Last weekend I got the chance to shoot some photography of Ben Quad, an emo butt-rock band out of Oklahoma. The lineup was quite stacked, with two solid local acts and two touring acts.
Exciting!!excellent!! a solo act opened up. The stage at Dantes is quite big for a one person performance, but exciting!!excellent!! brings so much sound and emotion playing guitar, singing, and using a gameboy to create chiptune beats. The songs are heartfelt and bring you right back to just wanting more out of life in your youth and staring at your gameboy. I cannot wait to see more of them!
Next up was Honey Bender, a local 3-piece math rock outfit. They played a bunch of soon to be released music and I cannot wait to hear the rest of the music they are holding back. Super clean, fast, fun, and some sweet melodic fingerpicking.
Ben Quad from Oklahoma took the stage 3rd, and honestly these guys have been one of my favorites to jam to since they released their debut album in 2022, and others in Portland very much agree. The set instantly started with fans singing along and adding the back up screams in tracks. The band would then riff classics from Algernon Caldweller and American Football in between songs from the album. Really great banter back and forth from the crowd and band, along with multiple QUAD SQUAD chants during tuning breaks (the only downside of emo music). I cannot wait to see more of Ben Quad and what they release.
The final act, Forests traveled all the way from Singapore to do a North American Tour. This 3-piece is truly something to behold. It is so amazing how math-rock, emo, midwest emo, and all these other genres have reached all over the globe, which in turn allows these genres to be bent and shaped into something new and amazing. I have never quite heard anything like Forests before, they add such a cool flair to this genre of music that really separates them from the pack. The set was passionate, tight, and loud. This lineup was absolutely amazing and I really feel sorry for any emo or math rock fans that didnt get to see this.
Be sure to buy merch or music from these artists! Forests are a long way from home and Ben Quad isn’t in Oklahoma anymore. If you have the chance, grab merch or go to a show on the remaining tour.
[All photos by Nat Schmid, @melancholy.everyday]
