Photo credit: Pamela Ayala

Last night I found myself turning to a friend and saying “this band will be one of the biggest rock bands in America in a year’s time.”

White Reaper are one of those bands that seem to get better with each passing performance. My friend Marco mentioned to me their throwback 70s feel that meshes with some modern synth, creating a clash of eras on stage. For being somewhat of a musical hybrid, White Reaper is still very much a no frills rock band.

The main changes in the band since I’ve first become familiar with them is their onstage appearance. They have a fifth dude. They have two keyboards instead of one. But otherwise, it’s been consistency across the board. And, it’s been a thrill to watch the audiences grow. The Basement was packed out. Folks were not afraid to mosh. One dude even tempted fate, hanging from a sprinkler water pipe, prompting the sound guy to take action. The band powered through a mixture of hits from both LPs and the band’s EP, the latter of which got me into them. I was thrilled that they closed their set with the aggressive “Conspirator,” unsurprisingly. Plenty of my favorite White Reaper tunes dotted the set – “Make Me Wanna Die,” “Pills,” “Judy French” and more. Not a power ballad to be found here, friends. I also overheard some memorable lines from concertgoers. “There’s blood coming out of my face” was amusing but not unexpected.

Punks No Parents kicked off the show. Fantastic band name, don’t cha think? Also, I have to tip my hat to any band that can cover “Fly Away” by Lenny Kravitz in punk form. I didn’t know that was possible. The band hammered through a dozen-ish songs, some of which were barely over a minute in length. The drums sounded like gunshots, peppering the crowd with the band’s angst and urge to have a good time. I found myself thinking at different points throughout the set things like “it takes real skill to yelp like that” and “hmm, that vocal styling at the start of that song kind of sounds like a mosh call.”