”Guess who I’m seeing Monday night,” I said to Chooch while we were still away last weekend, collecting bruises at amusement parks.

“I don’t know, is it something retrowave, clowns, Anthony Green again?” he guessed with more sarcasm and annoyance than actual interest, but it made me crack up because my interests have been so chaotic and Sybil-certified this past year.

”Royal Coda!” I cried, and then seeing his confusion, “Kurt Travis? Will Swan? SWANCORE?!”

The guy at the Preserving Records location down the street from me let me take this out of the window on Saturday since the show had already passed!  Henry was like, “Are you happy now, you big baby?” because I had been whining about wanting it ever since we passed the window on the way to the Hollywood Theater on Thursday. WHEN I WANT SOMETHING, I WANT IT BAD.

OK, so I will admit that maybe going to a concert right after coming home from a three-day weekend of relentless walking, roller coaster riding, navigating New York subways, and just being in the car in general wasn’t the smoothest move. But you guys, it was fucking Royal Coda, a Blue Swan band founded by guitarist Sergio Medina of the bands Stolas and Sianvar,  fronted by THE KURT TRAVIS, with THE INIMITABLE WILL SWAN ON GUITAR, Steffan Gotsch on bass (he was also with Kurt on his solo tour last year), and Joel Turcotte on drums (replacing Joseph Arrington of A Lot Like Birds, who has retired from music).

This probably means NOTHING to you but to me, it’s a powerhouse of swancore superstars and I thought it was just my fault that I had never seen them live, but then it turns out they had never come to Pittsburgh before until this night!

So, I mean, yeah—I was fucking exhausted and had to power through work that day with nothing but sheer will power and coffee guiding the way, but by 5:30PM, I was practically grand jeté-ing out the front door.

I mostly only used my Charmera for pictures that night. I find that it’s so much less invasive than holding up a phone and plus, I love the grungy “at a show in 1991” vibe it gives.

Anyway, that night’s show was held downstairs on the smaller stage which was whatever. I do really like the upstairs church room area so much more but I guess they must base it off ticket sales, I don’t know. I’ll just tell you that it got hot and sweaty in there FAST.

A cursory glance around the place was all I needed to know that these were the legit fans, the ones who probably also like Dance Gavin Dance but have been around longer than some and genuinely love post-hardcore and swancore. It felt like the kind of crowd that USED to be at DGD shows back in the day so I was already feeling comfortable. I can’t describe accurately the way that last DGD show made me feel other than: unbelonging. on the periphery. out of touch.

Like, way too much time had passed and they had somehow gained a ton of new very mainstream fans and it felt so inauthentic to me, but also maybe I was just in a bad spot in the venue. EVERYONE around me talked their tongues

I will just say that you know you’re at a show with people who TRULY like the music when everyone is in it 100% from opener to headliner. There is no chitty-chatty amongst friends while bands are playing. The lights go off before each set and everyone’s attention is turned toward the stage. It made me feel so content.

LOL. Henry actually likes Royal Coda but wasn’t a fan of any of the openers. Or the small space. Or the fact that he forgot this venue is cash only and used most of it on merch for me so he only had enough left to get a can of Coke and a bottle of water, LOL.

Oh man, first up was Amarionette—I was already familiar with them prior to this night but I fell IN LOVE after seeing them live.

In a scene that is predominantly white, I love that swancore bands tend to have so much diversity (still would LOVE to see more women in this niche scene though!!).

Next up was Strawberry Milk Cult. I really liked them! They brought a fun, indie rock sound to the line-up.

And then was Dwellings. It seemed like a lot of people were there for them. I know I have heard them on posthardcore playlists before because their name was definitely familiar and even now as I watch some of their videos, I don’t mind them. But live was a different story. I wasn’t sold. Plus I had a large man loudly singing along against the back of my head and I get it—sing your heart out bro–but can you save SOME of the song for the actual band? I would have liked to have heard their version of the songs as well.

See, like I’m watching this video here like, “OK I like this” but this is NOT the feeling I had when seeing them live. I kind of couldn’t wait for their set to end and that hasn’t happened in a while.

I just want to say that as the night progressed, the girl I was standing behind NEVER MOVED and was standing stalk still with her arms straight down and rigid. Not the slightest move of her head. Her boyfriend (brother? friend?) was with her and I thought that maybe she just didn’t want to be there but she did take some pictures during Royal Coda so she perhaps just wasn’t feeling the other bands. I only bring this up because there was a big-ish pocket of space in between her and the guy in front of her who also happened to be standing against the stage. So, if she would have JUST MOVED UP A LITTLE BIT, it would have been perfect. But instead, she kept letting other people slip into that space and it was infuriating. I SHOULD HAVE JUST STEPPED IN FRONT OF HER. I DON’T KNOW WHY I DIDN’T. It wasn’t the worst thing ever but by the time Royal Coda came on, she had let some dumb mom and her tall, curly-haired son squeeze in and I had no choice but to move further to the right which essentially prevented me from being able to see Will Swan during most of Royal Coda’s set.

And the only reason I’m mentioning this AT ALL is because there was something about this girl (from the back, anyway) that reminded me so much of this one broad from the Coaster Crew vacation that fucking hated me because I attempted to talk to her since she was there alone. When I mentioned this to Chooch, he goes, “Which one was Michelle, the one that hated you?”

Yes, Chooch. That’s the one. Sigh.

I was in heaven. There is something about this kind of music that tickles some part of my brain that does not get enough attention. I love that it’s melodic and frenetic in tandem, I love that Kurt goes from singing to screaming to his signature rapping, I love Will Swan’s and Sergio’s Medina’s chaotic guitars, I love the stage presence in general (yes, even Will Swan and his obligatory unmoving statue-stance, lol). I just loved the whole night, tiny annoyances and all.

View this post on Instagram

But yeah, who cares about anything else because Royal Coda came out and it was amazing, awesome, etc etc etc. I LOVE KURT TRAVIS SO MUCH.

 

When we got there, I was freshly showered with 10,000 steps on my FitBit. When we left, I was a stinking, sweating mess with 25,000 steps on my FitBit, LOL. That’s an indication of a good-ass evening.

And then I spent the rest of the week feeling LIKE SHIT. Totally run-down and exhausted and feeling every year of my age. Worth it, man. Going to shows is somehow way more fun now than it ever was.

(Henry probably has a different opinion.)

---

Saturday morning, when we were doing all that boring running around, I had on Royal Coda in the car.

“You know,” I said, getting ready to launch into Erin the Music Professor Mode, “every time I listen to anything with Kurt Travis in it, I feel so bad for not appreciating him more when he was in Dance Gavin Dance and do you know what that is, Henry? Maturity.”

Henry was appalled, gaping at me like I just told him I had switched over to MAGA. “You and ‘maturity’ do NOT go together,” he said.

WOWOWOWOW.

Also, Henry (who said he ‘enjoyed’ Royal Coda’s set but that was all), got me the signed poster – they were only selling 10 per show and you know how I love me some music memorabilia!

No comments