Broken Dreams Club Interview: Friko

Photo Credit: Adam Powell

After putting out one of the best albums of 2024—and one of the best debuts in recent memory—with “Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here,” the Chicago-based band Friko came into this year with huge expectations.

Fortunately, the four-piece unit more than delivered with the release of “Something Worth Waiting For,” a compendium of anthemic and inspiring indie rock treatises that chronicle the highs and lows of growing into one’s own. Very much in the vein of classic “life on the road” albums, the record captures the glorious ecstasies of a life in motion—whether it's witnessing a hot air balloon take off while sleeping in a parking lot of navigating a bike on ice-covered streets.

“Something Worth Waiting For” also details the listlessness and ennui that permeates a generation growing up in an age of Trump, climate change and AI, but the record has a beautiful beating heart—one that ultimately carries a message of hope.

Prior to the band’s September 21 show at the Rickshaw Stop, Broken Dreams Club spoke with Niko Kapetan, the chief songwriter and founding member of Friko, about his inspirations for the new album, working with the legendary indie rock producer John Congleton and surrounding yourself with people who make you smile.

Read more here:

So you guys are in the midst of this big American tour. I think you’re somewhere in Texas at the moment? How are these latest string of shows going?

They've been really wonderful. It’s been our second headlining tour since the second album came out in the states and I'm really looking forward to getting to the coast. We are just really in love with our live show now. I think it's head and shoulders above where we were last time, and it's exciting for people to see it.

How has the live show evolved, especially now that the band has moved on from being primarily a support to act to a headliner? 

We travel with our soundboard now, so that adds a level of consistency to each one of those shows. Our monitors are all doing the same thing now, and we’re just a better band because we literally sound better in our ears. And we feel more energy from the crowd because of that. We were home for like six months not touring after the first record came out because we're so burned out, and during that time, we were always rehearsing and writing. So we had a lot of time to get better as a unit.

Prior to his American jaunt, you all were in Europe, and really for the past three years you have been touring almost nonstop. You’ve been to China, Japan, Taiwan—are you all pretty much game to go anywhere at this point? 

We’re at that point where we're not too selective because we're still trying to explore everything as much as possible, especially when it comes to going to different countries. We just played in Taipei City this time, which was wonderful. I had some of the best food in my life there and that show was completely sold out. All the festivals in Europe were great this year—we just played a show in Italy that was maybe our favorite show ever. We’re seeing some of our biggest crowds ever, outside of our hometown shows in Chicago.

China and Taiwan are definitely off the beaten touring path. How did those shows come about?

We played Fuji Rock for the first time in July, and I think there were a lot of Chinese folks there. I guess we got noticed on RedNote, the social media site there, which helped us build up this really great following. We got an offer from a local promoter to play there, and we were just like ‘sounds cool!’

This kind of itinerant life from touring plays into your creative output, right? “Something Worth Waiting For” has this very nomadic feel to it. There are so many songs about travel and movement—"Choo Choo,” “Hot Air Balloon,” Dear Bicycle”—and even all the imagery of you all on bikes gives this feeling of constant motion. Is it impossible not to write about “life on the road” when that is such a prominent part of your existence?

Yeah—setting is always a big thing for writing music. We’re gone for months and you just pick those things up. “Hot Air Balloon,” was written about an experience we had on tour that was really impactful. Just sitting on a train or sitting in a van and looking out the window—those can be incredibly emotional moments for me, personally. When the first album came out, it was really from the experience of a local band, and obviously that experience has changed for us since then.

“Where We've Been, Where We Go from Here” is one of my favorite albums from 2024 and one of the best debut albums I’ve heard in years. I think for many people, the expectations for this album were exceptionally high, and you all definitely delivered. Did you notice additional pressure for this record than the debut, particularly given how warmly received that first album was?

Kind of. But I think when we all got back home, we all understood that it takes a certain amount of discipline to make music your career. And if you’re working on music as much as you can, you kind of block everything out—that’s all you really can do. And then you get to the point where you have enough songs to make a record. That’s just how it goes.

And the sophomore slump is a real thing for a reason. You seemed to pour so much into that first album—it’s essentially your entire life distilled into nine songs—with, I’m guessing, no real assumption that it would be listened to by a lot of people. How did you recalibrate for the follow-up album, knowing that you have to find new material and that there is a built-in audience now that is eager to listen to this record?

Adding [bassist] David [Fuller] and [guitarist] Korgan [Robb] to the lineup—having new members and people to work with, was a big part of that journey. And also just wanting to make new music constantly helps. You get to the point with the old music where you might still feel a connection to it, but you constantly need something to fill you up and feel more relevant to you. That first record covered everything in our life before that point, and the second record is everything. It’s obviously a more condensed part of your life, but I also think it’s just as interesting in its own right.

You mentioned David and Korgan being full time members. How did that evolution come about—from being just you and [drummer] Bailey [Minzenberger] to officially anoint David and Korgan into Friko?

It was all very natural. They were playing live with us and then we started arranging these live songs all together. We just all knew that this was the band now.

And for this album, you worked with John Congleton, who's one of the most revered indie rock producers around. How did you come about connecting with him, and what was it like recording with him?

We got word from the label that he was into the first record, and we all thought, ‘oh wow, that’s big.’ And so we were with him and it was just an amazing first experience. He’s a laidback guy, but he’s also a little crazy in a great way. He’s a great person, though. He keeps it simple, and I think that’s good for artists, because we need to know when to go and when to stop, and he’s always on top of that.

“Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here” felt like it had all the kind of urgency and immediacy that I love in an album—this idea that the stakes are so high—and I love that Something Worth Waiting For starts out with “Guess,” which has the same kind of urgent, manic energy. Was that an intentional decision to open the album with that track—to keep the momentum from the debut?

We kind of immediately knew it would be the opening the record because it just felt it didn't work anywhere else, based on our live shows. We just started playing that song first for our shows and we could see right away that it fit perfectly as an opener. 

There are so many epic songs on this album, but “Seven Degrees” really feels like the statement piece of this record—a foundational part of the album. I love Friko because you incorporate so much of my favorite indie rock sounds, but this song in particular feels inspired by classic rock acts, most notably the Beatles. Were they an influence on the album? 

