SLC Acts Blue Rain Boots and Sunfish Invaded Las Vegas with Rocking Tunes on Jan. 2, 2023
All Photos by Breanna Biorato
LAS VEGAS, NV – Las Vegas was invaded by two indie-rock bands from our neighbor to the North (Utah) on Monday night as Blue Rain Boots and Sunfish came to Soulbelly BBQ as part of a winter regional tour for the two acts.
The concert was put on by Band-It Booking with support from local Vegas artist, Rhaina Yasmin.
Yasmin, who has some serious chops as a former student of the School of Rock program, kicked off the concert, and though I had heard some of her music on Spotify, I was actually quite surprised at how much more dynamic and rocking the songs and the band sounded live.
That’s not to say the recorded songs aren’t good, but they definitely had me thinking the band was going to be a bit more laid back and mellow. I would say her sound is somewhat like Alanis Morisette, and if you know anything about Morisette’s music, you know she can rock out at times too.
There were definitely some moments of that mellow style though. However, many of the songs would crescendo into a peak right before going into some rocking chorus or solo that made the songs incredibly enjoyable for their quality and craftsmanship.
The song that definitely stood out to me was “Grocery Store” which is one of her Spotify singles. For some reason the song reminds me of the movie Garden State in the sense that it has a bit of the nostalgia and feeling of a hometown that doesn’t really seem familiar anymore. I don’t actually know what the song is about, but that vibe is pretty strong on this one.
Either way, I highly recommend going to check her out if you see her on a lineup anytime soon. You won’t be disappointed.
Next up was Sunfish, and I had a pretty good idea of what they were all about since I saw both Sunfish and Blue Rain Boots perform almost exactly one year ago in Vegas.
Let’s just say I was incredibly impressed with their set both then and now.
The band is now a little over a year removed from high school, and they are pumping out some really good music.
Lead singer and guitarist Carter Sears not only sings pretty damn well, but he also knows how to rock out on stage and throw in some pretty tasty shreds as well.
The lineup has changed a bit over the last few years, but keyboardist and backing vocalist Courtney Lane was in the band both times I have seen them, and she does a killer job in both regards.
She did have a couple of moments of technical difficulty with a mic stand and keyboard power, but it kind of just made it more of an entertaining segue between songs.
They ripped through many of their most popular songs from their streaming profiles, but one songs that caught my attention (as both someone who is older than most of the crowd AND a fan of the original artist) was when they busted out “Super Bon Bon” by Soul Coughing in their own uptempo and rocking way. Still to this day, I have never heard anyone else cover Soul Coughing let alone a band with members who are in their late teens and early twenties.
Their songs have a lot of diversity of sound which is one of the really cool aspects of their music whether it is a spooky sounding swing-rock song like “BAD!” a blasting rock song like “Insecurities” or the indie-rock sound of “Doors” you are going to get some incredible songs.
I should mention that all three of those songs appear on their 2021 album Sunfish for President as well.
Their new singles such as “You Like The Pain” are all really good too.
Headlining the night was fellow Utah indie rock band Blue Rain Boots.
The band is fronted by Simon Greffen and accompanied by bassist Simon Palo, Carter Sears on lead guitar (yeah, the same one who fronts Sunfish), and has Brecken Hunter on drums.
The four piece band is a bit more laid back in a lot of their songs, but they still rock pretty hard – I think helped in large part by Sears’ presence and guitar skills.
The band has a large following in their hometown of Salt Lake City, and they have played some other regional shows in the past.
Their biggest streaming song and one of the catchiest damn songs you may ever hear is the song “2023.” Ironically, now that it is 2023, the song may even garner more attention.
The band actually wrote this song while still in high school (only a couple years removed from graduation now), and it is a jam.
The overall sound is more akin to a lounge singer in an indie rock band, but somehow it works pretty damn well.
They will be rolling through California up to Seattle before making their way back to SLC as part of this tour.