March 28th, 2025 (GoLeM, Gas Leak, The Strip, and Super Ego and the ID @ No Fun, Troy, NY)

I'm going to try to not take too long with this review, since I got to be up in the morning (can't write it at 3/4AM like I did last night lol) and I got work I got to do tomorrow as well, so I just want to get this out of the way. I quite enjoyed this show *last night*. Honestly I mostly only went because a friend of mine is actually in the band Gas Leak, and I missed their first performance in the Fall, so I had to show up this time. Not to say I wasn't interesting in the other bands playing, as it was Golem's record release show and I wanted to see what the hype was about (I knew a few people from my high school who quite enjoy the band surprisingly).

First up was Super Ego and the ID, which I knew about without actually knowing about them lol! I had heard that there was a band that featured a members of Happy Birthday, James and Pink Lady in it, but I didn't know it was these guys. Pleasant surprise I guess! I was confused when I showed up and actually recognized members of the band, since I hadn't actually heard of them (and I saw both Pink Lady and Happy Birthday, James at my radio station's Battle of the Bands, which you can read about here).

I was slightly late getting to the show, but it seemed like the band just started, and like, only a handful of people were even there, so I didn't miss much. The band was quite good I will say. They're a self-described "avant noise garage egg punk electronic rock" band, which honestly, very aptly described. They sound exactly like that to be honest. They were a nice opener and it was nice to see some familiar faces perform some pretty solid tunes. Here's their Bandcamp.

Next up was a band called The Strip, which I had never heard of them before this gig and knew literally nothing about. They didn't really stand out all that much from other bands in the scene. They're from Poughkeepsie which makes a lot of sense (Poughkeepsie's vibe is really a "if you know you know" kind of ordeal). They seemed like nice guys and overall I had fun during their set, but I'm probably not going to remember anything from them tomorrow. Here's their Spotify (again, bands, please get Bandcamp! It's much cooler to link your Bandcamp than it is your Spotify, and your music can be supported directly!)

Now we have Gas Leak! I missed their first show in the fall as I mentioned previously, so I don't really have a point of reference but apparently they were quite a bit better *last night* than they were at their first gig. I really enjoyed them, although that is 100% without a doubt bias just because the vocalist is a friend of mine and a ton of our friends at the radio station came to support him and his band. We had an awesome time dancing and doing friendly heckles toward the band. They had a lot of really nice energy, and the music was quite solid. The crowd was of course a ton of fun since it was mostly comprised of friends of the band lol. I think I definitely went a little too hard for the band lol, I was still sore from the previous night, but I wanted to thrash around with my friends for fun! Now, I would link their Bandcamp/Spotify/Apple Music/whatever but they haven't released any music yet! They will very soon, and when they do you should check them out cause they are cool people. Here is a link to one of the cutest Pokemon's wiki page instead!

Lastly, we had GoLeM, which were really awesome! I was really drained by the time they were performing, but I still quite enjoyed what they had going on. They're a two-piece band, which is quite suprising considering how much really goes into the music that they are playing. It's hard for me to describe at this late an hour, but maybe I'll come back later today after I've slept and give a proper explanation of their sound. If you live in the area/know about the bands from this area, according to a friend of mine they are like the band CPS but if they were from an alternate universe. I've never had the chance to see CPS, but maybe this will ring true if I ever get a chance to see them. Whatever they are, they rocked. I also liked how the two band members switched roles (one did guitar and vocals and the other did drums and then they switched) mulitple times during the set, and the vocalist from Pink Lady/Super Ego and the ID played with them for one song as well. It was cool.

The last thing I'll say before going to sleep is that I saw some people from my highschool at the gig, and it felt really strange. It was weird seeing those two worlds collide like that. Especially now that I'm (somewhat) out as trans. They never ended up talking to me, just an awkward wave occured between us. I was going to talk to them at the end of the show, but they dipped the milisecond that GoLeM finished. They were some of the few open queer kids at my old highschool (they are younger than me), so I'm sure they wouldn't care at all, which is why I decided I was going to talk to them, but I guess that doesn't really matter now.

Anyway, goodnight pretty darlings

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