Images: Tippy Elvis, The Doubleclicks, Time Crashers and more at Geekapalooza November 7, 2015 at The Dive

I arrived to The Dive Bar about 20 minutes early, and to my surprise, the place was already fairly packed. I’m very used to walking in and seeing maybe five people at the bar and a few people (usually band members) wandering about. Tonight though, not only was it a Tippy Elvis reunion show but also the after party for Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival. It was bound to be a very interesting crowd.

First up was The Doubleclicks from Portland, Oregon. Sisters Angela and Aubrey were armed with a slew of instruments and nerdy songs that made us laugh and really question whether social anxiety was a bad thing. In fact, their first song was about having social anxiety and instead of going out with friends, partying with cats at home because they are not sexist or judgmental. Later on in the set, Angela busted out the cat keyboard. Basically, a little kids’ keyboard shaped like a cat that only dealt in meows. After testing out a few different meows, she proceeded to play the ‘Doctor Who’ theme song in meows, telling the crowd, “ This is the only thing we brought this out here for, we brought it all the way from Portland for that.” Towards the end of their set, they played a song all about a guy who requested they play “Free Bird” at a show. When the song was over, Angela told the crowd to go check out their website where they have a YouTube video of them covering “Free Bird,” which went horribly.

Next was local nerd-punk trio, 3D6. Sporting a new drummer for this set, they started off with their song “lolz to the trolls.” They went on to sing about Star Wars, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Dungeons and Dragons. They were a definite crowd pleaser for the comic book crowd and I was happy they played one of my favorites of theirs, “robot overlords.” I can only hope everyone else was just as stoked on this song as I was the first time I heard the binary break down.

I had never heard the Super Zeros before and their comic book themed rock n roll was something I didn’t exactly see coming. They played songs about Bruce Banner and cosplayers while their lead singer and bass player jumped all over the stage trying to get the crowd moving and singing along. Their cover of the Spider-Man theme song was rad, and as it turned out, the Super Zeros were the perfect warmup for what was to come.

Time Crashers spared no time (ha see what I did there?) and jumped right into “Caveman Lawyer,” which was dedicated to beloved Dive Bar bartender, Angie. They then dove into “Time Cops” which is basically a song about how Jean-Claude Van Damme ruins everything. It’s also kind of an anti-police song, but mostly anti-Jean-Claude Van Damme. The crowd was swooning by the time they played “88 mph,” a Back to the Future themed love song. As more and more people came closer to the stage, I realized they were about to play a song frontman Nikola Tesla had been telling me about before their set. It’s basically a giant spoof on Agnostic Front and “tough guy hardcore.” You have to see it. I couldn’t stop laughing. They ended their set with the song “Jesus Dino-Rider,” which is about exactly what you think it is, Jesus riding dinosaurs.

Introduced by the host of the night’s festivities, local comic creator and Moonboots bass player, Pj Perez, it was finally time for the reunion we had all been waiting for, Tippy Elvis. They started off their set with a jam song lyrically comprised only of haikus about smoking pot. You could tell parts of the crowd were there for Tippy Elvis and the other portion had no idea who they were, but the band was totally loving it. Their set was filled with crazy stage antics, questions about if the crowd had ever wanted to do horrible things to clowns and jokes about them being old. They ended with their song “Punk Rock Tuba” and the crowd went wild. Everyone who knew it was singing along and those who didn’t know it caught on very quickly. As everyone flooded out of the bar with smiles on their faces, it was clear we all had a collective blast.

-Anthony Constantine | https://www.facebook.com/anthonycphotography