Images: The Sheds, Heart to Heart, Currents & more January 14, 2012 at The Aruba (The DisasTour)

On January 14^th, I celebrated my birthday at The Aruba Hotel for the Vegas stop of The DisasTOUR, featuring touring bands The Sheds, Heart to Heart, Currents and spoken word artist Trey the Ruler. Supported by young local bands Tuesday After School, Wear Your Heart, Air Drifter and Identity of the Unknown, there was a great turnout.

The tour was the first I’ve seen at the newly refurbished Aruba showroom so I’d be negligent if I didn’t talk about how impressed I was. The once dingy warehouse-like cement room has been redone with deep red curtains, a stage just high enough for people in the back to see but not so high that the band is removed from the crowd, and a separate-but-connected room for merch and general hangouts. Vegas seems to be in constant need of an all-ages venue of this size, so hopefully this one sticks around for the long haul.

The night started off with a mix of pop punk and alt rock – Vegas upstarts Air Drifter and the retiring Identity of the Unknown. Despite their different styles, the bands clearly draw from the same influences – namely Yellowcard. Identity of the Unknown, whose fans came out in full force to say goodbye to the band at their last show, received a hugely warm response to their cover of Yellowcard’s “Ocean Ave.” Air Drifter also covered the modern pop punk classic and invited I.O.U.’s Meredith-Ann Hall on stage to lend her vocals to the song once more.

Local Rob Kemerson made his first appearance of the night with Nikkole Lenardson for an acoustic set comprised of Wear Your Heart songs, two of which you can hear in their Stripped Down Sessions. While the switch to acoustic was more impromptu than planned, the duo did a great job, Lenardson’s impressive voice lending itself perfectly to the stripped-down style.

LA’s Currents were a surprise for me. I had listened to them in advance and was looking forward to seeing them for the first time, but I was enormously impressed with their energetic live show. It was nice to see that the band already has a decent following out here, with fans yelling singer Joe Sherman’s name from the very second he took the stage.

Pismo Beach’s Heart to Heart has the ability to mix abrasive hardcore qualities with more melodic punk rock in a way that is really unique to them. Unfortunately, the crowd thinned before their set, and I think that many of those who missed them are going to regret it years down the road when they really take off. In the meantime, they powered through a short but awesome set, with Vegas’ own Rob Kemerson of Wear Your Heart playing guitar for them on this tour.

As a surprising interlude, we were treated to the verses of spoken word artist Trey the Ruler. Trey performed poems from his 2011 album Dark Arts, which is based on doomsday prophesies (the album is available for free at his bandcamp page). Trey has an incredible delivery. You could have heard a pin drop while he was speaking about the dangers of false prophets, and while I’m fairly certain no one expected to see a spoken-word set that night, I know everyone was glad they got to be a part of it.

While the Sheds come from a ska background, the Agoura Hills, CA quartet are more likely to bring in a punk rock and hardcore fanbase with guitarist Morgan Miller’s screams and vocalist Mac Miller’s strong yell and huge stage presence. The band tore through songs from last year’s And Now for Something Completely Different EP and the recently-released and highly recommended Self Doubt EP (which is still available for free from Alternative Press). The Sheds’ received their biggest response with a cover, digging back to the year 2000 with a punked-up version of Papa Roach’s breakthrough hit “Last Resort.” The song was surprisingly well-received, considering that it was released when most of the crowd was in grade school or younger.

Local ska punks Tuesday After School closed out the show, and they once again proved to be one of the most fun bands in town. Their musicianship is tight (just ask anyone who saw them pull off an impressive cover of Streetlight Manifesto’s “Point/Counterpoint”) and their leaping, dancing, and crowd interaction make them a force to be reckoned with. They get better and more comfortable on stage every time I see them.

-Emily Matview and Ashleigh Thompson

Photos by Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/

and Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens