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Live Show Review
I went to this show last night because all of my Wollruss bandmates were involved somehow. Our drummer Max puts on Near Dark Fest with his wife Lauren, our other guitarist is the vocalist for Hillsboro, and our bassist is the guitarist for both Csilla's Star Is Gone and A Recorded Dawn. As literally all of these bands are playing ZBR Fest I had to show my support, but hot damn this lineup ended up being one of the best band-for-band nights I've ever seen. All my homies fucking killed it, Palace Oaks blew me away and now I'm mad smitten, Figure Eight were freaking gorgeous, and Computer went ballistic. Scope the teaser/trailer below and then check the longer individual band videos further down in this post that include links to their sites.
CSILLA'S STAR IS GONE
This show was the first set from this all-star band featuring members of Coup D'etat, Mourn Recif, Bathtub Autopsy, and Hospice. They play kinda metallic, kinda sassy, animal-friendly power-grind. It's a genre, trust me. Catch them opening the ZBR Fest 2026 pre-show on May 1st in Victoria at Big Fernwood (tickets available here!!!)
(2026) CSILLA'S STAR IS GONE "untitled"
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PALACE OAKS
Hot damn I absolutely loved this. Very Softseed Music kinda shit right there. Gorgeous ethereal, indie, singer/songwriter stuff that had everyone swaying and quite a few folks already knew the words and were singing along. After getting home I instantly checked out the new album, so good!
(2026) PALACE OAKS "bitter cherry" (from 'insular mountains')
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A RECORDED DAWN
This band just puts on a fucking clinic every show, I swear to god. They played three new jams plus the Zampler track, but the first two I had never heard/seen and they blew me the fuck away. I can't wait to get this LP and release it. This band is gonna blow you away at ZBR Fest (tickets here!!!)
(2026) A RECORDED DAWN "The blue flames of dead words" (from their forthcoming 12"LP)
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FIGURE EIGHT
This band came from Oakland and played emo shoegaze that wavered between hypnotic and heavy, sometimes combining the two. Really well done and the vocals were fucking spot on. Again, ran to their bandcamp this morning to snag their stuff, so good!
(2026) FIGURE EIGHT "hummingbird" (from 'until the sun swallows the earth / hummingbird')
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COMPUTER
I had seen this band back in September of 2024 and I remember them being awesome. Their seven-piece ensemble includes a sax player and keyboardist in addition to your standard fare. They're really quirky, sometimes chill, and sometimes chaotic as fuck. One of my fave live bands for sure!
(2026) COMPUTER "Dissolution Use" (from 'Station On The Hill')
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HILLSBORO
Holy fuck. Hillsboro got fucking heeeeeeaaaaavy. These new songs really dip into the Deftones influence so anyone missing the super heavy days of that band are gonna fucking love this direction the band has forked off into. Warning: watch out for Nima without a guitar, that guy becomes untethered! They have a new GP releasing in late May on Softseed Music and play ZBR Fest on May 2nd-3rd (tickets available here!!!)
(2026) HILLSBORO "untitled" (from an upcoming album)
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