The Beatles and David Bowie were definitely big influences. I grew up listening to those kinds of acts and they will always be a part of me. So much of how I think of melodies and chord progressions can be traced back to bands like the Beatles. When it comes to production, they’re a huge influence as well. It’s impossible for them not to influence my writing.

The title track seems to revisit many of the themes you touch upon in the debut album—this sense of waiting to be inspired, of hoping to be hopeful. Not to get too mordant here, but as a young person, coming of age in the time of Trump and climate change and fucking AI, how difficult is to be optimistic about the future?

I think that for anybody, when you're living your actual day-to-day life, that's all that you're experiencing. It’s the kind of thing where you have to focus on what’s around you. Your happiness in so many ways is dictated by the people around you. If you surround yourselves with good people and create the settings and opportunities that you want to aspire to in your own life, you can make it through the day. I think that’s the only way to do it, really. And stay off social media. I’m done with that now.

And I love that “Dear Bicycle” closes out the album. It’s really a song unlike any other in the Friko catalog—very amorphous and winding and nonlinear. Again, going back to track sequencing—was it deliberate to end with this song, as a way of maybe previewing the possibilities for the next album?

Definitely. That song really is a reflection of our live show. When we play that song live, it goes in this loop that you could really extend forever. And we’ve been doing that in our live show—just improvising more and more—dragging out the song for as long as possible to see where it goes. I think we definitely want to be more open-ended moving forward, not just with the music, but for me personally, with lyric writing as well.

I wanted to talk about Chicago, which has this really amazing young indie rock scene. Friko, Lifeguard, Sharp Pins, Horsegirl—the City just seems to be brimming with creative juices at the moment. How much inspiration do you get from your fellow local artists?

There was definitely an element of influence, because when we started out, we were all playing together all the time. None of us were touring. But now it’s so great, because we see these guys out on the road together. We just played a show in San Sebastian, Spain with Horsegirl that was absolutely amazing. It was such a unique experience and it was so great to see how good they were. All these bands are getting better and better at what they do. We’re all doing our own thing, the best that we can do, and I think that’s pretty inspiring.

Looking ahead to this September 21 show at the Rickshaw Stop. Are you excited to be coming back to San Francisco? Do you feel like you always get a nice reception here?

We can’t wait. We love San Francisco and, like I said, we’re just getting better and better live. Not that our last time wasn’t good, but I think we’re going to be a lot better this time around.

You all are basically touring through the end of the year. Do you have live plans for 2027? Or will you be getting back to the studio soon for LP3?

We will be writing this in the winter because we don’t really tour during the winter anyways. And then we will be going abroad for some more shows in 2027 as well as writing and recording our next album. We’re planning on staying really busy and I think we’re all just excited for what’s next.

Show Details:
Friko with villagerrr
Where: Rickshaw Stop
When: 8 p.m., Monday, September 21
Tickets: $33, available here.

The Goods Beautifully Capture The Wistful, Nostalgic Feeling of Summer Ending

Photo Credit: Corey Poluk

What is about the passage of summer that elicits such strong emotions? 

Maybe it’s the lingering knowledge that the long, warm days are over, or the ingrained memories that school will soon be starting after months of freedom.

For whatever reason, there is something about the transition to fall that conjures up deep feelings of melancholia—the onset of September just seems to spark a reminder that the carefree days of our childhood will always inevitably give way to the responsibility and burdens of adulthood. 

(Granted, this phenomenon might not resonate as strongly in the season-less Bay Area, but as someone who grew up on the East Coast, the end of summer always portended dread and sadness, knowing that the long, warm days of August would soon give way to the crisp, brisk moments of Autumn and eventually to cold, bleak and endless winters.)

The music world is rife with examples that reference this seasonal-shift malady (I’ll always be prone to Bob Seger singing wistfully about “autumn closin’ in” on “Night Moves”) and that tradition is carried on with the release of the Goods’ “Goodbye Summertime,” an album filled with beautifully nostalgic lamentations and paeans to that maddeningly ephemeral euphoria that accompanies the summer.

“There is definitely something about the changing of seasons that reminds me again about the impermanence of everything,” said Rob Good, chief songwriter and creative mainstay of the Goods. “I’ve been thinking a lot about how things are always changing and how important it is to be present in the moment. I’m still not terribly good at that thing—of being present—but I know I’m trying harder now.”

“Goodbye Summertime,” which comes out on Friday via Dandy Boy Records, is teeming with power-pop and British Invasion numbers that evoke all the right kinds of longing—those moments of recognition that elicit goosebumps or deep, contented sighs. 

Good, who will perform on Friday at Spat’s in Berkeley as part of the three-day Dandy Fest happening over the weekend, sings with a wistful, gentle delivery that bathes each song in warm familiarity. These are the kind of tracks we’ve heard since the Beatles and the Kinks first arrived stateside, and while it’s clearly fun to play spot the influence, the Goods songs feel utterly modern and non-derivative.

“I’ve always been obsessed with 60s music,” said Good. “I’m one of those annoying, sort of basic dudes who just never got over ‘Abbey Road.’ I listen to it so much and I still find new things to appreciate about that record. Maybe there is some DIY aspect to my process, since I did grow up going to the punk shows in the Bay Area, but my approach to making music has always been very broad—always trying to find that classic sound.”

Like many of those early 60s rock records, the songs of “Goodbye Summertime” are beautifully contained slice-of-life musings. With utter earnestness, Good sings about the joys of cruising around in cars, the heartbreak of fraying relationships and the sadness of listlessly waiting for “real” life to happen someday.

“I navigate this world by feeling more than thinking.,” said Good. “And I’m not a literate guy. So most of my songs start with this question—‘what am I feeling today?’ I usually just go from there and don’t try to cram too much more into the lyrics. I feel like the only thing I’m really qualified to comment on is my own internal emotional experience.”

The production on “Goodbye Summertime” is gauzy and bright—a glorious approximation of Beach Boys studio sophistication on an indie rock budget. The guitars are perky and jangly, Good’s voice is clarion clear and every instrument sounds sharp and deliberately placed. The Goods are fun, creative and exploratory, unafraid to embark on 30 second interludes of “Pet Sounds”-inspired diversions or inject songs with thrilling, minimalist guitar solos.

The album is imminently enjoyable and upbeat, but there is also an underlying feeling of loss and despondency looming within each track, adding a sense of gravitas to the proceedings.

