Main Stage
-
The Velveteers, a primal rock trio from the mountains of Boulder, CO made up of singer/guitarist Demi Demitro and drummers Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Fig, will unveil their debut album Nightmare Daydream on October 8 via Easy Eye Sound. Produced by Grammy Award-winning artist Dan Auerbach, the record is the long-awaited first statement from a band that formed in 2014 and has been carefully honing its sound and identity ever since. “Charmer And The Snake,” the record’s first single, is out now with an accompanying video.
Growing up in Boulder, Demitro rebelled through her guitar, practicing up to nine hours a day and neglecting schoolwork to develop a playing style that is heavy but agile, theatrical but nuanced, grounded in rock history but wholly idiosyncratic. With Pottersmith and Fig playing on a conjoined set, the band developed a reputation for their rip-roaring performances. Clips of the band’s live shows and DIY videos made it back to Auerbach, who invited them to his studio in Nashville to produce Nightmare Daydream.
“I instantly dug them,” says Auerbach. “They’re amazing live, and their videos are so creative. And they just sound so powerful. Any time you doubletrack drums on a record, it’s going to sound so heavy. Then you put that together with this baritone guitar player who is so unique, and it’s so bombastic. There’s nothing like them.”
Nightmare Daydream finds The Velveteers stripping down rock and roll to its most primal elements—the riff, the rhythm, the snarl—and rebuilding it in their own image. “We don’t want to sound like a band from a different time,” says Demitro. “We want to sound like a band that’s right here right now—in this very moment.”
-
Social Cinema is a new band with over a decade of history. More accurately, Social Cinema is the latest chapter in a decade-plus friendship and artistic journey evolving alongside the people behind the music.
When three Wichita friends, Austin Engler and brothers Griffin and Logan Bush formed Kill Vargas in 2013 as young teenagers, they couldn’t have guessed that they’d all be still performing together a decade later. Along the way, the trio would cross paths with Nebraskan band, Death Cow, featuring Mari Crisler and Reed Tiwald. Between sharing bills and sleeping on each other’s couches after shows while on the Midwest DIY scene grind, the three and two would become inseparably close, and eventually join forces as five in 2021, under the new name Social Cinema.
Whether it’s due to their years as touring musicians, gradually honed songwriting and stylistic ambitions from scrappy, garage-y roots, or some combination of all of the above, Social Cinema makes an immediate impression with seasoned beyond their years songwriting chops and a road-hardened work ethic and resolve to match. Since adopting the Social Cinema banner in 2021, the alternative/indie rock quintet has issued three EPs — 2022’s Causing Scenes and Repeat and Get Along in 2023 — and a number of singles highlighting the outfit’s multifaceted songcraft prowess, and has shared bills with the likes of Metric, Saint Motel, Bad Bad Hats and more.
After releasing Get Along in Spring 2023, Social Cinema is gearing up to share its next EP and second to debut in 2023. Titled Stay Numb, the three-track release continues Social Cinema’s adoption of professional studio polish, this time bringing that refinement to the direct, galvanizing punch of the band’s garage rock roots. Spanning territories that range from anthemic power-pop on the opener and title track, “Stay Numb,” to the heavy, feedback-laden riffs and grooves of “On Time,” this latest chapter in Social Cinema’s journey is a celebration of the sounds and scenes that got each of its five members to where they are today. Whereas Get Along showcased the quintet’s ambitions to bring its sound to new, more stylistically dynamic, and fresh territories, Stay Numb is a loud and proud assertion of the band’s DIY ethos and the wallop of its no-frills rock roots not only intact, but stronger than ever.
-
Bandcamp | Instagram | Spotify
Horse Bitch is cool cuz it’s prettttty twangy, but also very emotional. The songs are mostly sad but they will make you happier. It’s also very complicated. Every song becomes more complicated than the last one was, which musicians like a lot. It’s Cuck-core, proto-cuck, emo-tonk, Honky cuck, it doesn’t really matter. There is pedal steel, and violin, and multiple guitar players 😏. Everybody sings! Sometimes you get jumped upon at a horse bitch show., which is super fun! ❤️
-
Based in Kansas City, Kansas, MellowPhobia is an alt-rock band that brings a lively and dynamic sound to the music scene. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the band relocated and recorded their debut EP, "Is This Seat Taken?" released in 2021. Their single, "Jackal" later gained attention, leading to performances at festivals and indie venues. Notable highlights include sharing stages with national touring acts such as The Greeting Committee, the Regrettes, The Velveteers, Colony House, and more. By 2024, "Jackal" had surpassed 40,000 streams and the band continues to grow its fan base. Looking ahead, MellowPhobia is gearing up for new releases, each contributing to their evolving sound.
Acoustic Stage
-
Jefferson Pfannenstiel is a life-long Kansan who began playing guitar in local bands in Manhattan, KS in the early 90’s. Though most of that time was focused in the rock genre, acoustic guitar was always his preferred tool for songwriting. So in recent years, while looking for a new outlet for sharing songs outside of his current electric projects, he ventured out trying solo acoustic. When not playing solo, he now contributes time as songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for Manhattan rock trio The Blackbird Fields (Founded in 2016) and co-writes, records and performs with MN/KS-based alt-country band The Boxed Winos (Founded in 2020.)
