Bass Drum of Death Rocked Through Vegas at The Usual Place on February 18, 2023

LAS VEGAS, NV – Bass Drum of Death rolled through Las Vegas via The Usual Place on Saturday, February 18, 2023 to promote their new album Say I Won’t that just came out earlier this year, and they definitely brought their energy along with them.

The Oxford, Mississippi to New York City band has made a name for themselves over the past two decades as a band that can create anthems with good melodies while rocking hard and throwing in some guitar shredding to boot.

The night started with local Vegas band, Headwinds, taking the stage for some shoegaze gone punk songs that started with some rather docile tunes. However, that quickly crescendoed into a rock show full of energy and angst which ultimately led to a devolution into chaos by the end of the set as bassist Cromm Fallon smashed on his bass pedals while playing a wah pedal and strumming the bass that laid flat on the stage at the point while the rest of the band carried on in their own way to create a sense of impending destruction.

Luckily, there was no damage to any of the instruments or gear (I sometimes shed a tear on the inside when I see bands destroy their own equipment), and their set was a good scene setter for the rest of the night.

Up next was the Nashville based pop rock/punk band Have A Rad Day (H.A.R.D.) which showed that literally everyone in Nashville has to be incredibly talented in order to get noticed, because while most people have probably never heard of these guys, they put on a great show, and their entire setlist was full of bangers.

Whether they were shredding sync'd up guitar solos or singing about drinking or just rocking out, every song was well crafted and performed with intention. They did a good job of interacting with the crowd which is a huge bonus for a band in the support slot. Otherwise, the headliner can get a complacent crowd.

I enjoyed their set from start to finish, and I highly recommend anyone reading this to go check them out.

Bass Drum of Death came up next, and from note one, they had the crowd amped up. It’s not hard to get excited for these guys though.

Their music already hits pretty hard, and their stage presence is a mix between ominous and riotous in the sense that you feel like the band could either get heavy and dark or get loud and raucous. And they can do both equally well.

They played a lot of their more well known songs as well as a couple of the songs off their new album in a set that probably was an hour long which probably got through 15 or more songs. They sort of just ripped through them one right after the other.

I will say that I am a big fan of Bass Drum of Death in that every time I hear their music, I like it, but I have not given them enough attention throughout their career, because they are legitimately a great band that deserves way more attention from every rock fan.

If you are unaware of them, and you are curious about what they sound like, think of Royal Blood mixed with The Hives or something like that. They have some really catchy but heavy hitting songs that make you want to rock out no matter where you are.

Their melodies are great, and both the singer Jon Barrett and his brother Jim Barret play guitar in the band with Ian Kirkpatrick on drums which means the band has no bass player, but that is pretty much shored up by Jon playing a bass-type rhythm guitar with effects pedals that can simulate some lower tones to fill out the quintessential rock sound.

Then there’s the fact that either brother can bust out a solo as well which is pretty interesting. Though, thinking about it now, I don’t recall there being a time when both played a solo together or anything, and that’s probably because it would be hard for a drummer to figure out the timing if two guitarists were soloing without some sort of rhythm section to help.

Either way, the show was awesome. The set was awesome, and yeah, if you ever get the chance to see Bass Drum of Death live, you should check them out, and make sure to check out their new album Say I Won’t as well.