Hot Water Music with Quicksand and Tim Barry
Mercury Ballroom
Louisville, KY
June 13th, 2024
Hot Water Music, a punk rock band formed in Gainesville, FL in 1994, brought their 30 Year Anniversary Tour to Mercury Ballroom to a packed house! Aside from celebrating 30 years as a band, they also released their latest album Vows in May of this year, their 10th studio album! Having listened to the band over the past 30 years, I definitely felt a hefty dose of nostalgia! The room was filled with older and newer fans this evening, all ready for a fun evening of music. Starting out this evening was Richmond, VA musician Tim Barry. The front man for the popular punk rock band Avail, Barry has enjoyed a successful solo career since 2004. Standing on stage with only an acoustic guitar and his voice, he sang his heart out for the crowd, who were cheering and singing along the entire time. Whether from Avail, his solo career, or both, Barry has amassed a large and dedicated fan base over the years. He talked early on about how he loves the community aspect of music, leaving all of the bullshit outside and coming together and having fun and connecting through music. He later performed “Wait at Milano”, dedicating it to his friend Larry Floyd who had recently passed. He said how his friend had talked about how people die twice-once when they physically die and then again when their memory fades- and how he likes to talk about his friends who have passed because their memory then lives on. He ended his set by putting the mic stand on the floor in the crowd and singing amongst the fans, much to their delight. It was a great end to a great set! Next up was New York post-hardcore band Quicksand. Founded in 1990, the band, with members formerly in hardcore bands such as Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today, Bold, Burn, and Collapse, have a solid and loyal fan base, with many in attendance this evening cheering and singing along to the songs! With several full-length albums, EPs, and singles released over the years, the band performed a nice variety of older and newer songs this evening. Starting out their set with “Omission” and “Brown Gargantuan”, they performed a 13-song set list that also included “Unfulfilled”, “Fazer”, “Thorn In My Side”, “Inversion”, Colossus”, and “Lightening Field”. The band put on a high energy set, with singer/guitarist Walter Schreifels and bassist Sergio Vega bundles of energy across the stage throughout the set!
Closing out the evening was Hot Water Music. From the first note, the band had the crowd going wild. Starting their set out with “Another Breath”, “Remedy”, and “Menace”, the band performed a 20-song set list of early album fan favorites such as “Turnstile”, “God Deciding”, and “A Flight and A Crash”, as well as newer tracks such as “Another Breath”, “Menace”, “Fences”, and “Burn Forever”. Singer/guitarist Chuck Ragan chatted with the crowd throughout the set, saying how it is hard to believe that Hot Water Music has been a band for 30 years and how he saw a lot of longtime fans and familiar faces in the room tonight! “It’s because of all of you that we are still here today!”. He also talked a bit about the new album, Vows. “We released a new album not long ago called Vows on Equal Vision Records and are going to play a song from it. Dan, wherever you are, thank you very much! He’s probably in the pit! This song is called “Fences””. The band was high energy and interacted with the crowd throughout their set, with the crowd matching the band’s energy and singing along to each song. Towards the end of the set, Ragan announced “It’s time for a few more! Thanks for coming out and I hope you all had a good time. Give it up for Tim Barry and Quicksand. We are all pumped to be kicking off the tour here in Louisville!”. They ended the evening with “Free Radio Gainesville”, “Trusty Chords”, and for the last song of the evening, the band brought out Tim Barry to sing my favorite Avail song “Simple Song”. The crowd went wild! It was a great ending to a great evening of music!
Tim Barry
Quicksand
Hot Water Music
