Slomosa plays sold-out show at Tractor Tavern

The sold-out show at the Tractor Tavern kicked off with SoCal skater punks The Mainliners who primed showgoers with a frantic, coarse-grained medley. Born of the pandemic era circa 2020, the four-piece lean quite LA-coded in swag, each of them a modern picture of biblically accurate 80’s punk bands. Attracting the eyes of big names like Bad Religion and Dropkick Murphys, they’re an obvious product of their predecessors, but with a less greasy, more greaser aesthetic. SoCal being the hub that it is, the boys, were raised by parents who exposed them to punk early and often.

On stage, they rip through Chrome Hearts, Adrian Morris‘s fingers scattering

across the bass’s fretboard, galloping drum beats from Jackson Fox, frontman Cash Mathieu, shouting in the mic viciously, while guitarist Colin Sick‘s emits a gritty guitar tone with roguish flair. Getting their praise from their predecessors, bad religion? Sounds like something that would ensue after the bell in the wrestling ring. If you dig angsty, erratic, rowdy OG punk with mischievous lyrics, that sounds like the soundtrack to the vision of an arsonist, check them out. Bands like this keep the community active. Catch them hanging at their merch booth post-show!

Notable tracks: Chrome Pit, No Mas Tequila, Better Off Dead, 211, Spotlight.

Descending from Bergen, Norway, for the sold-out American leg of their tour, Slomosa‘s ‘Tundra Rock’ is cementing a space on the scene that’s here to stay. The group’s second studio album, Tundra Rock, spiders off Desert Rock foundations. A Reimagined heaviness characterized by a dark, grungy, gloomy metal that contrasts the sun-tinged traits of original desert rock etiology popularized in Southern North America. Names like Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, and Yawning are most commonly referenced as key sub-genre heavyweights. However, Desert Rock’s meat and potatoes sprouted from Tex-Mex Borderlands along with Rockabilly, Polka, and Chicano rock embedded within the culture.

The four-piece took the stage, and immediately their bellowing sound filled the Tractor, and I wonder why they hadn’t upgraded venues. While there are many similarities, the elemental differences Slomosa creates with Norwegian Tundra imagery I find to be assuaging as a PNW native. As they began “Red Thundra,” it sounds like ascending a rolling storm. Moody bass chugging forward courtesy of Marie Moe, she sings the opening lines calmly as the song builds. Beautiful melodies transmute into spine-chilling doom-heavy riffs that drag eerily through the depths. Rhythm guitar cuts through and fuzzes out at the ends, giving a sense of fogginess.

Riff heavy “Cabin Fever,” is on brand with PNW seasonal affective disorder. Stream of conscious existentialist lyrics “Were waiting, were waiting for the storm”, “On and on, after all, all the days are the same. On and on. At the starting line for nothing to come.” A soundtrack for the overcast.

“Battling Guns” has an iconic breakdown and lyrically highlights Palestinian struggle day to day. Calling attention to something that should be easy for us to speak up about, given the nature of the crisis. While this has been interpreted as political, then so be it. That’s where the punk community should stand. I hear pieces of QUOTSA’s “Avon” and Kyuss’s “Demon Cleaner” as well. “Dune” invokes traditional central Asian sounds that sound borderline like entrancing  metal sitars.

“Monomann” is an absolute hand banger of an earworm that rips off the rails, “Thunder and rain, no sun for days, It must be my pain, must be your silence, born and raised in a pit of violence.” Heavy yet bright riffs that excavate deep into the core. I can’t help but hear QUOTSA’s “Regular John” in the ingredients. I love experiencing art within art, especially when it’s some of my favorite albums that I still bump with the same fervor I did a decade ago. These are moments that inspire me to pick up an instrument again. Like deja vu,  psychedelic layers alternate with nostalgia. As of lately, the air has been smelling like 2013 (or what 2013 could have been?).

The show ended with their song “Horses” which was made even more memorable by the dedicated fan wearing a horse mask, who actually made his way onstage with them. He had a moment playing air guitar as Benjamin Berdous stood on a box to the left before being thrown into the crowd by security. Slomosa is a pallet cleanser for those craving the 90s nostalgia. Reiterating specific themes psychadelically like a trip within a trip. Absolutely check them out when they’re in your city!

Notable tracks: Monoman, Rice, Cabin Fever, Battling Guns, Horses, Red Thundra.

Photos: Sophia Barkalakis @s.barkalakis