At a packed Secret Group show in Houston, the audience witnessed the haunting slowcore of Kansas City’s Nightosphere, the fiery hardcore energy of Ft. Lauderdale’s Gouge Away, and immersed themselves in the raw, unpredictable sounds of Oklahoma City’s Chat Pile.
On the corner of Polk street, a racing pod of brightly lit motorized scooters barrel past The Secret Group. The muffled hum of pounding drums and squelching guitars was causing FOMO to flare up throughout the line. Wristband adorned, attendees finally pushed through the double doors, expecting a half-empty room for the opening group, Kansas City’s Nightosphere.
The humid air of a packed room hits simultaneously with the crushing sense of melancholy emanating from performers’ amplifiers. Each tune began with some haunting and sparse introduction that slowly built up steam, until the band eventually boiled over into a slow decay of heavy and morose pummeling.
Reminiscent of slowcore legends Codeine, in how Nightosphere patiently lured the audience into a trance, using sparkling, barren arrangements and floating, crystalline harmonies. Where Nightosphere diverged from more traditional slowcore acts is, when their engines got going, it seemed that no roadblock could slow them down.
Crowds belly up to the bar to retrieve Lonestars, or take in some fresh air upstairs on the roof deck, but hustle back to secure a better vantage point for Gouge Away. The Ft. Lauderdale hardcore band pulled no punches during the first few tunes, every square inch of the stage explored by wild gyrating, as stringed instruments flung to and fro. The band apparently did not feel the same energy was being reciprocated thus far from the audience, who were chastised and browbeaten into upping the ante.
When Gouge Away ripped into their next number, the audience did not disappoint; an immediate frenzy spread throughout the crowd. Crowd surfing commenced, and Gouge Away constantly shifted genres, the band able to incorporate a multitude of styles, ranging from their straight-up hardcore roots to the more angular and metallic.
A restless crowd perused the merch offerings. Each band had a sizable queue and a dwindling stock of double-extra-large t-shirts, while a steadily growing audience rumbled, all patiently waiting for our headliners, Oklahoma City’s Chat Pile.The packed turnout was a bit surprising, for a band that played so fast and loose with so many rock subgenres. There was every type of human, all jammed in, sweating in February, for a noise rock band fresh off the release of their universally adored new album Cool World.
The house music faded, and Chat Pile strolled on stage, carefree and easygoing—a mixed message based on the brutal and sometimes bleak music they play. Lead singer Raygun Busch, whose shirt managed to stay on him for about half of one song, held court during song breaks, hilariously rating films based in Houston. When the crowd reminded Busch that RoboCop Two was filmed in our fair city, he teased and admitted he preferred the 1983 comedy Local Hero.
Busch controlled the audience with his enigmatic dance movements and husky vocal delivery, while his colleagues flawlessly delivered an onslaught of rhythmic metal grooves. The crowd especially came alive for Why, from Chat Pile’s 2022 album God’s Country, where Busch bemuses aloud, “Why do people have to live outside? We have the resources. We have the means.” Like so many bands before them, Chat Pile rushed off stage, only to reappear for one last crushing number to quench our remaining thirst.
The crowd flowed two by two into the Y2K dance party happening in the main hall of Secret Group, the revelers concerned by the bewildered, sweaty army of freshly brutalized eardrums, marching trancelike from one of the best shows they might see all year.
I am a Texas transplant from the west coast, but I've fallen in love with the city of Houston. I've been playing in punk bands for 20 years and it has ruined me. I spend my time yelling at computers, creating zines, forcing my kids to go to local shows and watching baseball.
I’m a photographer born and raised in Houston. Music has been a huge part of my life since I was a teenager, I love attending local shows and supporting the Houston music scene. If I’m not at a show I’m probably making my own music, hanging out with my cat, or binge watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.