That conflicting feeling—of joy nestling within pain like a Matryoshka doll—is never more urgent and heightened than on “Summer’s Almost Gone,” the centerpiece of the album. With its Rickenbacker guitars and Good’s elevated, pining vocal delivery, the track conjures up every great janglepop act in history, from The Byrds to Big Star to Teenage Fanclub. 

It’s the perfect summation for that fitful feeling of young love, lost youth and wistful regret that has been the foundation of rock ‘n’ roll music for generations. When Good sings “Throw your arms around me / while the sun still warms the earth,” it’s a prescient reminder that these kinds of songs will never go out of style.

Good said that song was inspired in part by the recent passing of his grandmother, with whom he had a close relationship. The way he describes their connection in many ways serves as a thesis for this album, for this kind of rock music, and for every form of art that draws you closer to the present moment by making you appreciate the past.

“I think back on an experience I might have had with her, not realizing at the time that this would be the last kind of moment we shared together,” said Good. “The older I get, the more I look back on things and realize that these moments I thought were going to last forever, never do. And this album is about coming to terms with that reality.”

Show Details: Night One of Dandy Fest Featuring The Goods, Joel Cusumano, Motorcycle and Smile Too Much 
Where: Spat’s in Berkeley 
When: 8 p.m., Friday, September 11 
Tickets: $10 at the door

Joel Cusumano Captures Both the Head and the Heart With His Emotive Power Pop

Photo Credit: Corey Poluk

In the annals of fist-pumping, kick-ass punk music, I’m not sure how often Ancient Greek mythology or Old Testament scripture has been used as a rallying cry for manic, call-to-arms energy.

But I’ll be goddamned if I’m not ready to sprint up a flight of stairs after hearing Joel Cusumano urgently belt out songs covering those impenetrable topics. A soulful power-pop autodidactic, Cusumano has the rare ability to make you want to dance while simultaneously holding an encyclopedia. 

On his debut full-length album, last year’s “Waxworld,” Cusumano’s covers most of the history of Western Civilization, deftly opining on everything from Mongol conquests to contemporary anatomical art, becoming the first songwriter to my knowledge to rhyme “Your fetial heralder” with “prostrated at my altar.” It is all very heady stuff, but the album is also fun as hell, full of big hooks, catchy choruses and Cusumano’s urgent, plaintive vocals.

“It’s always been my understanding that pop music needs to have this emotional core,” said Cusumano. “It’s ultimately an emotional art form, and if I’m not doing something that doesn’t want to make you stand up and jump around a bit, I’m probably not doing my job. The goal, though, is to try and find an interesting way to get a quote in there or a reference included that really makes you stop and think for a second as well.”

It goes without saying that “Waxworld,” and Cusumano’s subsequent follow-up EP, “Appendix” (which is set to be released on September 11), certainly make listeners stop and ponder, but it won’t be enough to keep them from dancing. Next Friday, Cusumano and his band–Brett Eastman on drums, Ella Keilt on guitar/backing vocals, Owen Kelley on bass/backing vocals, and Julie Barwick on keyboards–will bring that exhilarating combination to Spats, where he will kick off Dandy Fest, a three-day gathering featuring artists from the local label Dandy Boy Records. Cusumano will headline Friday night, with support from the Goods, Motorcycle and Smile Too Much.

Cusumano has been a fixture of the Bay Area music scene for years, playing in such outfits as Talkies, Body Double and most recently, Sob Stories, among many others. Despite that prolific background, “Waxworld” was his first album released under his own name and the first to feature tracks exclusively penned by him alone. 

It wasn’t until after the pandemic, when Sob Stories essentially ran its course, that Cusumano decided to record and release music under his own name (a move encouraged by Dandy Boy head Bobby Martinez, who released “Waxworld” on October 24, 2025.)

“Even though Sob Stories was essentially a solo vehicle by the end, I was masked by the band name,” said Cusumano. “It was a way of protecting myself. It took a little while, but I’ve actually really embraced being solo now. I have more of a humble confidence at this point.”

It takes a certain amount of confidence to cover the ambitious breadth of topics traversed in “Waxworld” and “Appendix.” A staggeringly intelligent and intentional songwriter, Cusumano slips in references to ancient Greek and Roman histories in the same seamless manners as he does 80s B-movies. Trying to track down the various literary allusions embedded in his music would be a daunting task (although his lyric sheet provides an incredibly helpful tutorial.) 

Cusumano is particularly interested in exploring the history and arcana of religion. While he grew up in a typical Catholic household, Cusumano is no longer actively practicing, but he is still endlessly fascinated with Biblical literature. His songs are laced with references to both the Old and New Testaments, but the citations are updated and adopted to resonate with modern thought.

“By the time I was in high school and listening to punk rock and watching Stanley Kubrick, I basically stopped believing in Catholicism,” said Cusumano. “But there is always  something that remains—I’ve absorbed these things into me. Ambiently, religion just dominates me and I will always be curious about the mysteries of Catholicism. As I get older, I see the wisdoms of certain religious beliefs, especially paired against the uncertainty of my own beliefs. I’m not saying I’m enlightened now or anything, but I’m certainly more open to exploring different religions at this point.”

With such a cerebral, bookish approach to music, one could forgive Cusumano for writing prog-rock treatises on life’s esoterica. But his songs are always grounded in the personal. For every mention of Corinthians, there is a matching glimpse into a relationship breaking down, or a modern crisis being confronted. Subtly, Cusumano wrote a breakup record of sorts in “Waxworld,” if one is committed enough to dig below the surface.

Take, for example, the song “Nineveh,” a standout track from “Waxworld.” Tucked within descriptions of ancient Mesopotamian cities and the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale, is this devastating couplet—“And you said/I want this And you said/I'm sorry/And you said I'm making up my mind.” 

“I found myself writing a lot of heartbreak songs, just because that’s what I was experiencing at the time,” said Cusumano. “But if you’re going to go that route, you need to add some extra texture there beside the specifics of, ‘well, I got dumped.’ I try to elevate the songs a little bit to make them move universal while staying true to the emotion.”

Breakup songs enveloped in ancient Biblical quotations could be a real bummer of a listen, but, again, holy shit, both “Appendix” and “Waxworld” are rip-roaring good times. Appropriating Cheap Trick, Squeeze, Ted Leo and other power-pop/punk maestros, Cusumano’s songs have a euphoric, carnivalesque feel, full of 4/4 beats, meaty chords and anthemic synth moments. 

