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Gas Leak Band, Drooks, CPS
Basement Show, 12.7.24


Probably my last show of the year...?

I decided to go my first basement show since May 2023. It was in a pretty chill area of the capital region.

It was a dry venue, and these are likely to attract more younger college students since there's a disparaging divide between being over 21 and under 21 trying to participate in any scene due to obvious reasons.

When a typically over 21 venue does an over 18 show it's usually a temporary business decision (see: Troy NY). In the capital region this seems to be a bad issue because there's really only two venues that frequently have over 18 shows and one out of those two does them all the time no matter what (No Fun). Luckily, I'm turning 21 in a month, but you wanna know why I typically only go to one venue all the time? Because the capital region, despite having a very cyclical scene, has pretty shit venues. Bleh.

After a pretty recent death in the scene, I have been ruminating about going to basement shows, despite all my friends urging me to tag along. I decided to end it and finally go out to this one. To be honest, citalopram does wonders and has essentially made it easier to overcome doing stuff I wouldn't usually do, so I bit my tongue and said, "fuck it... I'm a dude, I'm 20, I can do what I want. It's not like anything happens to my friends...


Unlike most basement venues in the area, this one is actually kinda rural. I walk to the backyard of a shabby townhouse and give this stoner $4 in cash and 4 quarters.

"Yeah, sorry... don't have another single on me. Just take 4 quarters."

"Don't worry bro... I love change. Ha ha ha ha ha h ah hahaha ah ah....."

The venue stage is awkward, as is most parts of this place. When it comes to smaller venue spaces I am more inclined on bringing my good camcorder with me as opposed to my flash photography setup. This was a prime example. You would actually end up being uncomfortably close to the bands and for me blinding people in a small area like that would be problematic. I brought my point-and-shoot with me. Oh well.


I unfortunately arrived late. In reality, I came to see my friends new band play to come out and support him but didn't realize he'd be the opener (stupid of me not to realize that). Oh well, Gas Leak Band will make the rounds again some day...


Next band up was Drooks. This funky cool shoegaze band from Richmond, Virginia blew me away with their style. I notice that bands are a lot like this now. I like it.

Honestly I am so bad with writing about the music itself and just get caught up in the experience. Glad I videotaped it this time around! Watching back on it they were powerful for a three-piece. Bassist guy plucked, the lead guitarist sang her heart out, and the drummer was just a chill dude. I think your name is Tyler. Thanks for that cool conversation post-show Tyler! I'll send you over the videos of the show soon. Unfortunately I lost the shirt that I bought from your merch table but rest assured it's in my house somewhere.


Oh hey CPS! Long time no see. 2 months? I love you guys. Anyways they had a blast. It was their last show of the year and it was fittingly in some stoner's basement. Thank you guys for the powerful metal-prog-whatever-the-fuck you guys put on because it's delicious. I will buy your EP.

Video clips coming soon... RSS feed my Neocities feed I guess.