RDD TOUR 2021 — NOLAN POTTER’S NIGHTMARE BAND with ACID CAROUSEL and LORD FRIDAY THE 13TH @ the Far Out Lounge, Austin, TX; July 2nd
667 days is way too long to go without moshing.
A tiny recap of my introductory post, everyone’s heard it and everyone’s said it: This past year was a battle of wits in every way we could have possibly imagined. With a massive lineup, the RDD 2020 tour — in a predictable urban tale — fell through. “We have to stay alive!” a new friend at last night’s show cheered me on regarding tour dates getting pushed back. Rightfully so! RDD has been clawing its way out of the pits of agoraphobia for another shot at another year, and is starting with five psychedelic headliners every weekend in July for a taste of Nolan Potter’s kaleidescopy at the Far Out Lounge in Austin, Texas.
The night started off with “dollar store trash-glam-punk band,” Lord Friday the 13th, fronted by lead vocalist Felix, donning combat boots, hardcap knee pads, and, well, probably a dollar store Halloween costume in appropriate punk fashion. “This is a song about things I want. It’s called “I Want A Big Mac.”” As most punk rock bands do, this group stays true to an anti-capitalist and social anarchist narrative within their heavily irony-soaked lyrics and gestures. As the set went on, Felix threw off their ghoul gown to reveal a ruby red dress paired with a black feather boa and devil’s horns to slow down and sing “Silver Juice,” in honor of David Berman, eventually throwing all of it off down to cut-off shorts to perform “Big Business.” “It’s a song about moneeeeyyyy and geneetaaallia, if you don’t get the double-enteennnddree…”
As they were setting up the stage, one of the guitarists of Acid Carousel looked directly at me and mouthed with a flicking motion, “Do you have a lighter?” I nodded excitedly in return and got to share with him and the drummer. I’ll admit I hadn’t heard Acid Carousel until the night before. Their hits sound like if Levitation Room was kicked directly back into the 70s, their albums lean on conceptualism, but their live experience is on another level of psychedelic. Throughout Acid Carousel’s discography, there are several very obvious nods to the Beatles and maybe even Klaatu, but their on-stage vocals and percussion are reminiscent of Pet Sounds and Smile-era Beach Boys, plunging the audience into waves of harmonies. “Watch as she’s laughing, you’ll see how her eyes glow…!” Absolute shivers. The way the front four stepped up to and leaned into their mics only to back away in and out of chords in complete synchronicity was a performance I was not expecting from such young musicians, but they leaped and stuck landings every single time. Colorful, dazzling, rainbow, and nostalgic, this band supplied bright tones along with heavy and sludgy ones. There were moments their set felt like a homogeneity of newer cult garage psych groups and psych classics from 60s “Nuggets,” but comparing them to another group would be doing a disservice to how just exactly they capture their own sense of glitter. These guy are truly gonna go far.
Lastly, Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band, headliner. Ah, Nolan. This is a big shout out to the guy absolutely trippiiinng balllss when the pit finally truly opened up. This is a huuuge shout out to that very dude who had his eennttiire wooorld rocked when Nolan used his vocal FX for the first time and started to mimic Satan himself crawling out of the speakers to reap our cross-faded souls. The band premiered the title track from their next album, “Music is Dead,” dropping real-time warped vocals on a very meta and self-aware line, “PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC IS DEAD!” Sorry, guy. Not sorry for going bonkers during Potter’s next unreleased track, “Stubborn Bubble.” The Nightmare Band is a seven-piece outfit, sporting two woodwind players (playing flute, sax, and others between the pair), drums, guitar, and the various bright percussion instruments that set this band apart from the rest. As mentioned, “Stubborn Bubble” is brand new, and it steps adjacent from their familiar mystical sounds into the heavy and metallic. Did I mention the pit went nuts? The pit went nuts. Nolan’s overall sound is a lot darker with more potential for jams in-person, and they seem pretty aware of that. Needless to say, they quickly laid out “Seahorse Retreat” as their “chill waaaaayy dowwwnn” track; funny, because it’s still pretty upbeat.
This was a hard night to conclude in writing, simply because of how dazzling it truly ended up being. As a psychedelic music enthusiast, myself, this show was the perfect return to live music a boy could ask for, and I would love to thank everyone involved in helping make a comeback, perhaps especially Acid Carousel and how much their album, “Another Everything” has already taken a death grip on my mind fuzz. …Maybe that’s a little too specific. Truthfully, this was a gig I hope I never even begin to forget — from the food, to the crowd, to the show — thank you. There’s so much more I could say about the Far Out Lounge and the Austin scene, but, for now:
Peace, love, and anarchy.
Rocky
