ and they are an experimental screamo band (less emo and more scream, though)

the rise of end-times fascism, the annihilation of collective, shared meaning, and the looming threat of climate catastrophe. It is within this landscape that Massa Nera release their urgent, genre-defying 3rd LP, “The Emptiness of All Things.”

Having been given a commission by the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music to create a work that addresses the climate crisis, Massa Nera embraced experimentation, confrontation, and musical malfeasance in an attempt to capture the hellish inanity that defines our reality.  Where once their songs bounced, they now alternately lumber and convulse. Their former impulse towards dance has mutated into a desire for destruction.

Lyrically, Massa Nera has shunned autobiography in favor of something more character-driven, more literary, more speculative. They offer a snapshot of capitalistic delusion and existential paralysis, rooted in the anxieties and fractured psychologies of the here and now. In short, “The Emptiness of All Things” is a lyrical call to arms, delivered not as a rallying cry but as an obituary. It is a mirror held up to the abyss, reflected back at the listener without pity or mawkish sentiment.

Despite this, the band has not abandoned melody. The predominant mood of ugliness is counterbalanced by passages of beauty, longing, and even undisguised gentleness. This gentleness, however, is not in service of an unearned, misplaced optimism. It is offered in the spirit of reflection, allowing listener and band alike to take a breath as they stare into the void.

There is beauty but it is mostly harsh.

Gre/ay are a noise band from Philly.  You can see a cideo of them at the Ukie CLub below.  But note the comment from the person who posted it (Santo Donia): “(Gre/ay is so loud. Like uncontrollably loud, I LOVE IT. Like, I thought my earplugs broke, loud. All I gotta say is: Gre/ay is loud.)”

I saw Sodaseas open for Zeta last year and they were fantastic.  I would love to see them again.  I don’t think they quite fit this bill, since they are far more melodic.  But their ethos is certainly the same and they do throw in some noisy sections for sure.  You can see a clip of them at the bottom.

As for Cousin Danny’s Lounge, I can’t find out that much about it.  I’m guessing it’s a West Philly bar that hosts punk shows.  Probably very small with a heraty slam dance component.

 

 

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Slift / Rhododendron (Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY, October 7, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Le Poisson Rouge, New York City, Rhododendron, Slift on October 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 7, 2026] Slift / Rhododendron

Perhaps one of the worst things that could have happened to my concert going landscape was to discover Le Poisson Rouge, and amazing small club in NYC that gets the best bands all the time.  I’ve been twice.  Once to see Kathleen Edwards who I thought was never going to tour again and once to go to a Phish after-party after a show at MSG.

LPR is a massive pain in the ass to get to for me and there’s no reason I should ever see who is playing there.  But in this case I found out from the band Slift that their only area show was going to be there.

I have been obsessed with Slift since the pandemic when I saw their incredible Levitation Session video.  Since that video, they have come to the East Coast three times–twice in Brooklyn and now at LPR.  I thought about going to this show so much.  I even had tickets to something else that night but I still thought about going.   When I decided not to go to the show that I had tickets to, I seriously considered going, but oh, what a pain it would have been.

And what do they sound like?  Well, from LPR’s page:

Guitarist Jean Fossat and bassist Rémi Fossat are related.  They’ve been friends with drummer Canek Flores since high school, and 2026 marks a decade together in this trio. In the technical sense, every previous album by the radiant and heavy French trio SLIFT has been a fantasia—a composite of genres and forms that allowed the band to improvise, to jam on themes until they seemed to spiral together into space. Their acclaimed third album, 2024’s Ilion, was a sci-fi story built with 10- to 13-minute exploratory escapades, often starting with doom metal or stoner rock before spinning freely into glorious instrumental oblivion.

It’s possible that their live show could never compare to the amazingness of that video.  And they have apparently no following here.  So they would have to play a teeny place in Philly.  But damn if they could get to Union Transfer, it would be incredible.

Rhododendron were supposed to open for Voivod in a few days, but that tour was cancelled because of someone getting sick.  So in theory I could have seen them twice in a few days.  But now I won’t see them at all.

Formed in 2019 in Portland, Oregon while the band’s members were still in high school, Rhododendron’s Ezra Chong (guitar, vocals), Gage Walker (bass), and Noah Mortola (drums) set out to push their musical limits without regard for genre boundaries or audience expectation.  In the past 7 years the trio has developed a sound rooted in technical precision and repetition. Drawing from the angular experimentation of underground rock in the 1980s and 1990s alongside elements of jazz, ambient, and progressive music, their compositions are deliberate with intensity. Riffs fracture and reform, rhythms lock into patterns only to break apart, and extended passages build pressure before shifting direction.

They sound pretty great too.

I’m not sure if it would have been worth the immense hassle to go to this show.  But maybe it would have been.

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