Live Review: Sam Smith At The Castro Theatre

Sam Smith, the acclaimed British singer and songwriter, recently capped off a staggering 20-night residency at the newly remodeled Castro Theater.

Broken Dreams Club photographer Aaron Levy-Wolins attended the final show of this impressive run on March 14. Here is his dispatch and photos from that memorable night:

In a glorious final performance at the newly-renovated and slam-packed Castro Theater, Sam Smith performed with gorgeous grace.

Donning a long, gray trenchcoat with a massive collar and an oversized rose on their left shoulder, Sam walked on stage to a huge roar from the crowd, singing one of their many hit songs, 2014’s “I’m Not the Only One.”

Holding the microphone invitingly at the chorus, the crowd burst into song.

“You say I’m crazy, but you don’t think I know what you’ve done,” hundreds sang in unity. “But when you call me baby…” at which point Sam rejoined, “I know I’m not the only one.”

Sam’s final show, his 24th straight, was another sellout night at the historic theater in San Francisco’s gayborhood. And while he expressed, honestly and humorously, that he was “fucking tired,” he told the crowd that he felt mixed emotions in ending the run of shows.

“Leaving this place, leaving tomorrow, it's a strange feeling,” said Sam. “I don't think I've felt so much love in shows ever in my life.”

Sam said they came out as gay when they were very young, and started meeting LGBTQ friends when they moved to London.

“But for me,” said Sam, “I have never, ever felt the gay community until I came here to the Castro nearly 20 years ago,” prompting cheers and calls of “We love you!”

Sam, long-known for their sad ballads about heartbreak, surprised the crowd with a new, unreleased song, called “My Guy,” likely referring to his boyfriend Christian Cowan. 

“I'm sorry to say but recently I've been feeling really in love,” said Sam, which got cheers from the crowd.

After performing the happier, hopeful song Sam strut toward the front of the stage, saying, “Now enough of the happy shit, let's get back to the depressing stuff,” performing “Too Good at Goodbyes.”

As they performed more songs, they slowly unbuttoned and eventually removed their coat, revealing a black ruffle-neck blouse with the top half unbuttoned, showing their chest hair, a good match for their thick beard and mustache with the ends twisted. Their silky, breathy voice performed their songs a little slower than in the studio recordings, creating a sensual aura as Sam rocked their hips and slithered their hands through the air and along their body, continuing the concert with “Promises” and “Dancing With a Stranger.”

Sam excited the crowd with a jolt of excitement, saying, “Do you believe in the gay power?” The pace quickened as they sang “I’m Not Here to Make Friends,” off their 2023 album “Gloria.” Drag queens, including Peaches Christ – who often emcees queer events – flooded the stage and danced with Sam.

A few songs and a costume change later, Sam returned to stage to a dramatic piano solo and seemingly emerged from a powerful white light and fog that engulfed the stage, wearing an Emerald City-green dress with a massive green cape that they stretched out on their arms like wings and somberly belted “HIM,” a song where a boy seemingly comes out as gay to God.

As the song ended, the white and blue hues on stage turned dark and red. Sam’s reverence and seeming-scared demeanor disappeared, replaced by a sharp sense of confidence. The ethereal, godly feeling of “HIM” was replaced with a devilishly hot atmosphere. Lights flashed, beats slowly pulsed and a siren sounded before a low-pitched piano introduced the climactic moment of the show: the Grammy Award-winning song “Unholy.”

Sam waved their fingers and rocked around the microphone stand as they sang, tilting their head back to sing with the microphone above them. During the chorus line, their voice seemed to mingle with a feminine, harmonizing voice singing, “he left his kids at” and “so he can get that.” Sam then welcomed “Unholy” featured artist Kim Petras onto the stage. Petras, who had a sold-out show at the Castro Theater the following day, wore a shiny, short white dress and carried a matching handbag and sang her solo verse before rejoining Sam for two harmonizing chorus refrains. 

Sam ended the show with their most-popular song, “Stay With Me,” and another new, unreleased song “Hold On.”

“One day, you’re gonna find yourself a river,” sang Sam, “and I’ll be waiting on the other side.”

R.E. Seraphin’s Re-Issued Albums Offer Fresh Glimpse At Older Classics

In the annals of album release dates, March 13, 2020 has to go down in history as one of least fortuitous days in history.

Do some quick research and you’ll notice that it happens to coincide almost directly with the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic—not exactly the best time to promote an album, what with the entire world being shut down.

So, it should come as no surprise that Bay Area songwriter R.E. Seraphin recently decided to re-issue his debut solo effort, “Tiny Shapes,” which was originally introduced to the public on that miserably fateful day. That album is being packaged with “A Room Forever,” Seraphin’s follow-up EP that came out a few months after his debut (and yeah, right in the meat of the pandemic as well.)

“When I originally released these records, I had no real way of promoting them,” said Seraphin. “I did a few live streams, posted a little bit on Instagram and had a few very nice people write about the album on some blogs, but for the most part, it felt pretty anti-climactic at the time.” 

It’s an utter shame that the releases fell under the radar, because they showcase the songwriting approach that has made Seraphin one of the Bay Area’s most consistently vibrant musicians. 

Wielding the power-pop hooks of bands like Squeeze, Big Star and Cheap Trick with the lo-fi aesthetics and leisurely pacing of outfits such as the DBs and the Feelies, Seraphin has a preternatural feel for writing imminently catchy melodies. He’s equally adept at creating jangly fuzz rock tunes in the vein of Teenage Fanclub (“Safe to Say”) as he is making noir-ish, slinky synth pieces like (“Pillar of Shame.”)

Fortunately, those songs are now being brought back to the forefront, with the new reissuing of the album, which Seraphin is putting on his Take a Turn Records, the label he operates with fellow musician Luke Robbins. 

Seraphin said it was an enlightening experience to revisit the songs. Despite the albums only coming out about six years ago, his life has changed dramatically since their release. 

“In a sense, it did feel like I was looking back at a different person,” said Seraphin. “I was in a totally different part of my life. I hadn’t had children yet, which is a major development, as any parent will tell you. But I was just in a different headspace overall. I had recently dissolved my previous project [the Talkies] and so I was very loose and limber creatively. There was this kind of impetus to record these songs within this short period of my life to kind of usher in this new creative stage for me.”

The pairing of the “Tiny Shapes” and “A Room Forever” is remarkably cohesive, given the stylistic differences between the two releases. Whereas “Tiny Shapes” leans into brightly shaped, ebullient guitar rock numbers, “A Room Forever” is brooding and contemplative, with Seraphin employing melancholic synth movements, a more austere soundscape and a deeper vocal register. One album is the summer, the other its autumnal companion.

