07/14/23
Rose Garden, Hays, KS
Full Gallery HERE
Watch:
Kuwabara
Hard and solid, slow and screaming is the way of Kuwabara, growling and chanting methodically throughout each song. Slow enough to maintain focus, but fast enough to drive the small crowd to throw each other around within the pit on the floor. What’s fun about a Kuwabara set isn’t that you can’t understand what the singer is screaming about, nor is there any complication or massive technicality to their sound. It’s just solid, driving, and to the point metal. Crank the bass, throw yourself around and indulge. (Spotify)
Stay the Course
Wichita based Stay the Course (not to be confused with the Colorado based Stray the Course), entered Hays for the first time. Their punk pop sound took me back to the mid ’00s, feeling strains of Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, and veering into the harder edge of the emo sound from that era. The 5 piece group filled the stage at the Rose Garden, overflowing from time to time into the crowd. Infused with a combination of Skittles (Probably?) and Modelo (Maybe? Possibly?), Stay the Course provided a fun and enjoyable show that really brought back the feeling of growing up punk pop. (Spotify)
Billy
Billy from Kansas, as opposed to Billy from anywhere else, has an explosion not seen from the area in a long, long time. The hardcore punk aesthetic in their music and shows is enveloping, adrenaline inducing, hard and rough, setting off an edge within it’s listeners. The 20 minute set leaves you wanting more from them. And leaving the audience with something more will always bring them back. Their chaotic energy and aggression, throwing themselves into the audience, encouraging the crowd to give back everything they are getting is unparalleled in this area. There is something special brewing within. There will be more. Bigger, louder, and harder. (Spotify)
