Weird Nightmare, Mrs. Magician, Nothing Natural
7:00pm doors, 7:30pm show. $18 adv,, $20 door. 21+
Weird Nightmare (ex-Metz, Sub Pop)
Oakland! Weird Nightmare (new project of Alex Edkins ex-Metz singer / guitarist) will be at Stork Club on Sunday, April 26th! Tickets on sale now.
Single out now: https://music.subpop.com/weirdnightmare_hoopla
Every band worth its salt has a member who worked in a record store.
In METZ, the fearless noise rock trio who released five full-length albums on Sub Pop between 2012 and 2024, it was singer and guitarist Alex Edkins. Slinging indie rock and hardcore records in his hometown record store while attending university, Edkins became an ardent student of rock ‘n’ roll; from the psychedelic 1960s to the DIY 1990s and beyond. Hoopla, the catchy, melodic second LP from Edkins’s solo project Weird Nightmare, mixes and matches these influences in fun and exhilarating combinations, displaying his sophisticated musical mind. Bursting to life with hooks and earworms, Hoopla is that one tape that never gets ejected from the car stereo, but plays on repeat, soundtracking the summer. New and nostalgic at the same time, Hoopla will perk up your ears.
Weird Nightmare’s self-produced, and decidedly lo-fi, self-titled debut was recorded at home during the pandemic and released by Sub Pop in 2022. Weird Nightmare displayed Edkins’s indie rock sensibility, with a penchant for undeniable hooks and massive sing-along choruses. His skills at writing and performing only tightened on a series of singles that followed.
On the new studio album Hoopla—co-produced with Spoon’s Jim Eno and recorded at Seth Manchester’s Machines with Magnets—Edkins expands Weird Nightmare’s dimensions even further. Gilded onto the direct emotions of his straightforward songwriting, new musical textures such as piano, bells, and castanets give these well-wrought tunes a shiny luster. It’s like a beloved indie director leveling up to their first studio feature. If Weird Nightmare’s debut was an underground crowd pleaser akin to Richard Linklater’s Slacker, then Hoopla is Edkins’s Dazed and Confused, or even better, Before Sunrise. Hoopla represents a huge leap forward in his sonic palette and emotional vulnerability.
Resplendent with sunny, guitar pop, Hoopla was produced with just the right amount of fuzz and crunch. The immediate, crisp, unfussy recording brings you right into the studio with Edkins and his rhythm section: Loel Campbell on drums and bassist Roddy Kuester. This is top-shelf power pop; these sharp jolts of adrenaline could slip into a radio rock block between The Replacements and Elvis Costello & the Attractions. Or fit just as easily on a college radio set alongside Sharp Pins, Ratboys, and Alvvays.
At its heart, this album is an optimistic, shining light in our strange time. Through Weird Nightmare, Edkins wants you to know that he is still in love with the world, and he invites the listeners of Hoopla to feel the same. Take this chance to seize a glimmer of widescreen pop magic in our used-up old world. You deserve it.
Facebook / Instagram: @weirdnightmare
TikTok: @weirdnightmaremusic
X: @weird_nightmare
Official Site: www.weirdnightmare.net
New Video/Single “Might See You There”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jGJpAKUNgk
Mrs. Magician
Mrs. Magician hails from the pilings of various San Diego piers. Like those pilings, their sound is encrusted with salty hooks drenched in waves of reverb and barnacled, fuzz. These pop songs are massive and betray the beach shack bummer of the summer posture that these hoodad's exude.
https://www.instagram.com/mrsmagicianmusic/
https://www.facebook.com/mrsmagicianmusic/
https://mrsmagician.bandcamp.com/
Nothing Natural
Nothing Natural is a Bay Area alt-rock outfit formed by guitarist/vocalist Austin Montanari (Aluminum), bassist/vocalist Kristen Addison (Parallel), drummer Dylan Lockey (Pllush), and guitarist Marc Leyda (aluminum). The group formed in Oakland, CA in 2020, and has since been playing shows along the West Coast. Drawing inspiration from shoegaze and post-hardcore, Nothing Natural delivers riff driven songwriting with infectious dual vocal harmonies and chorus-drenched leads.
https://nothingnaturalca.bandcamp.com/album/cold-star