“I do think the two albums are very different, both in terms of the songwriting and the presentation,” said Seraphin. “A Room Forever” was essentially just recorded on my phone in my bedroom, so it was very skeletal. But I think they complement each other in an interesting way—I don’t think there is this jarring transition when going from one album to the next.”

Seraphin is incredibly prolific—in addition to contributing to countless Bay Area records, he also plays in The Pennys and frequently releases albums under his own name—and one can hear an evolution in his playing style and approach since “Tiny Shapes” and “A Room Forever” were released, but there are plenty of his hallmarks that remain comfortingly present. His keen sense for lyrical detail, ability to shoehorn pop nuggets out of unconventional places, and his soothing, unhurried vocal delivery have remained constant through the years. 

Much has changed since these two albums were first released, but much has stayed the same—the records are evidence that Seraphin has always tapped into a wellspring of creative energy. While he has no immediate plans to play live shows, with the pandemic long over, he at least has that option now. 

“We’ll see where it goes from here,” said Seraphin. “It’s been nice just to keep things moving along by releasing this album, to keep the momentum going. It’s definitely been a rewarding experience.”

The “A Room Forever” / “Tiny Shapes” album reissue is available for purchase on Bandcamp here.

New Orleans Outfit Twisted Teens Bringing Unique Blend of Sounds to Bay Area Next Week

There is something undeniably unique, thrilling and fresh about listening to “Blame the Clown,” the new release from the New Orleans duo Twisted Teens.

While bearing all the trappings of a gritty, revivalist garage rock band, the group incorporates an array of disparate elements, from hip-hop beats, Appalachia fiddle melodies, electronica flourishes, analog sound samples, and, most noticeably, a pedal steel that weeps and croons, courtesy of guitar player RJ “Razor Ramon” Santos. 

It is a collection of inspirations rarely heard in modern music, but Caspian, the (mononymous) founder and chief songwriter of Twisted Teens, insists that his band is only carrying on the legacy of countless acts before him.

“We are doing what musicians have always done, which is just to combine the cultural influences that are around them,” said Caspian. “For us, it’s the blues, or jazz, punk music, trap, experimental music. If you sit in my living room, you will hear hardcore punk and New Orleans bounce music. You’ll hear fiddle music from the mountains and a lot of Cajun music and brass bands. All of that stuff is literally coming into my window every day. It might sound complicated, but if you think of yourself as a participator in the culture, and not just a curator, it makes perfect sense.”

In support of “Blame The Clown”—an outrageously great new album that is one of the best releases so far in 2026—Twisted Teens will bring their ambitious mélange of sounds to a couple of Bay Area venues next week. On Tuesday, they’ll play at The Knockout in San Francisco’s Mission District and on Wednesday, they’ll head across the Bay to play at Thee Stork Club in Oakland. 

It will be a homecoming for Caspian, who grew up in the Bay Area and lived for years in Santa Cruz, where he formed his folk punk band, Blackbird Raum. Caspian’s first experience with New Orleans came in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where he squatted in abandoned buildings while busking and meeting musicians from the local community. 

He came back to the Bay Area for a stint, but eventually settled on New Orleans as his fulltime home in 2015. He quickly fell in love with the vast musical multiculturalism of the city, in particular the Holy Cross neighborhood where he lives.

“We feel like this album could only exist in a three block radius—I don’t think we could make this record anywhere else,” said Caspian. “I’m not from New Orleans, so I’m not about to say that this is about representing the city’s culture, but I can tell you about the neighborhood we live in and the community we have and the influences that are filtering through the air.”

It was in that creatively vibrant community that Caspian met Santos, a pedal steel player whose mournful, wailing slide playing provides Twisted Teens with its signature sound—a plaintive, yet raucous output that makes you want to dance a jig while artfully chugging your $2 beer. Those pealing guitar movements perfectly compliment Caspian’s gruff, raspy vocals—an ideal instrument to deliver his outrageous and uproariously funny narratives of characters living on the fringes of society.

“Blame the Clown” is populated with stories of down-on-their-luck drifters, desperate vagabonds, impish tricksters and manic individuals trying to navigate the perils of modern day living. While some of the tales clearly stray into satire, there is always a palpable sense of empathy to Caspian’s character sketches.

Take, for example, the main actor in “100 Bill is Gone,” a tragicomedy standout track about losing a precious wad of cash to a guy “who disappeared around the corner.” On its face, the song is about an illicit act gone awry, but Caspian imbues the track with a deep pathos, particularly when he sings about “working hard, every night” for that stolen money.

“That song is not judgmental—I’m not trying to throw shade at anyone who might be into drug use or sex work or anything,” said Caspian. “I hang out with people who smoke crack and I have friends who go to the gym every day—all sides of high and low.” 

The album reflects Caspian’s avowedly outsider point of view. He expresses disdain at all artifice and has zero patience for the grubby business side of the music industry. Caspian said the band is getting newfound attention, however, from those seedier elements, following a recent laudatory Pitchfork review. In that praiseworthy piece, the writer Nina Corcoran—one of the best in the field—heaped kudos on the band, exclaiming that Twisted Teens “shoot from the hip when writing punk songs and play with the precision of an in-house country band.”

Caspian said he appreciated the attention, but he reiterated that the spotlight would have no effect whatsoever on how the band goes about their daily life.

“It’s nice to have these people in your corner, folks who have dragged us up from nothing,” said Caspian. “We’re not out making Instagram reels or calling journalists—we're just making catchy music. And if people come out for us, that’s great, but we obviously don’t believe in the folks who just smell dollar signs. They’re going to be disappointed in my willingness to participate, because I’m not broke enough to compromise anything.”

Caspian said that Twisted Teens have at least a hundred songs recorded and are excited about bringing more music to the masses—but only in the way that feels natural and organic.

“The key is creating your own culture and your own community,” said Caspian. “And if you can figure a way to blow up off that while still owning your own music and identity, you’ve done your job.”

Show Details:
Twisted Teens with Croissant and George Jr and the 9/11’s
Where: The Knockout
When: 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 10
Tickets: $12, available at the door

Twisted Teens with Garras Sucias and Healers
Where: Thee Stork Club
When: 8 p.m., Wednesday, March 11
Tickets: $13, available here.

Bay Area Album Spotlight: Mikal Cronin “II”

Here’s the latest entry from my recurring column highlighting great local albums. 

This month, I’m featuring “II by Mikal Cronin. A talented mult-instrumentalist and longtime Ty Segall collaborator, Cronin was a criminally underrated part of the San Francisco garage rock scene from earlier this century. 

He stood out among his peers for his ability to infuse poignancy and delicacy into the more abrasive and blown-out leanings of garage rock. His highwater mark came in 2013, with the release of his second album, a stunning LP that reflected his boundless range and versatility. “II” is not only Cronin’s finest record to date, it’s the best album to emerge from San Francisco’s prolific and bygone garage rock era.