It all makes for a truly unique live experience. When Cusumano plays, it is a feast that fully nourishes both the head and the heart.

Show Details:
Night One of Dandy Fest Featuring Joel Cusumano, The Goods, Motorcycle and Smile Too Much
Where: Spat’s in Berkeley 
When: 8 p.m., Friday, September 11
Tickets: $10 at the door

Dandy Boy Celebrates Five Years With Three-Day Fest At Spats

The ascendancy of Bobby Martinez into the inner echelons of the local music scene seems like it was ripped right from the punk rock playbook.

A local kid, Martinez grew up going to all-ages shows at venues like 924 Gilman. He started writing for zines, among them the venerable punk bible Maximum Rocknroll, while receiving mentorship of sorts from scenesters like Allan McNaughton, of the post-punk band The Neutrals. After championing DIY bands for years, he began playing in some of his own, among them the 1981, and eventually he launched his own label, Dandy Boy Records, a beloved institution specializing in beautifully damaged pop music.

And while it might seem like the most natural trajectory imaginable, Martinez said the journey from enthusiastic teen to respected music veteran was anything but smooth.

“I learned a lot from that Gen X group—like how to be ethical and build a community in the DIY network, but there can be a lot of gate keeping in this space,” said Martinez. “There is a tendency in the alt world to take niche media and completely make it your personality. When I was growing up, if you liked anything remotely pop, you were basically laughed at. But, among the other things I learned from growing up in that atmosphere, is that if you want to create something that you truly love, you have to make it happen on your own. You can’t wait around for it to arrive.”

Martinez, a seemingly omnipresent force now, certainly doesn’t wait around for things to happen now. Dandy Boy has been prolifically releasing albums this year, and from September 11 – 13, the label will celebrate its five-year anniversary with Dandy Fest, a three-day gathering at Spats in Berkeley jam packed with some of the Bay Area’ s best local acts. 

The lineup is a classic look into the Dandy Boy oeuvre, where none of the bands can easily be defined by a specific label. The opening night headliner, Joel Cusumano, is an erudite, incredibly literate lyricist who bashes out his verses to Cheap Trick licks. Saturday’s top billing, Yea-Ming and the Rumours channels punk energy and aesthetics through forlorn and melancholy American musings, and Sunday lead James Wavey is a psychedelic garage soul act.

There is a distinct outsider edge to the Dandy Boy lineup—each one seems to reside in the Twilight Zone of FM radio, a sound you would love to hear while driving your car, but can never quite find the frequency. That energy is propelled by Martinez, who is a fierce advocate for all his acts, always encouraging them to follow their own unique beat.

While a longtime booker at local venues like the Golden Bull and the Night Light, it wasn’t until the pandemic that Martinez started to conceive of the idea of Dandy Boy Records. 

“Everyone was going crazy during that time—just feeling so stifled creatively,” said Martinez. “No one’s band could get together, but I wanted to do something that felt connective. So I had this idea to do a Television Personalities compilation tape. I got a bunch of local bands to play their favorite TVPs songs, and I already knew about how to make a cassette from playing in the 1981. That project ended up being way more complicated than I anticipated, but it really inspired me to move forward with Dandy Boy Records as a full-time project.” 

Through that compilation tape, Martinez learned more about mastering records and he already had inroads into pressing plants and vinyl production through his longtime industry relationships. While his first foray into the distribution experience was a tape compilation, Martinez was set on making his record label a full-service shop.

“There is nothing wrong with being a tape label, but for me, I really wanted to legitimize myself by putting out some vinyl,” said Martinez. “That was important to me.”

Dandy Boy—whose signature gentleman fop logo was designed by Martinez’s longtime pal McNaughton—launched in earnest in 2021, with seven releases, mostly on cassette. The production has steadily increased over the years, and in 2026, Dandy Boy is set to issue 18 releases through various different formats—a prodigious output for an independent, one-man shop.

Nearly every band playing at the three-day Dandy Fest has something coming out via the label this year, and Martinez is effusive in his praise for all those efforts. In addition to the headliners, other acts include SF lo-fi rock maestros, Whitney’s Playland, power-pop purveyors The Goods and analog synth specialists Rhymies. Other acts include Motorcycle, a Sacramento group specializing in wayward bubblegum pop, Smile Too Much, a sad grrl slacker rock group from Oakland, Twin Bloom, an indie rock quartet and Above Me, a San Francisco dreampop band.

Reflecting his longstanding DIY beliefs, Martinez will charge just $10 cover for each night, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting La Raza Centro Legal. He’s partnering with BFF.fm and White Crate—two independent media outlets with a uniquely firm commitment to local music—to stage the event, which truly has a homegrown feel.

“These bands are really like family to me,” said Martinez. “I’ve been friends with some of them going back to the time when I was a teenager. It just feels so special to be doing this thing with people who I respect and admire so much.”

Show Details:
Dandy Fest
Where: Spats in Berkeley
When: 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, September 11 and 12; 7 p.m., Sunday, September 13
Tickets: $10 at the door

SF Bay PopFest Set to Take Over Bottom of the Hill This Week

Art Credit: Kik Petiford

Bottom of the Hill is well known for having hosted internationally recognized acts long before they gained fame. The luminaries who have played at the legendary 300-cap punk venue—the best music site in the world, in this writer’s opinion—include the Strokes, Oasis, Alanis Morrisette and Green Day, among countless others.

While it has duly earned its reputation as a good-luck charm on the way to world renown, Bottom of the Hill’s most impressive feature is its long-standing commitment to incubating and supporting local groups. Many new bands struggle to get on the bill at their favorite local haunt, but Bottom of the Hill has always favored an open-door policy.

No band is more illustrative of that supportive approach than The Aislers Set, one of San Francisco’s most iconic and revered groups of the past three decades. A successor group to the Albuquerque noise-pop project Henry’s Dress, The Aislers Set was powered by the songwriting prowess of founding member AV Linton, and after the band established its base in San Francisco in the mid-90s, Bottom of the Hill became its second home.

