Pure Pleasure’s debut marked the beginning of a legendary night at LOFI Brewing. As they opened the floor with ripping psychedelia and intense riffage, the crowd was hypnotized, thrown back and forth with each wave of sound. While playing through their newly released 3 track album, members cycled through the mic, even giving us a glimpse of a Nate McKinley screamo segment.
You can find their cassettes here, on Limited Hangout Records!
Then, in a flash, Show Me Mary stood proudly on stage, bathed in violet lights that set the tone perfectly. They played through their enigmatic self-titled 4 track EP and right as we thought it was over, they announced that they’d be playing a new track. This new song churned violently, drawing a whirlpool of hypnagogia out from their instruments. Andy Munz completely tore up LOFI Brewing all from behind his drum set, leaving the crowd in a state of awe.
Next up was Hollow Suns. Holy shit. The prospect of seeing a band from Tokyo all the way down in Charleston was exciting enough but HOLY SHIT- Hollow Suns fucking rule. Within the storm of shoegaze conjured by Hollow Suns, I was reminded of just how large the world is- and music’s ability to bring it all into one room. The crowd broke into moshing, amidst screaming electric guitars and pounding drums. They lit up LOFI with riffs in the vein of j-rock bands a la The pillows. As they whirred in indie rock medleys, streams of guitars rushed by like rivers of sound. There’s a true sense of motion to their music, akin to a whirlwind that’s sure to sweep you off your feet.
They were nice enough to all sign my record too!
But the night wasn’t done just yet.
Leaving Time rocked us through to the end, sparking up a final surge of energy from the crowd. Sharp rock riffs cut through vortexes of guitars, striking fast and forcefully. The show was nothing short of electric. Their riveting performance was the perfect end to an unforgettable night.
Thank you to Hali Kai @ swansradio for the photography in this article! This show is definitely going down in the books for me as a top 3 show for the first half of 2024 (stay tuned for a rundown on all the music goodness that’s happened so far this year).
It’s so awesome to reflect on how far the Charleston shoegaze scene has come in such a short time. I recall SMM’s first show at Neilsonfest 2.0 way back in December of 2022 (Dawning’s final show). About 2 years later and we’re seeing great shoegaze bands pop up all over town such as Overlay, Skywatching, and Pure Pleasure to name a few.
I wanted to take a little moment at the end of this article to say happy birthday to a trailblazer and a leader who has helped build the Charleston underground scene up into what we enjoy today. Happy birthday Jackson Wise!
