Pallbearer, Merchandise and Whores are among the bands to see before May ends
Pallbearer
With Inter Arma and Gatecreeper: 8 p.m. Thursday, May 25, at the Riot Room (21 and older), $15
Little Rock, Arkansas, doom metal band Pallbearer returns to Kansas City on the heels of its new album, Heartless. The band has achieved nearly universal critical acclaim for its hauntingly beautiful, slow-moving music, which continues to shift and explore new territories.
Bassist Joseph Rowland says the band’s progress owes something to its having played together a long time — nearly 10 years. “We have a stronger language, or lexicon,” Rowland says. “We all know how we play and how we play together, what our strengths are.”
Lawrence Electronic Music Festival
Featuring Plack Blague, Cultergeist, FOANS, Bath Consolidated, Norrit, Elijah, the Czech and 1221: 10 p.m. Friday, May 26, at Replay Lounge (21 and older), $3
Two years ago, Ryan Loecker and Eli Mitchell put on a show called Pizzapalooza. This year, they’re back with a new name, but they’re sticking to the festival’s original plan. The one-day, two-stage event features numerous local and regional electronic acts. One stage is for more dance-oriented music, while the other spotlights techno, industrial and experimental sounds. And there’s still pizza, provided by Rudy’s.
The duo already have plans to announce another event, designed to include a wider range of acts including friends from Bear Club and Intelligent Sound. “This is almost like a launch party of sorts,” Mitchell says.
Merchandise
With B Boys: 9 p.m. Saturday, May 27, at the Bottleneck (all ages), $12
Merchandise is a Tampa, Florida, post-punk band that emerged from the city’s DIY punk scene. Substituting rage for pop charm — without forfeiting any eccentricity — the band has now released its second record on the 4AD label and is traveling America to tout it.
Joining Merchandise on the tour is Brooklyn trio B Boys. The Captured Tracks act puts out a full-length, titled Dada, on June 16. Guitarist Britton Walker says the album’s name preceded any songs being recorded. “We were obsessed with the word itself, but then in the larger context of the meaning,” Walker says of Dada.
Whores
With Wrong, Bummer and Young Bull: 8 p.m. Sunday, May 28, at the Riot Room (21 and older), $12
Seconds into nearly any song by Whores, most Kansas City rock fans can start to draw parallels between the Atlanta band and our own Bummer. Bummer is now halfway through a noisy, monthlong beast of a tour with Whores and Miami-band Wrong.
Eric Hernandez plays guitar and sings in Wrong. He says joining these two bands on the tour in small but often packed rooms has been a blast so far. Plus, he says, a tour with all one-word band names “makes it very simple, straight to the point. He adds: “That’s kinda just how the show is: loud music that just steamrolls you, and that’s pretty much it. There’s no gimmicks.”