“Bottom of the Hill was incredibly supportive of the band in those early years—I think we played there 22 times,” said Alicia Vanden Heuvel, The Aislers Set multi-instrumentalist whose other band, Poundsign also played more than 20 times at the venue. “There were never any restrictions on how often you could play there, it was led by women and there were no corporate ties at all. It was all very refreshing.”

With their long, intertwined history, it’s incredibly prescient that The Aislers Set will return to Bottom of the Hill as part of a headlining billing at this year’s SF Bay Popfest, a four-day gathering from August 20 - 23 featuring some of the best indie pop bands in the Bay Area and beyond. It will be the first full-band performance in San Francisco from The Aislers Set in 12 years and it will happen during the swan-song year for Bottom of the Hill, which announced that it would be closing at the end of 2026.

Originally staged in the 90s and early Aughts by local mainstays Mario Hernandez of Kids on a Crime Spree and Riley Riley from Artsick (among a few others), the rebooted SF Bay Popfest is the brainchild of numerous contributors, including Vanden Heuvel, Slumberland Records founder Mike Schulman and Hernandez and Riley again. The collective were all involved in the The Oakland Weekender, another locally focused music fest held in the East Bay for a few years, and after discussing a successor to that event, the group decided to revive the old SF Bay Popfest moniker.

The lineup features a number of bands working with Speakeasy Studios—the label and recording studio managed by Vanden Heuvel—and Slumberland, but there are plenty of other acts, such as the Texas-based Paper Jam and  the LA group Pillow Fight, who are not part of either outfit.

“I’m not opposed to doing a label fest, but we really didn’t want to make this just a promotional device for us,” said Schulman. “This was about celebrating bands who are making exciting, interesting music right now.” 

The group behind SF Bay Popfest planned the gathering for more than a year. There was talk about reviving Black Tambourine, Schulman’s legendary lo-fi indie pop act that was Slumberland Records’ first release, or Henry’s Dress, but ultimately, logistical challenges dashed those efforts. Schulman has known both Vanden Heuvel and Linton for more than 30 years, so asking The Aislers Set to top the bill seemed like the most logical alternative.

“The Aislers Set is everything I love about music,” said Schulman. “So to me, the idea of seeing them play at Bottom of the Hill again is so unreal to me. I’ve seen a lot of fucking bands over the past 50 years or whatever, but the Aislers Set shows I’ve been to are right there up with the musical experiences I’ve ever had.”

While The Aislers Set will be a highlight, SF Bay Popfest is so much more than a one-band showcase. Tony Molina, himself an iconic Bay Area figure, will headline the first night of the fest with his band on Thursday, getting support from acts like Galore and Monster Treasure. Dear Nora, a staple of the indie pop scene for decades, will lead the billing for Satuday night, with support from Slumberland bands like the Jeanines and the Kitchenettes. The Aislers Set will take the stage on Friday night and the Sunday matinee show will be headlined by local janglepop heroes The Umbrellas. 

“I’ve played a lot of musical festivals where I was like, one of six women, or you see like one LBGQT band playing, so we really tried to be inclusive and intentional about the lineup,” said Vanden Heuvel, who, in addition to her Aislers Set duties, will also play with her other band, Remedy and Wren on Sunday. “I know this is going to be a really friendly festival—I expect to see plenty of people in backpacks here—no macho stuff. But, it will also be super punk and super heavy and DIY.”

There is no better venue to host a festival aspiring to that appeal than Bottom of the Hill, a magical place for all those on the fringe. When the group behind SF Bay Popfest first started planning to have the event at Bottom of the Hill, they had no idea the club would be closing imminently. Vanden Heuvel said she originally reached out to club co-owners Ramona Downey and Lynn Schwarz about booking a four-day gathering at the site, and was immediately greeted with an enthusiastic response.

“Ramona and Lynn were basically like, ‘let’s do it, throw a bill together,’” said Vanden Heuvel. “And then they told me about the club closing, so this would kind of be a bon voyage for Bottom of the Hill too. No place has been more supportive of bands like The Aislers Set, like Henry’s Dress, like Poundsign—like countless others in our position—than Bottom of the Hill. So, this is going to be really special.”

Show Details:
SF Bay Popfest
Where: Bottom of the Hill
When: August 20 – 23
Tickets: All shows sold out, except Sunday matinee. Tickets for that show are available here.

Always On Tour, Built to Spill Set to Stop by Bay Area Once Again

Photo Credit: Lilah Edward and Melanie Radford

During a recent Google search to study up for my latest interview with Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch, I stumbled upon this article from Boca Magazine—an outlet self-described as being on “the front lines of local issues and events in South Florida.” 

In the piece, author John Thomason reviewed a Built to Spill show in Fort Lauderdale, describing a thrilling experience that one has come to expect from the legendary Boise-based rock band. Thomason said the gig featured “blissed-out guitar journeys where the contours of tightly structured indie pop wrestled agreeably with extended forays into the jam-band cosmos.” A perfect description, John.

This is in no way disrespectful to the good folks in South Florida, but that area of the country is not known as a hotbed for indie rock, and yet despite that reputation, Thomason said he had seen Built to Spill five times in that Fort Lauderdale venue alone. I’m not a betting man, but I’d be willing to wager that few indie bands have visited South Florida more times than Built to Spill over the past two decades—a reflection of the group’s boundless appetite for touring.

“We go to Florida, kind of like every other year,” said Martsch, who said he’s pretty sure Alaska and Hawaii are the only two states the band hasn’t played. “You have to do a bit of driving to dip into there, but it’s always a nice time. Even before the internet, each one of those cities had a community of indie rock fans. When you get into the venue, Florida feels like anywhere else to me.”

Martsch has always brought a no-nonsense, unpretentious approach to leading one of the most beloved indie rock bands of all time. Built to Spill are the definition of workmanlike—each year, they are guaranteed to hit the road for a string of live shows, with those jaunts always including an extended tour of California. 

Predictably, 2026 is no different, with Built to Spill lining up 10 shows throughout the Golden State, ranging from South Lake Tahoe all the way down to Pioneertown on the outskirts of Joshua Tree National Park. The band will return to The Chapel—its San Francisco home-away-from-home—for yet another three-day residency, from August 23 – 25, preceded by a stop in Petaluma at the Phoenix Theater on August 22.