Read more about what makes “II” so special here:

For a brief moment in time, San Francisco was the garage rock capital of the world.

It always seemed like a slight aberration, since the city’s musical history was braced more in psychedelia, punk and twee pop, as opposed to places with longstanding cultures of garage rock, such as Detroit or Memphis.

Regardless, in the late aughts and early 2010s, San Francisco was home to a dizzying collection of scrappy, scuzzy underground bands, from Sic Alps to the Sandwitches to Sonny and the Sunsets and the Fresh and Onlys, with the twin titans of Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall looming above all. The exciting scene was captured in perfect detail by Pitchfork’s Aaron Leitko, who introduced the country to a culture that locals had long known.

Despite all its wondrous exploits, the garage rock era in San Francisco was definitely marked by a certain kind of roguish machismo—outside of the Sandwitches, all the bands featured in Leitko’s stories were fronted by dudes, and those groups’ live shows were legendary for their aggressiveness and abrasiveness. 

But for the softer fellas (that would be me!) who preferred a little more melody and little less yawp!, there was always a more viable alternative—the perennially underrated, habitually overlooked troubadour of the scene—Mikal Cronin.

Cronin’s self-titled debut album had plenty of raucous, hair-raising anthems in his line with his rowdier brethren, but there were also quieter, more hushed moments on the record that offered a tantalizing glimpse into another direction. Tracks like “Get Along” and, in particular, the drone masterpiece, “Slow Down,” turned down the fuzz and amped up the introspection, establishing Cronin as a unique and interesting addition to an ecosystem bursting with raw talent.

It wasn’t until his follow up album, the aptly titled “II,” that Cronin made his mark as the most well-rounded, engaging and creative songwriter of his formidable cadre. Released in 2013, “II” signified the high-water mark of San Francisco’s garage rock scene, showcasing what could be made possible when earnest emotionality was combined with high-energy guitar antics. It’s a stunning, forceful and impassioned document of the moment.

From the beginning of the album, it’s clear that Cronin—a talented multi-instrumentalist equally capable of playing the saxophone as he was the guitar—was onto something different—and better—with “II.” The clarion clear piano plinks that introduce album opener “Weight,” are almost transgressive in their softness—an immediate statement that louder doesn’t always mean better. That song is adorned with glittering chorus harmonies, reminding listeners again that Cronin can actually sing (not exactly a requirement for the scene.)

The following track, “Shout it Out,” might be Cronin’s finest song in his impressive, expansive catalog. A power pop gem with through-the-roof choruses, the number perfectly encapsulates the frustrated ennui of being young and desperate for direction. “Peace of Mind” is another brilliant ballad, imbued with weeping strings and lapping acoustic guitars, further distancing Cronin from the feedback-laden approach of his contemporaries. 

“Peace of Mind” is the perfect transition to the back half of the album, which is steeped in contemplative, thoughtful pieces. “Don’t Let Me Go” is an austere, hushed plea for reconciliation, while “I’m Done Running From You,” looks at a crumbling relationship from a different angle—that of a jilted lover finally embracing their own independence.

Album closer, “Piano Mantra,” is, well, exactly that, a gorgeous, heart-stricken coda on an album filled with tear-jerkers. Cronin removes all artifice in that poignant piece, beautifully mapping out the existential exhaustion we all feel with the couplet, “I learn hard, I’m tired, I’m sick I’m broke up / You find out what’s gone just when it’s used up.”

While Cronin’s sensitive side is on full display on “II,” there are still plenty of straight-up bangers on the album, such as “See It My Way” and “Am I Wrong.” But on this record, he displayed how a beating heart is just as important as a clenched fist.

While “II” was rapturously received, Cronin never really garnered the recognition of his Laguna Hills schoolmate Segall or Thee Oh Sees’ John Dwyer. While those two seemed built for the spotlight with their magnetic, amped-up charisma, Cronin always remained shyer and much more comfortable on the periphery. His follow-up albums to “II”—the thematic, “III” and the bucolic “Seeker”—were nearly as strong, but it’s been seven years since his last solo record and he’s spent much more time touring in Segall’s band than he has under his own moniker.

He's still engaging in interesting projects, however. Of late, he’s been soundtracking movies while collaborating with zeitgeisty comedians Tim Robinson and Conor O’Malley, gleefully transitioning from indie rock to lo-fi midi pop in the process. 

Like many of the musicians who once comprised the S.F. garage rock community, Cronin now lives in Los Angeles (I mean, it’s where he’s from—can’t blame him for moving back!) He always did seem like more of an outlier in that scene, but one who strangely felt the most San Franciscan of them all—a shrinking, sensitive type who still aimed to have a good time. It always felt good to claim him as one of our own.

The San Francisco garage rock heyday seems like ages ago now, but that prolific period left us with an endless amount of classic records. None, however, had the grace, power and emotional heft of Mikal Cronin’s “II”—the finest record to be released from that formidable time period.

“II” by Mikal Cronin is available for purchase on Bandcamp here.

Christopher Owens Coming Back to SF For Noise Pop Festival

The world of indie rock is deeply populated with tragic musings centered on the “what if” myth.

What if the Exploding Hearts opted to stay in San Francisco for the night, instead of driving back to Portland after their final performance at Bottom of the Hill?

What if Jeff Buckley never took a swim in the Wolf River Harbor on that fateful spring day?

What if Jay Reatard had managed to curb his self-destructive tendencies?

For fans of the beloved San Francisco duo, Girls, those kinds of existential questions are an integral part of their lore. We are left to ponder what the group could have accomplished if they did not break up after a spectacular but all-too-brief run, a meteoric five-year dash that included two seminal albums and one perfect EP (the namesake for this website.) 

If the band had not dissolved so early in their career, could we have seen even more greatness? If Girls had endured, would Chet “JR” White still be alive today?

It's a fool’s errand to engage in such conjecture, but we do it, nonetheless. And Chris Owens, the founder, chief songwriter and sole surviving member of the band, can’t help but muse on the possibilities as well. 

Coming off a stunning solo album, the redemptive, inspiring 2024 release, “I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair,” Owens is currently combing through his bountiful collection of back material to put together for his next release, a process that has him thinking often of how White would have produced and crafted this batch of music, and how Girls might exist in his bandmate’s absence.

“Even though a lot of these songs were written years ago, dating back to the Girls days, the two of us never really got to do anything with them together,” said Owens. “So, whenever anyone asks about reviving Girls—or whatever that would entail—that’s when I really think more than ever about what it would be like for JR to be the producer of these songs. I just couldn’t see myself putting these songs out as Girls without his input. It would just feel really, really wrong—I think it would be more for other people than myself. But it does make me wonder how we would have approached everything if things were different.”

