1) Wednesday night at MASS (1002 S Main): Heater, WarToad, and O. Deletron. If you dig BULLS, Heater will appeal to you. WarToad is a newish punk band. O. Deletron is a supergroup made of musicians from Denton and Fort Worth, and their vibe is kind of Pavement-ish. Show is 18+, cover is $5, and it starts at 8pm. Here’s a WarToad video:
2) Also on Wednesday: Preoccupations at Club Dada (2720 Elm, Dallas) with special guests, area synth-rock band Nervous Curtains. As you probably know already, Preoccupations used to be called Viet Cong, but they still play angsty, angular guitar rock. They’re awesome, and if you’re into this band, you’re probably going to this show already. If you’ve never heard of them but are down for a midweek might out, you won’t be disappointed. Grab your tickets right now, or you can get them at the door after waiting in a long line full of savvy teenagers who are – honestly, no lie – way cooler now than you or I have ever been in our entire lives for $15. Side note: if you like Preoccupations, you really need to get on board with Sub-Sahara, a local band that’s sonically similar, who merit your attention and support. Boy do I like Sub-Sahara! What a great band! For me, this Preoccupations video followed a Netflix ad about a movie starring Gillian Jacobs:
3) Panic Volcanic frontwoman and keyboardist for various area rock bands Ansley Dougherty is prepping a solo album due out July 21, but in the meantime, she’s playing a free show at Lola’s Trailer Park on Thursday at 7pm. Perhaps you’ll hear some of her new material! Here’s Ansley singing a song with Big Mike:
4) Quaker City Nighthawks are playing a free, Nissan-sponsored show in Sundance Square on Friday night at 7pm. I think the Nissan models most appropriate for their southern-fried, country-influenced, space-themed classic rock sound are the Juke and the Armada. Come to think of it, “Juke Armada” almost sounds like it could be the title of a QCNH song! Here’s QCNH playing at the last night at the Where House:
5) There’s a new venue in Deep Ellum called Ruins (2653 Commerce, Dallas), and it’s booked by King Camel, aka Jeffrey Brown. For Saturday night, Brown has built a sci-fi themed show billed with one-off bands crewed by various musicians, tasked with making 25 minute, original scores for five films: Terminator, feat. Hunter Moehring of Sealion, Brandon Hoffman of FOGG and Same Brain, Matthew Crain, and Kevin Adkins of Teenage Sexx/Unsettled; Blade Runner, feat. Kenneth Pritchard of Dead Mockingbirds, Philip Washington aka Cygnus, Michael Ortega of Aztec Death, and Jason Garner of Plandroid; Alien, feat. Zach Edwards of All Clean, Stephanie Burns of Lizzie Boredom, Alex Mireles of Sub-Sahara, and Jim Branstetter of Schmekelhead; 5th Element, feat. Brett Michael of Party Static and Poison, Sam Villavert of Sealion, Adam Locklear of Bargoyles, and Rickey Kinney, aka Squanto; and finally, 12 Monkeys feat. Patrick Michot of Seres, Llandon Klein Broadhead of Llora, Trevor Hicks of Aztec Death, and Loafers’ Taylor Smith. Pretty dope lineup, so dope, in fact, that it qualifies as a TEAM TO BEAT SHOW OF THE WEEK. I don’t know what the cover is, but it starts at 8pm. Mountain of Smoke isn’t on this show, but they have a whole album about Blade Runner, so here’s them playing a song from it:
FULL DISCLOSURE/WRITER BIO ALERT: per editorial suggestion, in addition to writing about music and other shit for the FW Weekly, I am an investor in a venue/bar called Main at Southside, colloquially known as MASS. I also bartend at the Boiled Owl Tavern, a bar that also hosts shows a few times a month, as well as Off the Record, which is a bar/record store that hosts DJs several nights a week. Since I’m on the subject of warning you against what may be perceived as icky self-promotion and/or conflicts of interest, I play bass in the following bands: Son of Stan and Darth Vato.