A Return to the Trunk Space
There are some people in the Phoenix music scene that have had amazing impacts on it. One of those people is Ryan Avery, who I think in the mind of most people, he is a person that it is hard not to associate the Trunk Space with. He was one of the hardest working performers for the past couple Indie 500 events, performing in multiple bands of his creation. So when Ryan said he and his wife were moving to L.A. about a year ago, it was a blow to the scene. Well, the man and his label, Related Records, are back in Phoenix. With that came the first Related Records Reunion show at the Trunk Space last night.
I did unfortunately miss the first two acts. The first one I’ve seen before, and can say that I’m disappointed I missed Dinosaur Love. The man sings songs about his appreciation of the old creatures, plus songs that puts them into unique scenarios of some humor. I have not seen Serene Dominic, but can say based on the great line up around them, it was probably super cool. I did get to catch some of the Shin’s from the outside of the McDowell Music Festival on my way to the Trunk Space from my parking, so that was an added bonus to the night.
However, I did make it in time to catch some of Mooseknuckle Sandwich. I got there as they were putting up prizes for challenges and questions, like rapping. That was pretty entertaining, because the audience and their lead vocalist had a disagreement on the quality of that rap. Outside of that, you get a fun and faster paced punk band here. The vocals have a more unique, higher pitch to them which works well for the songs. It was a fun time the half of the set I caught.
Following them, I actually learned that there is a downstairs space for the new Trunk Space and this is where I caught one of the more unique two bands that are kind of one band. The first band called them self Ahllha. Their set opened up with their guitarist playing two songs using loops by him. Then the rest of them joined to make up a slower, methodical alternative band. It was well done, and done within the setup of bean bags and a TV playing one of the Land Before Time films.
After they went through their setlist, they reconfigured, becoming the band Yairms. We had a new lead vocalist, although went to the prior one, who is now on drums, for a song. This one sounded like a faster paced alternative and indie rock band. This was awesome too, and I’ve never seen a band do this before. It was cool to see how this form of acknowledgment of the talents on more than one instrument, and use it to perform different music under another name.
Last, we had the triumphant return of Fathers Day. Due to somewhere in the night, prior bands taking a little longer, we had the band crunching their set into about 20 minutes. They successfully did it too, of course, helped that they are a fast paced punk band. The idea around this band is that each of them is a type of dad, and the songs are based around things dads may say through life. This is where we saw the type of energy and crowd I’m used to for the Trunk Space, jumping and moshing around. Ryan got in on it to while singing, ending up on the floor once. I’m happy to see them back, Ryan back, and that I was able to catch most of this night’s music.