Owens has soldiered on in White’s absence, overcoming a seemingly endless barrage of obstacles to push forward as a solo songwriter. On Friday, he’ll perform at the Swedish American Hall as part of the Noise Pop Festival, the annual multi-day gathering that takes place in venues across the Bay Area. 

The show will mark a return to San Francisco for Owens, who now lives in New York after spending more than a decade here. The site has a special significance for Owens, as Café du Nord—the downstairs neighbors of Swedish American Hall, hosted Girls’ inaugural performance.

“We had our first ever Girls show at Café du Nord,” said Owens. “And even when we started playing bigger venues—like Great American Music Hall—we always made sure to schedule shows back at Café du Nord and Swedish American Hall. I have really special memories of playing at those places and can’t wait to go back.”

Returning to the city where he found fame through Girls brings back bittersweet memories for Owens. No artist did a better job chronicling the euphoria and joy of being young and independent in San Francisco, and conversely, no one else captured the letdown and sadness of seeing your dear friends depart.

“It’s crazy, and I always say this to people, but when my friends started to leave, I was genuinely shocked,” said Owens. “Like, I thought we were all going to be here forever, doing our thing together. That way my naïve sort of thought process, because of course that couldn’t happen. At the time, though, I didn’t really understand that things were bound to change.”

Owens said he doesn’t really maintain close contact with anyone who still calls San Francisco home, although he keeps in touch with former Girls touring members like Ryan Lynch and John Anderson. By the end of his time in San Francisco, he had fallen on increasingly hard times, living in his car while busking for spare change.

“When things got really rough, there were only like 4 – 5 people I actually talked to regularly,” said Owens. “There were some really difficult times when I felt people just switched it up on me. It was too tough for them to deal with.”

As has been covered extensively, Owens has moved on from those low points in San Francisco, relocating to the East Coast where he has found a new sense of stability. “I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair” was his first solo album in nearly a decade and it received widespread critical praise. When Owens first returned to San Francisco in late 2024 with a show at the Chapel, the performance turned into a virtual singalong, with crowd members joining in whenever he dipped into the Girls back catalog.

That show offered a tantalizing look back to the “what if” scenarios of Girls. But it was also a reminder to appreciate Owens for all he’s offered over the years as an artist. His last album proved beyond a doubt that his creative pool has not run dry at all, and while we will never see the likes of Girls again, having Owens continue to play the role of the eternally romantic troubadour is something we should never take for granted.

Show Details:
Noise Pop presents Christopher Owens with Sedona and Asha Wells
Where: Swedish American Hall
When: 8 p.m., Friday, February 20
Tickets: $36.54, available here.

Broken Dreams Club Interview: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Photo Credit: Pavla Kopecna

After breaking up in 2019, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart re-formed last year to support the 15-year anniversary of their beloved debut album. The dreampop band, signed to Oakland’s Slumberland Records, has a unique kinship with the Bay Area, as their influence is clearly found in the cohort of janglepop groups populating the current local music scene.

On February 19 and 20, the band will return to San Francisco for their first shows in the city in nine years, when they headline two performances at the Rickshaw Stop as part of the annual Noise Pop Festival. They’ll be supported by a collection of amazing Bay Area bands, including Cindy, Chime School and Still Ruins.

Broken Dreams Club connected with Kip Berman, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s founder, vocalist and guitarist, prior to the group’s SF shows:

 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have this string of West Coast dates lined up for this month. How are you all preparing for this latest tour?

Kip Berman (KB): We made some shirts, rented a minivan, booked some Motel 6’s, we’re mooching amps and drums from friends…So, I think we’re “prepared.”

You all toured so extensively in 2025 after not playing live (in any iteration) for seven years. What was it like playing those shows? Did things fall back into place seamlessly—we're you all able to pick up right where you left off, or did it take a little while of playing together for that chemistry to return?

KB: It was super cool just being around each other– and I was kind of surprised to see people were still into these songs, which are now pretty old. And thankfully, we didn’t forget how to play the D chord. 

You announced that Pains was breaking up back in 2019. What prompted the decision to return to this project? At the time you announced the breakup, did you ever anticipate that the band could re-form in some manner?

KB: No, not really. When my daughter was born in 2016, I was focusing on being home with her and not thinking about much else. We tried to do a couple two week tours in 2018, but it was just too soon and felt kind of weird to be away. Then my son was born later that year, and I was just focused on that and kind of figured playing PAINS shows wasn’t going to happen anymore. But it wasn’t a sad feeling, ‘cuz it seemed like we had gotten to do way more cool stuff than many of the bands that we looked up to–  and it wasn’t ending for a sad or tragic reason, but pretty much the opposite.

Coming together again was likewise ,“not thought through too much.” We got asked to play some shows in Spain, and now that my kids are a lot older (They’re now in 4th grade and 1st grade) it seemed like it was actually possible to be away for a little bit. And when I asked the other PAINS about it, they were into it.  But still, I don’t want to go away for a too-long time. 

You also returned with the full original lineup, featuring yourself, Peggy, Christoph Alex and Kurt. How important was it for Pains to come back with all those members contributing to this second act?

KB: Man, I think it’s been so wonderful they’ve all been into playing, I really appreciate that. I think creatively, it makes a difference. ‘Cuz when I write songs for PAINS, I’m trying to impress the other PAINS. I’m not a great judge of my own stuff, and I’m usually really negative.  I think that’s ok, but sometimes it just stops me from doing stuff. So having them around makes me inspired to try to write songs that they think are cool. I won’t show them stuff unless I think it’s worth their time.

Had you been keeping in regular touch with your former band members since the band broke up? 

KB: I think the first time we all hung out was actually for a Depreciation Guild (Kurt Feldman and Christoph’s band) reunion show in NYC in 2023, and it was fun. Sometimes I worry that reunion shows are sad– and I have seen some sad ones, for sure. First off, it was “definitely not sad” to see Depreciation Guild play again, cuz they sounded great. And that made me realize getting a band back together can be a cool thing– like, I was just really happy to hear those “Preesh” songs again, and maybe people would feel that way about PAINS. 

But also, it was good hanging out with everyone that night, and we partied the next night at Kurt’s and it was just… cool, ya know? I know it’s weird, but PAINS was always more about people that were hanging out anyway and “wanna start a band?” than people who came together to start a band. So yeah, I’m glad the feeling was still good between us all. 

How easy was it to track them all down to see if they’d be interested in getting the band back together? Was everyone enthusiastic about the idea?

KB: I mean, no one was exactly off the grid, lol. It would be funny if Peggy was like, living in rural Wyoming or something– growing root vegetables and raising alpacas that look like Jim Reid. And I’d have to drive out there and be like, “Peggy, the band needs you.” And she’d be like, “I’m sorry, but the Jim Reid alpacas need me more.” 