Even though the band hasn’t released an album in four years—2022’s excellent “When The Wind Forgets Your Name,” many of the shows on their California tour are already sold out. For Martsch, touring has just become part of the Built to Spill machine—an opportunity to reconnect with the band’s always devoted fanbase. 

“We don’t want to tour for no reason, but we love getting out and playing live shows—that’s certainly the most rewarding part of the band for me,” said Martsch. “We usually try to hook up with another bigger outfit for a tour—we did that last year with Modest Mouse and Yo La Tengo. This year, we connected with Courtney Bartnett—who is amazing—for a few shows, but we haven’t had that big tour lined up yet. So, when that doesn’t happen, we like to do these regional tours—go through California and whatnot. They’re always fun.”

Martsch has always been refreshingly blunt about his struggles finding songwriting inspiration, and at the moment, he said he doesn’t have nearly enough material lined up for the next Built to Spill album. The band has been performing one unreleased track, “Fire to Dust,” for quite some time now on tour, but other than that, no new songs are in the offing.

“I actually have been kind of jamming around, just making music without any real care or concern,” said Martsch. “I’ll lay down some drums, or sit with a bass and play the first thing that comes to mind before I start playing the guitar. But a lot of that is just to keep my musical brain going—I’m not really focused on coming up with anything new. I don’t know what’s going to happen—I’m not sure if that songwriting phase of my career is over. It could be.”

If Martsch never writes another song, his legacy will still be firmly cemented as one of the great artists of the indie rock universe. Most of that reputation is based upon the band’s towering 90s’ triumvirate of “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love,” Perfect From Now On,” and “Keep It Like a Secret,” but there isn’t a single Built to Spill record that’s not great. With live music now the emphasis of the band, Martsch has continued to explore different and unique ways to deliver songs that are familiar to his audience.

“When I talk about doing something new, it’s mostly about putting new parts into old songs and playing them live,” said Martsch. “I was thinking of doing a Lou Reed kind of thing, where he would add a new bridge or verse to ‘Sweet Jane.’ That’s probably a more realistic next step than any new album for us.”

Martsch has the luxury to get a little creative in a live setting because the current Built to Spill iteration is, simply put, tight as shit. In addition to Martsch’s typical guitar histrionics (despite his belief otherwise, he is one of indie’s few guitar gods), bassist Melanie Radford and drummer Teresa Esguerra are the perfect complimentary rhythm section. 

After lengthy stints playing as four-piece and five-piece lineups, the current version of Built to Spill is lean and muscular, providing unique and interesting takes on old classics. And at seven years, this offing of Built to Spill is one of the longest-running in the band’s ever-evolving history. At this point, their sound has been honed significantly by their shared history.

Because of that well-practiced synchronicity, Built to Spill shows are still incredibly exciting, even when the band is playing tunes we’ve all heard plenty of times before. Whether it’s Idaho, Florida or here in California, the experience is always the same—Built to Spill will kick some serious ass the night they are in your hometown.

Show Details:
Where: Phoenix Theater, Petaluma; The Chapel, San Francisco
When: 8 p.m. Saturday August 22; Sunday – Tuesday, August 23 – 25
Tickets: Petaluma and first Chapel show sold out. $57 for second two Chapel shows, available here.

British Icons WU LYF Continue Their Improbable Return With Show at the Independent on Monday

Photo Credit: Anthony Harrison

WU LYF were always destined to go out in a blaze of glory.

Masked in anonymity and burnishing a revolutionary zeal, the Manchester collective railed against generational greed and urged for a collective uprising against rampant capitalism and environmental degradation. Their mission was predicated on activating an engaged youth movement (WU LYF = World Unite, Lucifer Youth Foundation)—one that sought to escape apathy and resignation in favor of compassion and self-righteous rage.

The band’s debut album, “Go Tell Fire on The Mountain,”  was a monumental statement piece—one of the best albums of the 2010s (actually, make that all time), filled with ridiculously ambitious post-rock treatises. With such a massive ambit soaking in the dueling forces of fatalism and idealism, no one seemed shocked when the band announced its break-up in 2012, ending their feverish run after one utterly perfect record.

It was an ending seemingly written in the stars from the beginning. A reunion seemed almost inconceivable, which is why it’s almost fitting that their return can be traced back to one of the more improbable places imaginable—a local bookstore.

It was at that nondescript outpost in Manchester that Ellery James Roberts, the lead singer and keyboard player for WU LYF, was working following the dissolution of his follow-up act, Lost Under Heaven—an endeavor he started with his romantic partner, Ebony Hoorn. With both that relationship and the band over, Roberts had decamped to the bookstore to work for his friend, who owned the shop.

“There was little room above the bookshop with some drums and a piano, so I would just go up there and mess around a little after work,” said Roberts. “And then one day my friend suggested that I reach out to Joe [Manning], who played drums in WU LYF. I hadn’t spoken to Joe in a while, but I ended up reaching out to him and we had just this really sweet, playful connection immediately.

And from there, Evans [Kati], our old guitarist, started coming down and we did that for like two or three months together. At that point, we were only missing Tom [McClung], who was living in France with his family. I phoned him one night and he was down to come over. That was like, August of 2023, and we ended up spending a week together, just jamming and coming up with all these interesting ideas. We were all really inspired to see that energy still being there.”

After more than a decade of being dormant, WU LYF slowly re-introduced themselves to the world, playing shows in Europe in 2025 before releasing this year’s anthemic, unstoppable return to glory, “A Wave That Will Never Break.” On Monday night at the Independent, the band will play its first show in San Francisco in 14 years. 

A seven-song album bursting with big ideas, “A Wave That Will Never Break” is a thrillingly uplifting indication that the fires burning within WU LYF never dimmed. Roberts—whose gruff, gasping and often indecipherable vocal deliveries powered WU LYF’s debut album—has never sounded better. It’s not just that his lyrics tackle cosmically vast topics (sample: “As this dark night approaches/the dreamers descend/True life is unveiled/know its not the end”), it’s that he delivers them with a desperate urgency that makes every breath feel like a battle.

And the band is just as good. Whereas “Go Tell Fire On A Mountain,” was powered by Roberts’ transcendent organ and keyboard work, the sound on “A Wave That Will Never Break” is more muscular and sinewy.  Like most great indie rock bands, WU LYF has always been more about feeling and emotion than technical proficiency, but on the new album they sound completely in lockstep, embracing a post-punk approach that’s both lean and exploratory.

