Nothing More with Of Mice & Men, Badflower, and Palisades
I want to start off by saying that I don’t consider myself a writer, but I try my best to add a little something to go along with my photos from shows, so here ya go!
The first band of the night was Palisades, a five-piece band from NJ. Consisting of Louis Miceli (vocals), Matt Marshall (guitar), Xavier Adams (guitar), Brandon Elgar (bass/vocals), and Aaron Rosa (drums), the band recently released their newest album “Erase the Pain”. I have seen these guys perform before and once again, they rocked!
Next up was Badflower. This was the one band on the bill that I hadn’t seen before but had heard great things about. And all the great things that I was told were true. The band is formed in 2013 out of Los Angeles, CA and consists of members Josh Katz, Joey Morrow, Alex Espiritu, and Anthony Sonetti. Their most recent release (February 2019) “Ok, I’m Sick” is getting great reviews and their live show is just as awesome, especially with frontman Josh being so animated, which made for some great photos!
The third band of the night was Of Mice & Men, another band from California. They are always a blast to see perform and everyone always has fun, especially the crowd-surfers! The band currently consist of Aaron Pauley (vocals/bass), Phil Manansala (guitar), Alan Ashby (guitar), and Valentino Arteaga (drums). Their set consists of songs from their back catalog of when Austin Carlile was still in the band but they really knocked it out of the park with the songs from their latest album “Defy”. After these three great bands, the crowd was more than ready for Nothing More to hit the stage.
Nothing More is definitely one of the most fun bands to photograph and they always put on a killer show, tonight being no different! They kicked off their set with super high-energy “Let em Burn” while Jonny Hawkins (vocals) climbed to the top of a not-so-sturdy looking pole and got the crowd going wild! I love seeing band members interact with each other during the show and that one of the great things about this band, you can tell they are having a ton of fun. Mark Vollelunga (guitar) and Dan Oliver (bass) could be seen going back-to-back to play parts and then also move to the drum riser to jam with Ben Anderson (drums). Then, as always, at the end of their set, Jonny climbs up on the “Scorpion Tail” and jams out with the drums that it is made of as well as the synth. Ending the set with “Salem”, Mark and Dan hand off their instruments and pick up a pair of drum sticks along with Jonny to finish off the set with a literal bang! After the band finishes this current tour with some shows in Europe, they will be going home for some much-deserved relaxation and then to start work on their next album. As always, their show was great, and if you haven’t seen them, or any of the other bands on the bill, you need to. You won’t be sorry!
All photos by Cheyenne Comerford
NOTHING MORE
OF MICE & MEN
BADFLOWER
PALISADES