And just going back to the beginning for a moment. How did you all meet? Did you kind of instantly know that you wanted to create art together with these people?

KB: I drove to New York from Portland with my best friend, Danny Taylor (he’d go on to record some of our early stuff and even drum with us on tour for a bit). I’d been working the graveyard shift at a call center recharging people’s prepaid calling cards and cell phones and playing in bands that never really got anywhere. I loved The Exploding Hearts a lot and a guy at my work, Alex, also liked them, so we bonded over them and The Dirtbombs, Reigning Sound, and a lot of the cool Goner Records and In the Red Records type bands like that. He showed me the My Bloody Valentine Sunny Sundae Smile EP, and I had never heard that era of the band and I was totally into it. Maybe too much, hahaha.

And I met Peggy through a mutual internet friend, Shirley (she did an amazing public access tv show called NY Noise), and I don’t know why we got along so well, but we did. We’d make road sodas and go out to shows at Cake Shop to see bands like Pants Yell, Crystal Stilts, My Teenage Stride, and The Besties, and this cool indiepop dance party called Mondo. Afterwards, we’d go back to her place and just hang out and listen to music – and eventually I’d just pass out on Peggy’s couch and then somehow get to work the next day… and then do it all over. It was like falling in like. 

One of the things Peggy and I bonded over was a lot of the Swedish indiepop on labels like Labrador and Sincerely Yours– and we soon learned we had both been obsessed with this New York band from the late 90s/00’s called My Favorite. I think we were their only fans left on earth at the time, but they were THE BEST. They’re up there with The Prids as bands that should be ubiquitous posters on sad teenagers’ walls in some more just universe.

Anyway, Peggy and I had both become hyped on this new band from Leeds called The Manhattan Love Suicides. They had put out a record on Magic Marker Records, which was the label based in the house where I used to go to indiepop house shows back when I lived in Portland. Normally the label put out very sweet and cool indiepop stuff like Dear Nora, All Girl Summer Fun Band, Kissing Book, even the early Voxtrot 7” singles… but this new band was different from that. It was really noisy and nasty sounding, like if a bad babysitter was fronting the Jesus and Mary Chain– it was kind of sinister and sweet. I dunno, we were pretty obsessed and wrote them fan mail. They wrote back! We asked them to cancel one of their upcoming New York shows and let us throw a warehouse party for them instead. They weirdly agreed. 

We had no idea how to actually do that, but we did it anyway. I had a friend who was (maybe?) squatting in an old abandoned warehouse who said we could throw a party there. Anyway, Titus Andronicus played too and we decided to start a band to open the show. We wrote about 5 songs, the titles were longer than the songs, and we played for about 10 minutes. Then we drank vanilla vodka and danced all night and fell asleep somewhere in the warehouse. But we picked up the trash the next day, cuz I guess we weren’t total dicks. I remember opening the warehouse doors the next morning and it was soooo bright, and I felt a bit… not great… but also it seemed like the world we were stepping out into was different than the day before. Maybe that’s super corny, but it seemed kind of like something was starting.

We played as a 3 piece for a while with an iPod mini as our drummer. That was ok, but Peggy suggested we ask my roommate Kurt to play drums. Now, I make a big thing about “none of us really knew how to play when we started,” but Kurt was actually really good– and of course he’d say, “actually, drums aren’t really my instrument”-- but he was amazing at drums anyway, and really transformed our sound in a cool way. People reading this should check out the music he’s made subsequently as Ice Choir, he’s such a lunatic and an actual genius. So good. 

The debut album sounds so fully formed—almost like it was meant to exist on Slumberland Records. What was your introduction to that label, and how did you end up connecting with Mike and the team about putting out your release?

KB: Peggy and I have been fans of the label since we were actual teenagers. Velocity Girl, Aislers Set, Black Tambourine, Lilys, Rocketship–basically every band they put out was great, and so when the label became active again, we got to be friends with Mike by bugging him on Myspace. Eventually he asked us to open for a band called The Lodger at Cake Shop, and he came to the show and drank too many beers and thought we were cool. Mike’s the best, he really runs his label with a disregard for capitalism, he just puts out records he likes and tries not to lose too much money on them. I don’t think we’ve ever even signed anything with him, but he always treats us so great. I’m glad we’re part of the Slumberland family! I’m also excited about the new bands he is putting out, like Tony Molina, Jeanines, Laughing Chimes, The Cords, Lightheaded… anything he thinks is worthwhile is usually cool in my book. 

Were there specific bands on the Slumberland Records label that inspired the Pains’ sound? 

KB: I think Aislers Set for sure - that song called “The Walk,” which is outwardly really pretty 60s pop, but Linton is singing pretty candidly about a life of open container violations, jumping turnstiles, and rhyming “watching porn for hours” with “back in the shower.” And it’s all through this lens of sympathy, of understanding, of solidarity.  It sits somewhere between Lou Reed and Mo Tucker, an amalgam of tenderness and filth. And also, Peggy and I loved the Velocity Girl song “My Forgotten Favorite,” which is on the Clueless soundtrack, which is an amazing tune. I always like the dirtier, weirder side of indiepop more than the overly twee stuff - that’s why the Glaswegian bands like The Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub, Close Lobsters, The Pastels, Strawberry Switchblade, Orange Juice [they’re not from Glasgow– but Postcard Records was], JAMC, always were so cool. It was kinda dirty and sweet together. 

And I think Slumberland always had noisy, weird kinds of bands, not just the “virtuous” or “correct” kinds of indie bands. There was usually something more going on… I mean, “Throw Aggi Off the Bridge,” ya know? It’s funny. 

The reception to that first album was overwhelmingly positive. Pitchfork awarded the release its Best New Album rating and it was overall just a really critically acclaimed record. At the time you were writing the album, did you have an inkling that you were putting something special together? That it would resonate the way that it did—with fans and critics alike?

KB: Definitely no. I remember thinking it wasn’t good enough before it came out, and I was writing the songs of Belong as a sort of “well, if this doesn’t go well, we have these other songs too we could do.” Peggy and I even talked about, “maybe we should scrap the first record, and just focus on these new songs instead.” But I’m glad we didn’t do that. 

What was it like revisiting that album as part of the 15th anniversary tour last year? Do you still have fond memories of that album? Is it strange at all to play songs from a time in your life where your circumstances were so different?

KB: I like the songs a lot. I feel really happy playing things like “Everything With You” and “Come Saturday.” I think there’s something really cool about playing a couple chords really loud and just feeling that rush… it’s like the purest feeling, just three minutes outside your own body, it feels weightless. 