“It’s interesting, because when we first started out as a band, I just thought I was good at playing music with others,” said McClung, who also performs as Francis Lung. “I was quite naïve, because I soon discovered that I didn’t have that sort of relationship with anyone else. It was only when we started jamming together again that I realized there was something really special about what we have. It’s not like a virtuosic thing—it’s much more ephemeral than that. It’s just this innate feeling we have when we play together.”

Much like its predecessor, “A Wave That Will Never Break,” speaks almost exclusively in bold statements, but there is nothing in the back WU LYF catalog that matches the grandeur of a song like “Tib St. Tabernacle,” an 11-minute, multi-suite saga that’s a heartbreaking chronicle of a world slowly capitulating to environmental destruction and neglect.

“It’s my sort of experience that we live in a completely enchanted and beautifully infinite world,” said Roberts. “But we also live in a system that has very specific parameters of what’s acceptable for a life. It’s this very mechanized, narrow way of living that’s just depressing—it’s destructive to the human spirit and it’s prevalent across cultures. It’s like we have to unplug from the dream to see what life really is.”

These kinds of grandiloquent statements are part of Roberts’ regular lexicon, and coming from another source, could prompt some sighs or eyerolls, but there isn’t an ounce of insincerity to anything he says. He’s a true believer. 

He’s also a little love wounded, and for the first time in the WU LYF catalog, there are some legitimate romantic songs, especially “The Fool.” Channeling the atmosphere of Echo and the Bunnymen, Roberts opens up in a manner previously foreign to the band, with him lamenting that, “I can't eat or sleep/my heart's aflame.” Roberts said the song was written about Hoorn, his former creative and romantic partner.

“I was in a space where I'd separated from Ebony, but still had so much love for her,” said Roberts. “It was really about feeling gratitude for the relationship we had. It’s when you can’t help but love someone, even if you’re literally separated from them.”

“The Fool” is a nice example of WU LYF marrying the personal to the universal, but in many ways, no barrier exists between those poles for the band. Every song they write is for the masses, knowing that those masses are each made up of individual souls, and it takes just one person to start a movement.

During their first go-round the band espoused a grand vision that might have been unmet, but they didn’t disappear into nothingness. And now they’re back, undaunted and unrepentant, determined to keep the message going. Both Roberts and McClung confirmed that they have a whole trove of material written, and more WU LYF albums will be in the offing.

“We have to keep putting music out at this point—there’s kind of no turning back,” said McClung. “We’ve set up this platform where our fans can really engage with us and it’s been amazing to see how they’ve supported us now that we are back. They’re more than fans—they’re contributing to our livelihoods in a meaningful way. It’s been really encouraging to see and it really motivates us to keep this thing going.”

Show Details:
WU LYF with Bondo
Where: The Independent
When: 8 p.m., Monday, July 27
Tickets: $32, available here.

Friendship, Coming to the Chapel on Wednesday, Find Beauty in the Mundane

Photo Credit: Charlie Boss

Cheap beer and vodka in tiki cups. City buses and well-worn stoops. Choirs singing angelically at church.

Through the eyes of Dan Wriggins—the creative force behind the Philly alt-country act Friendship—all those elements of life are worth observing. From the sordid to the sublime, they are part of the continuum and spectrum that is daily existence. No minutiae is too granular or mundane to celebrate, and no phenomenon is too awe-inspiring to ignore in favor of blessed obeisance.

“I think songwriting has always been about profaning the sacred, but for me, the inverse has always been more interesting—to sanctify the profane,” said Wriggins. “Taking the garbage that we see all around and finding the strange beauty in it. It’s a way to remind yourself that there is beauty all around us. You don’t even have to search too hard to find it—it’s already there.”

Wriggins beautifully catalogs the commonplace wonders of existence in Friendship’s stellar 2025 album, “Caveman Wakes Up,” a startlingly emotional recollection of daily urban routine. On Wednesday night, Friendship will play selections from that album at the Chapel, with support from local heroes the Reds Pinks and Purples and Cindy.

While Wriggins appreciates the lesser splendors of the world, he’s insistent that he doesn’t walk around in a daze with rose-tinted glasses, glorifying all he sees.

“There's this quote of Mary Oliver that I love, which is, like, ‘this is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know—that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness,’” said Wriggins. “And I definitely aspire to that philosophy, but it’s certainly not all true for me. I feel like people think I have this wonderful observational quality, but a lot of the time it's just me spending hours and hours writing to find the right phrase. I do enjoy being mindful, but I haven’t found the secret to this perfect open perspective or anything.”

On “Caveman Wakes Up,” Wriggins makes most of his perceptive everyday diary inscriptions about his adopted hometown of Philadelphia.  The city’s dueling forces of urban grit and charm—at times inspiring and exasperating—are reflected in tracks like “Wildwood in January,” where Wriggins sings about “Nail gun sounds/Summer's gonna come around,” or in “Love Vape,” a song in which a touching moment of someone’s head resting on a shoulder is juxtaposed with a remark about a corner store having “the cheapest cigarettes on Earth.”

No song represents Wriggins ambivalent appreciation of Philadelphia more so than “Tree of Heaven,” a Kinks-like stroll through the city’s gloriously crumbling landscape. In his trademark howl—Wriggins warbled, wounded voice is truly a force of nature—he craggily belts out how “You know you changed me, babe,” a declaration that could be about a relationship, a job or a project, but most likely refers to the city he inhabits.

While the album is endearingly devoted to Philadelphia, Wriggins does manage to single out San Francisco—a city he’s admittedly not too familiar with—in the wonderfully wry “Betty Ford.” A chronicle equally about addiction as it is about life’s endless up-and-downs, “Betty Ford” starts off with Wriggins’ reminiscing about hearing “Mission in the Rain,” by the Jerry Garcia Band before ending with the hilarious/hilariously sad couplet, “I have been everyone/I've been so alone/In my tender loin/In my Lincoln bedroom.”

“I know very little about the Tenderloin—that song really started because I was listening to Jerry Garcia and I wanted to play on the idea of someone being on a Mission,” said Wriggins. “I’m aware that the neighborhood is a little run-down. And that song represents these two opposite feelings of despair and exultation—how we all contain those things. Like, I have the White House and the Tenderloin inside me—we are made up of many different parts.”

