Images: The Swellers, Tonight We Fight, Calmosa & more November 14, 2013 at the Eagle Aerie Hall

Flint, Michigan’s The Swellers are back with a new album, The Light Under Closed Doors and with it, a full U.S. tour that sees the band booking 46 shows in 44 days on their own, playing living rooms and small venues across the country. The band returned to Vegas on Nov. 14 to play the Eagle Aerie Hall along with locals Tonight We Fight, Calmosa, War Called Home, Ossum Possum and A Burden on Society.

The Swellers’ no-frills style of pop punk, which pulls in just as much influence from Fat Wreck as it does from Drive Thru, has afforded the band opening slots of tours ranging from The Casualties to Paramore and this relentless and diverse era of their careers brought out kids from all music genres, from the usual Eagle Aerie crowd to kids you’d see hanging around East Side Joe’s. It’s cool when bands play requests, and The Swellers want a step further from their deep catalogue as they jammed out to Aerosmith. Their set seemed short but sweet with a nice group of kids singing their hearts out to anthemic “The Best I Ever Had,” which is one of my personal favorites from them, and new songs like the Weezer-influenced “High/Low.” It would be cool to see them blow up soon, they’re a band that works hard and really deserves much more attention.

-Hunter Wallace | https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_wallace/