And “Belong” really reached—if not surpassed—the heights of the debut album, which was no easy feat. What was it like writing that second album, now that you probably felt like the extra weight of expectations?

KB: That’s kind of you to say. We wrote a lot of that record before the first album came out, kind of thinking that maybe the first record “wasn’t good enough.” The one thing that’s hard to convey now is how “weird” it was for us to do that record at all, I mean the way we recorded it and tried to make it sound. At that time, everyone was trying to do purposefully “lo fi” recordings– and the idea of thinking James Iha in shiny pants was the coolest thing in the world was… an unusual perspective at that time. 

With Belong, we just wanted to show the kind of lives we had lived and the kind of people we actually were. We weren’t from Glasgow in 1988, even though we loved the bands of that era and felt that music really made sense to our lives. But we grew up in kind of nondescript American suburbs, hung out at the mall with awkward goths, and the radio played Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Hum, The Cure–  bands that channeled oversized, unwieldy kinds of emotions. 

Someone once told me how it’s so hard to understand how strange and jarring the writing of modernist authors felt in the early 20th century to the readers of that era, because it sounds so normal to our ears. I’m not saying we were innovative like that at all– but on Belong we were doing something really “other” in terms of our ideals than what was happening at that time, and the ability to perceive how “wtf, this is PAINS?” something sounded at that time is lost, because it’s become so normal for bands to make big, shoegazy, dreampop records that aren’t worried about what the Anorak Forum online message board is going to say about it (But seriously Anorak Forum– I still love you guys).

 So, Belong sounds pretty “normal” now. And it’s been cool to see people take that kind of ideal and go different places with it. I really love what Winter did on Adult Romantix, and Dilly Dally did on their 2nd album, Heaven, and of course Nøthing continues to be just a crushing kind band that is so pretty, sad and heavy at the same time - I mean, I have no idea how they sound so massive, but it’s pretty jaw dropping to see them live. And thankfully no one is too concerned about “lo fi cred” or whatever these days. 

Originally, the tour last year was supposed to be a shorter jaunt celebrating that debut album, but you extended it a few times and now you’re playing again this year. Do you think the band will resume a more regular touring schedule now?

KB: We just try to do stuff that seems cool if we can - but we can’t always say yes to stuff, cuz of “life.” I hope people understand. 

And what about new material? Are you working on any news songs at the moment? What are the chances that Pains releases a new album of original material?

KB: We recorded two songs for a 7” for Slumberland. As of writing this, I don’t know when/if that will come out– it’s possible Mike (Slumberland), who hasn’t heard them yet is like, “THESE SONGS ARE TRAAAAASH.” So, we’ll see… 

Will you still be making music with The Natvral moniker?

KB: Yeah, for sure. I feel really connected to that music, and have a bunch of new songs, but I’ve tried to prioritize the PAINS right now. 

Ok—you’re playing two shows at the Rickshaw Stop here in San Francisco. I might be mistaken, but is this your first show in SF since 2017? Are you excited to be returning to the city? Do you feel like you receive a nice reception when you play here?

KB: Yeah, San Francisco is disproportionately awesome when we play there. Maybe it’s the Slumberland (Oakland) connection, but for whatever reason it’s unusually good and I don’t know why. SF—thank you, your city is very cool.  One of our wildest earliest experiences was playing the Rickshaw Stop opening for Deerhunter for (and this shows you how long ago it was) a Myspace show. It was a big deal, hahaha. I remember I broke my guitar string, and Bradford from Deerhunter let me borrow his guitar. Deerhunter were way cool to us… cool band, cool people for sure. My boss at the time (Brooke!) was so cool and she was buds with them from Georgia, and playing that show with them prolly got me an extra six months before I finally got fired for basically just doing PAINS stuff at work constantly, lol.

The Bay Area has such a vibrant indie rock scene, specifically with janglepop bands playing on Slumberland, who sound very much in the vein of Pains. Have you been keeping tabs on the local music scene here at all?

KB: Well, I was a huge fan of Girls, which was a real special band to me. I think Christopher Owens is a gifted songwriter and just… effortlessly cool. I loved Weekend too - Shaun Durkan from that band toured with us a lot back in the day, and now he has a new group called Crushed which is really great. And Tony Molina is massively underrated, I love that guy. Reds, Pinks and Purples are good too. Oh, and back in the day, Aislers Set were gods to us - I think we wanted to sign with Slumberland just cuz Aislers Set were on the label. And when I heard Cindy, I didn’t know they were from SF, though now it makes a lot of sense, and I’m happy they’re playing with us. Finally, there was this San Francisco band called Mover from the late 90s– the drummer was this guy Paul Burkhart, who moved to Portland and started one of my favorite bands of all time, Cocaine Unicorn. He was so funny– and wrote such cool jangle pop songs at a time when everyone was trying to be super “garage rock” - it really stood out. Our song “Hey Paul” is sort of about him. Even though I know the city has been really negatively affected by too much money and a bunch of uncool people — it seems there are still many good artists making music despite all that.

Are you familiar with the bands opening for you all over your two nights? Cindy, Chime School, Living Hour, Still Ruins—these are really some great local outfits.

KB: Yes, we selected the openers ourselves - they’re all bands we really admire, and it’s always been a point of pride that when we play live, we almost always have an opener that’s better than us! I look back at touring with opening bands like Girls, Fear of Men, Twin Shadow, Depreciation Guild, Craft Spells, Weekend, Tony Molina, Twin Sister (Mr. Twin Sister now), The Manhattan Love Suicides, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Ablebody, Flowers, and so many more - it’s really a thing where we try, if we can, to make sure there’s a full night of stuff we love, mostly selfishly cuz we get to see them play each night too. 

Anything else I might have missed? 

KB: I don’t like to post this stuff to social media, ‘cuz the people that own those companies are owned by the same people who are a part of the problem and making it worse. But I was trying to explain to my daughter who is now 9 about how a preschool child in Minnesota was arrested at gunpoint, people protesting are being murdered by ICE, and families no different than ours being ripped apart for absolutely no reason. I didn’t even know what to say to her except, “it’s evil and it’s not normal– and can’t ever be normal.” 

And I get that absolutely no one reading all the way to the end of an interview with “the guy from PAINS” is likely to be on the fence about this, for real I get it. But one of my daughter’s classmate’s dads was taken away by ICE after drop-off the other week-- just a dad doing the exact same thing I do every day, walking his kid to school. And I’m not like, the most thoughtful or eloquent person about this stuff and I’m sure people can point out a bunch of “well, actually” on me if they want to. I’m not even a “public figure” or whatever that people care about– I  write songs about being sad or high while listening to the Pale Saints, or– if I’m feeling ambitious–  sad and high while listening to the Pale Saints. But what’s happening in our country is so racist and wrong, every adult involved should know better. Like all those “don’t tread on me flag” people, they should know that also means don’t sign up to do the treading on other people either. 

