Weeping Icon at Our Wicked Lady (photo by Kate Hoos)

 

There’s nothing I love more than a night of great music and lots of friends which this show had in spades. And on top of all that, it was an extra special night because Frida Kill were celebrating their tape release. I’ve been going to their shows since their very first one in 2019 and have loved getting to know them better as people and seeing their songwriting grow and blossom in that time. They played all five songs from the tape, my faves being “Mujeres Con Mangos,” “Get Over It,” and “Zine Song,” plus a slew of their newer material (that they just recorded as part of an upcoming full length) for a set packed full of  bangers.

 

Video for “Mujeres Con Mangos”

 

Weeping Icon headlined the evening and before this night had not played a show since last August (see pics from that show here) so I was more than ready for them to hit the stage! While it may appear they have been laying low, word has it that they’ve been writing for a new record and they also recently filmed a new music video. They also provided a remix for A Place To Bury Strangers’ “Playing The Part” on Hologram: Destroyed and Reassembled remix EP. So it’s clear they have been busy even if they have not been on stage.

 

Audiotree described them as such: Weeping Icon is a shoegaze, doom and noise influenced post punk trio. They pen exploratory tracks with critical commentary about power dynamics, social media influence and personal trials experienced in an overwhelmingly male dominated music scene. The band’s contrarian ethos adds a layer of urgency to their massive, cathartic sound while providing rich lyrics to pour over time and time again. And I find myself agreeing with every word of this sentiment.

 

This is what I had to say after their last show and I think it’s an assessment that still sticks:

Their set is not so much a band playing some songs on stage for some people in the crowd— though there is nothing wrong with bands who do that—but this is a full on experience, an invitation into something more. Their performances are like a look into a gloomy space filled with dirty, distorted bass, hazy effects, and horror movie-esque instrumental/sample laden intervals in between songs rather than the typical awkward stage banter, keeping the audience rapt and locked in.

 

The songs can range from extended smokey, stoner doom-esque passages, to pivot over to more driving noise punk with hammering drums, punctuated by pointed lyrics from duel vocalists, guitarist Sara F. and drummer Lani. Thematically they live up to their self descriptor of “sarcasm dopegaze,” with a critical and snarky eye turned to consumption, social media use, and overall critique of the decaying world we find ourselves inhabiting.

 

While I do enjoy listening to their records, my favorite way to experience Weeping Icon is in the live setting, it really is the most satisfying way I think to get the totality of them as a band and as artists. I for one am hoping that whatever new music they have been working on will see release soon and that it will not be another eight month wait to see them again.

 

 

As for the first half of the show, it was full of great tunes too. Duke of Vandals kicked off the night and this was the first time I’d seen the garagey, punky trio who packed a punch and got the night off to an energetic start. The Rizzos followed them and there aren’t many other bands that are as fun as this garage pop power trio is. Song after song, their energy is dialed up to 11 and you can’t help but get caught up in that.

 

Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Kate Hoos)

 

DUKE OF VANDALS

 

THE RIZZOS

 

FRIDA KILL

 

WEEPING ICON