Bring on the Psychics: A memorable tour with Quicksand, Bane, and Soulblind
Look at these two happy dudes!
Walter Schreifels and Alan Cage of Quicksand. photo by kim moenich
For those of us who grew up in the 90’s hardcore scene, and the NYHC scene specifically, this has been a really, really rough few weeks. The loss of Lou Koller, the singer of the seminal NYHC band, Sick Of It All, to cancer, has hit so many of us in ways that we can barely articulate. I’ve spent so many days since his passing reading dozens of tributes and writing my own. I met Lou back in ‘96/’97, when I was a student at Syracuse University. SOIA used to play shows around there all the time, and he was friends with my best friend at the time. Lou was funny, goofy, and, most of all, kind. He always made you feel like you were part of the crew—which meant a lot to a 19-year-old punk girl from North Carolina, who often felt like a fish out of water in the New York hardcore scene. Lou was the best of us, and SOIA paved the way for so many other bands to have success, including Quicksand and Bane. So when I saw the two bands were going on tour together, it only made sense to me to buy the tickets, get on the planes, sleep in shitty motels, and go see those bands. Because it’s what Lou would do.
And that’s what I did. I booked flights, rental cars, and hotels the day before and headed down to Norfolk, VA, to The Annex for the first stop of Quicksand’s tour for their incredible new album, “Bring On The Psychics." As you might know, if you read my article last year about the Refused’s final tour, my husband and I credit Quicksand with our marriage. Quick recap, in case you aren’t familiar with the story: Our first few meetings did not go well. Then I posted a Quicksand video in response to a Facebook post he had written where he challenged me to post a video from a band beginning with Q. He instantly ‘slid into my DMs,' asking how I knew the band. My response? “Because I’m old!” Then I told him that they were playing a few weeks later at a fest in Atlanta called Wrecking Ball—he was already going. So our first hangout was also watching Quicksand. At our wedding, we used special editions of “Slip” and “Manic Compression” as our ‘wedding albums’ and had all our guests sign them. Last year, we were able FINALLY to get Walter Schreifels, the singer of Quicksand (and member of Gorilla Biscuits, YOT, Rival Schools, etc.), to sign them as well. The point of all that is that this band means the world to me, and there is little I won’t sacrifice to get to see them. And seeing them that week seemed especially necessary, given the loss of Lou.
The first show of the tour in Norfolk saw a sold-out venue of 400, with people spilling out onto the patio. The opening band, Soul Blind, was new to me, but not to the throngs of people crowding the stage and singing along to every word. This New York-based quartet, though young, play together like they've been doing it for decades. They obviously put a great deal of work into their music and performances, and it shows. And not only are they a lot of fun to watch, but they are also really sweet guys who seem to genuinely care about their fans!
Bane absolutely brought the house down, but what stood out most to me during their performance was Aaron's tribute to Lou Koller and the band having an SOIA shirt draped across one of their amps. Right before the band went on, I had been checking Instagram, and I was looking at people's posts from Lou's funeral earlier that day. So to have a band I've seen open for SOIA so many times back in the day pay homage to Lou really touched my heart. Silent tears streamed down my face as I listened to Aaron talk about the influence Lou had on Bane and on so many other people and bands in the hardcore scene. Aaron said what we all knew, that Lou was the heart of us, and that we were all so much better for having had him in our lives.
Bane made a point of highlighting that shirt at every stop on the tour, and I know that Lou’s legions of fans appreciated Bane keeping his memory alive, as I certainly do.
And then came Quicksand. From the first chord of "Supercollider," the crowd went nuts. There was a perfect mix of old and new songs, and it seemed that everyone around me was just as into the new album as I am. Everyone knew every word to “Get To It," "Crystallize," "Regenerate," and the other new songs they played, and we were all screaming along. You could tell Walter, Serg, and Alan were really excited about how well the new stuff was being received, as it was smiles all around for the entire set. The same held true the next night, in Durham, where the venue was much smaller and the crowd much rowdier (and I had the bloody face to prove it!).
The best part of those two nights for me was after the Durham show, when I went to say goodbye to Walter, and we ended up in a beautiful conversation about how fortunate we were to be a part of the legacy that Sick Of It All created back in the 90's and how extremely lucky we are to still be enmeshed in it today. This scene we love so much really is about family, about showing up for one another, and about checking in when you know someone needs it. It’s about music that means something, that guides us and helps give us purpose. There’s been a lot of negative press surrounding hardcore lately, and I want to try to help us get back to what it is at its core—a movement about unity and strength of heart and conviction. Quicksand and Bane (and Soul Blind, too!) brought us that with this tour, and I truly hope we can keep up the momentum.
So much gratitude for these folks… photo by kim moenich
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