I know this all seems kinda, “duh, dude– we get it.” I don’t think anyone that sees this disagrees. But this planet is the only place we currently know of in the universe that has beings that can do things like try to measure and think about the vastness of space and time (or play the D chord and sing about being sad and high while listening to the Pale Saints), so I’d just like to use this space and time to say, “fuck nazis. always.” 

And whether it’s happening in America or kids are having bombs dropped on their schools and homes in Gaza, missiles hitting hospitals in Ukraine, women are being killed for not covering their hair or just protesting injustice in Iran, it just goes against all human decency to be like “but let’s try to understand what the bully’s reasons are.” No, fuck their reasons, just let regular people live in peace. Life is hard enough. 

And yeah, I’m always happy to talk about big muff pedals and obscure jangle bands from 40 years ago or why The Sharp Pins and Good Flying Birds are way cool, or how the best indiepop scene might be happening in Indonesia, or how I was playing my friend this Worldpeace DMT song I loved, and he was like “uhhh, that’s Fleetwood Mac, ya know?” and all the other shit that I care about…

But I’m sick of watching the people that have the most– power, money, influence– wanting more, at the expense of the people who have the least or are just struggling to get by. 

Show Details: 
Noise Pop Festival presents Pains of Being Pure at Heart with Still Ruins, Cindy, Chime School and Living Hour
Where: The Rickshaw Stop
When: 8 p.m., Thursday, February 19 and Friday, February 20.
Tickets: $39.38 for Thursday night show, available here. (Friday is sold out.)

“Girl Culture is Sacred” Show at El Rio on Saturday will Raise Funds for Abortion Access

Photo Credit: Ginger Fierstein

As chaotic and unpredictable as the current federal administration currently seems, they do appear to be guided by one founding principle—“wake up, do something insane.”

With so much grief and pain and hardship caused by such a reckless president and his loathsome sycophants, it can be easy to fall into a well of hopelessness and despair (hi, that’s me.) Or you can be like Tracey Holland and actually take action to make a positive change.

Holland, a local musician with longstanding roots in activism, will stage her second annual “Girl Culture is Sacred” fundraiser concert on Saturday at El Rio, with proceeds benefiting the Louisiana Abortion Fund. 

“I hope the takeaway that people get from this event is that we’re not going away—that we’re not going to be quiet while all this shit goes down,” said Holland. “One of things that has been so disappointing is seeing all these universities and giant corporations utterly capitulate to this administration. Obviously, I don’t have a big voice—but someone has to say something—someone has to do fucking something.”

The fundraiser is part of Holland’s 1001 Stevies endeavor, a passion project that she founded in 2017 to raise awareness, funds and support for abortion access and reproductive healthcare initiatives. For Saturday’s event, she’s partnering with Pretty Beat, a local nonprofit organization that supports underrepresented artists in music, film, and media.

Holland started 1001 Stevies (the name is an homage to Fleetwood Mac’s legendary Stevie Nicks) as a sort of traveling benefit troupe, travelling between Los Angeles and San Francisco to stage fundraising concerts. The pandemic upended those plans, but last year, she settled on El Rio as a permanent, recurring home her abortion access fundraisers.

The matinee event will start at 3 p.m. on El Rio’s back patio and feature local bands Ouch! (delightfully described as “indie-hermit-pop”), Baycoin Beats (playing a special set of D’Angelo covers) and Holland’s own band for this project, Freebleed, a collection of musicians with ties to the community. Freebleed will play music inspired by acts that are foundational to Girl Culture, including Hole, Le Tigre, Fiona Apple and others.

While the show is titled Girl Culture is Sacred (a phrase coined by local music journalist Emma Silvers), Holland insists that the event will have a big-tent, welcoming feel.

“This is not just about gender—this is about self-expression and allowing for space for everyone to be proud of who they are,” said Holland. “Ultimately, we want to celebrate the freedom of making the choices you want with your life and with your body. Whether that’s an abortion, or birth control or gender-affirming care, or whatever, we support that. And so, this event can be for anyone.”

Over the years, Holland’s events have raised more than $10,000, and they’ve steadily grown since their inception. Along with providing crucial funds to abortion providers—particularly in the South, where they face existential threats—Saturday’s concert will provide another stirring reminder that activists and advocates like Holland will not disappear under the daily threats of this administration.

“It sucks that we are in a position where safe spaces like this show are really important,” said Holland. “But this gives us an opportunity to gather together and let people know that this is our culture, and we’re standing in solidarity together.”

Show Details:
Girl Culture is Sacred featuring Ouch!, Baycoin Beats, and Tracey Holland Supergroup Freebleed
Where: El Rio
When: 3 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday, February 14
Tickets: $28.52, available here.

Forged in Friendship, The Rural Alberta Advantage Continue to Make Inspiring Music

Photo credit: Jess Baumung

Wintertime in northern Alberta is a brutal, unforgiving season. Temperatures regularly drop below zero and the windchill adds a biting, merciless element of cold. The sun only peaks out for a handful of hours a day, and white, blinding snowfall is omnipresent.

These are not exactly the conditions for inspirational epiphanies (other than, “I need to move south, ASAP,”) but Nils Edenloff—vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter for indie rock mainstays The Rural Alberta Advantage—experienced a touching moment of grace during one such winter back in his hometown of Fort McMurray, located in the hinterlands of Alberta, Canada.

“I was living in Toronto and went home for Christmas,” said Edenloff. “And my sister was asking how my bandmates, Paul [Banwatt] and Amy [Cole], were doing. As I was describing the dynamic of our band, I realized I was describing, in parallel, my own relationship with my siblings. I kind of figured out right then, that, yeah, this band is my family, too. Paul and Amy were the stand-in for the family I didn’t have in Toronto. It was this beautiful moment where I realized how special my relationship is with those two.”

That unique bond is what drove Edenloff to reconnect with Cole, after a two-year period from 2016 – 2018 in which the band did not feature its original lineup. Now in its second act of sorts, the band (Edenloff sings and plays guitar, Banwatt drums and Cole plays keys)  is touring and making music just as vibrant and urgent as they sounded some 20 years ago, when they first formed. A band forged among unshakeable friendships, The Rural Alberta Advantage will bring their distinct display of kinship to the Rickshaw Stop on February 5.

The Rural Alberta Advantage (the name was coined by Edenloff’s brother as a rejoinder to an oil industry marketing campaign) originally came into prominence with the release of their stunning, dynamic debut album, “Hometowns,” a collection of beautifully haggard and windswept folk ballads. The release was marked by a seamless interplay of austere acoustic elements and synth-inflected pop pieces, highlighted by Edenloff’s wounded, desperate warble. 