In addition to being an acclaimed songwriter—“Cavemen Wakes Up” was lauded in the press—Wriggins is also an accomplished poet. In 2024, he released his debut collection, “Prince of Grass,” which contained roughly 50 poems. While Wriggins songs contain the remnants of poetry, he said the two disciplines don’t typically bleed into one another.

“There is a lot more freedom with poetry, which helps me stay focused with my songwriting,” said Wriggins. “If you think about your desk and the computer being on it right now, could you write a song about that? Probably not an interesting one that anyone wants to hear. But you could write a poem that describes and details that scene in a way that’s compelling and interesting.”

While he might not imbue his own songs with that particular kind of craftwork, Wriggins has an unerring poets’ eye for finding the graceful symmetries of a wondrously hardscrabble existence. There is prose and poetry hidden everywhere in our daily encounters, and like Wriggins, we must look to uncover and celebrate both types, whenever we can.

Show Details:
Friendship with the Reds, Pinks and Purples and Cindy
Where: The Chapel
When: 8 p.m., Wednesday, July 22
Tickets: $27, available here.

“Residue,” The Newest Album From Yea-Ming and The Rumours, Is Their Best Yet

Yea-Ming Chen, Photo Credit: Cyrus Yoshi Tabar

While phonetically pleasing, the word “residue” has never prompted the most positive thought associations. It evokes images of stickiness and dustiness, a film of detritus and debris that refuses to be shaken off or discarded. 

Yes–residue might be an unwanted malingerer that is anchored to some hidden memory. But it can also signify growth and regeneration. Whatever was there prior has drifted away or been brought down, leaving only a thin reminder of its presence. 

Residue is stubbornly resilient, but it is also translucent and gossamer, an impediment that can be overcome. We might not be able to completely forget the residue of our past, but we can still move forward, knowing that each new layer and deposit adds an oddly rewarding complexity to our lives.

Although album titles rarely contain deep meanings, Yea-Ming Chen intentionally chose to name her latest release “Residue” to provide a glimpse into a record brimming with songs about renewal, recovery and rebirth. 

“The album title definitely has a deep meaning for me,” said Chen, who records as Yea-Ming and the Rumours. “In general, I always carry this sense of leftover-ness of past lives—a feeling that the past people I loved in my life are always present with me somehow. No matter how long it’s been since I’ve seen them or talked to them, their essence stays with you, their memories stay with you. They’re just there all the time.”

Released on June 12 via Dandy Boy Records, “Residue” is the finest album yet from Yea-Ming and the Rumours, a stirring collection of melancholic indie-rock, ambient pop and Americana tunes. Channeling the elegant, elongated vocal stylings of Nico, Chen manages to sound both dispassionate and self-righteous on the record, flitting between moments of broken-hearted woes and kiss-off recriminations. The album feels in many ways to be the creative culmination of Chen’s already impressive music catalog. 

A fixture of the local music scene for years, Chen first fronted the lo-fi, Sarah Records-indebted outfit Hawaiian Getaway, before moving on to Dreamdate, a pop-duo collaboration with Anna Hillburg. The debut Yea-Ming and the Rumours album, "I Will Make You Mine,” came out in 2016, and in addition to her solo work, Chen also plays in Ryli, a more upbeat alternative to the Rumours.

Trained in classical piano as a youngster, Chen has been devoted to music for essentially her entire life.

“I remember getting a keyboard as a little kid and from the moment I pressed the piano keys, I knew I wanted to do music forever,” said Chen. “When I entered high school, I really got into rock music and wanted to write songs. I had an English teacher who really encouraged my poetry, which gave me the confidence to pursue music further.”

Chen has long specialized in creating emotive, sincere songs. With the Rumours, she has opted to pair her heart-on-sleeve lyrics with a countryish sound reminiscent of acts like the Beachwood Sparks, Rilo Kiley, Camera Obscura and San Francisco’s own Girls. 

For “Residue,” that sonic structure has never felt more profound or effective. The album opener “Paper Doll,” is the perfect mission statement for record. With tearful slide guitars (played expertly by Chen’s longtime collaborator Eóin Galvin) set against an urgent rhythm section, the song is punctuated by Chen’s painfully blunt admissions of feeling used. Kicking off an album with a track that repeats the line, “I don’t want to be here,” is a bold choice, but Chen’s delightfully insouciant delivery gives the lyric an unexpectedly empowering vibe. It serves as a reminder that Chen might have suffered fools in the past, but she won’t any longer.

“I think most of my songs tend to be a little sappy or romantic or nostalgic,” said Chen. “And I am definitely all of those things. But there is also a part of me that’s, like, a fucking angry person. Sometimes I feel the need to kind of prove that, and I think ‘Paper Doll’ is an example of that.”

There are plenty of romantic moments on the album (the hazy, gorgeous dreampop number, “Uncommon Dreaming”) in addition to some sultry and steamy instances (the spacy, Frankie Rose-inflected “Sweet Opiate”), but “Residue” has plenty of defiant, raucous interludes as well.

Album highlight “Cold” is a powerful soft-loud-soft dynamo of a song, with a cascade of fuzzed-out guitars greeting Chen’s chorus of “It’s cold/in my bones,” a bracingly direct confession of the memories that can haunt oneself ceaselessly. Similarly, “Treasury of Loved Ones” returns to the theme of restless attachment. 

Again, it’s that idea of the residue—that ineffable ether that sticks around seemingly forever, no matter how far from our consciousness it may reside.

“I’ve always imagined this room in my head, with a box or a file cabinet,” said Chen. “And my grandmother is in one corner of the room in that file, and my ex-boyfriend from 10 years ago is in another corner in that box. It’s always been hard to vocalize or explain that feeling, other than through music.”

Next month, Chen will bring that room in her head out on tour, with the Rumours set for a three-date Pacific Northwest jaunt. She’ll return to the Bay Area for a September 12 show at the Little Hill Lounge in El Cerrito. 

These dates will be an opportunity to see one of the Bay Area’s most gifted and revered voices—a troubadour who proudly wears her past experiences on her sleeve. Chen understands that our creative tapestries are all just a little more interesting with a fine coat of residue sprinkled atop.

“Residue” is available for purchase on Bandcamp here.