Those elements can be found in the band’s latest single, “The Hunt in Edson,” a woozy, somnolent slice of Americana rock. Reflective of Edenloff’s unique and empathetic approach to songwriting, the track is a poignant look at unexpected second chances, with an unusual origin story. 

The germ of the song began when Edenloff’s cat, Edson, interrupted a lazy morning in bed by dropping off his prize catch—a dazed, stunned mouse. After being dropped off roughly onto the blankets, the mouse sprung to his feet, seemingly shocked to still be alive. Edenloff and his wife then deposited the wary mouse into their yard at the edge of the forest, providing the creature with a wholly bewildering extra lease on life.

“That incident really gave me this perspective on how wonderful the world can be in giving you these small yet magical little events,” said Edenloff. “In my mind, that song is written from almost three perspectives—mine, the mouse and Edson the cat. I love this idea of the mouse resigning himself to being eaten and then all of sudden fate kind of intervenes. It’s definitely an odd scenario to be inspired by, but my brain just works that way—and that’s really something that Paul and Amy understand and appreciate.” 

Perhaps it’s the soft hum of keyboards the underscore most of the band’s sonic templates, of Edenloff’s knack for finding beauty in battered humans and battered places, but there has always been a sense of warmth to the songs of The Rural Alberta Advantage, belying the group’s frigid origins. “The Hunt in Edson” continues in that tradition, imbuing humanity and pathos into quiet, fleeting moments that many might overlook. It takes a special breed of band to make one feel deep, lasting emotions for a wayward mouse.

“When we set him free in our yard, I started asking myself, ‘well, what now?’” said Edenloff. “I can only project what will happen next with this mouse. But I like the idea of him having this new chapter in life.”

While Edenloff and the band project a preternatural sense of forgiveness, they’re also fully capable of morphing into a defiant batch of crusaders. The flip side of “The Hunt in Edson” is the band’s other new single, “Falling Apart.” A rousing call-to-arms, the song is not political in nature, but serves as a rallying cry for all those dipping into apathy or a malaise. Both of the lead singles are set to be part of an upcoming album, the details of which are still forming.

“That song [“Falling Apart”] gestated for years, but it basically addresses the idea that we’re getting older and, yeah, we might be falling apart from a technical standpoint,” said Edenloff. “But we’ve always been a ramshackle band. We know who we are, and we aren’t going anywhere at this point.”

For a band that has made a point of sticking with each other for the most part of the past 20 years, that statement is not just mere bluster. It’s comforting to know that the familial, familiar story of The Rural Alberta Advantage will continue.

Show Details:
The Rural Alberta Advantage with Jordan Burchel
Where: The Rickshaw Stop
When: 8 p.m., Thursday, February 5
Tickets: $32.90, available here.

First Annual Nick Medvedeff Memorial Fundraiser Concert Happening February 7 at Kilowatt

When I first started this website, I was pretty damn nervous. 

I wasn’t sure if anyone would take it seriously. I doubted if I would still be able to interview the musicians I spoke with in the past as a writer for the SF Examiner and SF Weekly. I wondered if I’d be able to keep up a regular posting schedule without the external pressures of an editor or publishing deadlines.

Fortunately, I had a ton of friends and professional colleagues offering me assurances and support, which made launching this project so much easier. Their backing gave me the confidence to step out on my own, and of all of my pals offering kind words, no one was more excited than my buddy Nick.

See, Nick had grand plans for Broken Dreams Club. When I first told him I was starting this music website, he immediately went into planning mode. By the time my initial story was posted, he was already plotting out the seeds for an annual Broken Dreams Club Music Festival. 

Cribbing a little bit of the details of Noise Pop and Treefort Fest, Nick had dreams of a multi-day music fest taking places in small venues and clubs throughout San Francisco. He was thinking Thee Parkside, Bottom of the Hill, The Independent—all the amazing places we had seen shows together over the years. 

He was already developing a roster of acts, too. One of his ideas was to get Free Energy (one of our favorite, long bygone bands) to reunite, and any Broken Dreams Club fest of course had to feature Christopher Owens. 

By the end of these brainstorming sessions, he usually had an absurdly detailed gameplan for the festival established in his mind. It didn’t matter that Broken Dreams Club had no paid staff, a budget of $0 and zero experience planning out a single live show, let alone a multi-day festival. Those were all insignificant particulars to be dealt with later—the important  part was having the vision, and hell yeah, did he have that covered.

Nick mostly conjured these ambitious offerings while he was housebound, struggling to adapt to the cocktail of treatments he was undergoing to treat his stage 4 colon cancer. Despite experiencing every sort of pain, Nick’s mind stayed sharp and he never wavered from his Broken Dreams Club goals. As the cancer progressed, he only tightened his focus, coming up with ever more inventive ideas for the fest, which grew to include a vinyl store pop-up and a comedy showcase. 

On March 14, 2025, Nick finally succumbed to his illness. Sadly, he was never able to see his glorious concept of the Broken Dreams Club Music Festival come to fruition. Damn, it’s hard to type that sentence without tearing up.

While we weren’t able to succeed at that venture, we will never forget Nick or his fearless outlook on life. On Saturday, February 7, we will honor his memory by hosting the First Annual Nick Medvedeff Memorial Fundraiser Concert. The show will take place at Kilowatt—exactly the kind of small, wonderfully grimy music club that Nick loved patronizing—and will feature performances from Luke Sweeney, Lucky and Torpedo Wharf. 

Outside of spending time with his wonderful wife Silvia and their adorable, precocious daughter Aurora, nothing brought Nick more joy than watching live music. I’m confident that this show—with all his friends gathered, having fun and listening to great tunes—is how he would like to be remembered. 

The show will run from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are available to purchase at the Kilowatt webpage here. There are multiple tiered payment options, and revenue from the ticket sales will benefit the college fund for Aurora as well as UCSF’s Young On-set Colorectal Cancer Program. There will also be posters for sale (designed by Galine Tumasyan), with proceeds further benefitting those two causes.

We are specifically calling this the first annual fundraiser concert because we are all fully committed to making this a yearly event. It’s our small way of supporting Nick’s family while keeping his memory alive for as long as we are. 

And who knows, maybe this fundraiser concert will one day be the centerpiece of a Broken Dreams Club Music Festival. I still know absolutely nothing about how to pull something like that off, but an utter lack of experience never deterred Nick. In fact, I’m already thinking up new additions to Nick’s original vision. This first show is just the beginning of something bigger—a sentiment I know that Nick—someone who always dreamed big— would appreciate. 

Show Details:
Luke Sweeney with Lucky and Torpedo Wharf
Where: Kilowatt
When: 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday, February 7
Tickets: $13.39 - $70.04, available here.