‘Tis the season for summer fun, but this historic heatwave has pushed air conditioned hermitage clean past classic outdoor activities as a temperature-conscious priority. So as we plow through our station-wide open house and towards the hallmark exteriority of July 4th, we’re recommending a weekend show that’ll get your blood pumping without making you pass out.
It comes on behalf of Ram Vela & the Easy Targets, who shared their debut pair of singles just months before the world came crashing down with COVID-19. Yet in the ’90s tradition of turning lemons into Lemonheads, this Austin quartet’s continued to paint a pre-millennium portrait of upbeat alternative rock. As such, Vela and the Targets’ rambunctious pop-punk picked up where it left off on last July’s Stuck on Yesterday, toting less-than-serious titles like “Tiger Uppercut!” and “Let’s Start a Band…”.
And this Friday, a fortnight ahead of Stuck on Yesterday‘s one-year anniversary, Ram Vela & the Easy Targets wheel out their first-ever studio EP, What the Hell. It’s a four-song tour de force that’ll fling you from the cycle of life into a borderless big blue of adrenaline, rhythm, and melody. So before the (indoor) EP release show 9PM this Saturday at The Ballroom alongside Compilations and Fortune Hearts, get an early taste of what to expect with What the Hell‘s penultimate power popsicle, “F.O.G.O.”. The resemblance of its title to the Portuguese word for “fire” might be a knee-jerk turnoff in these scorching temps, but “F.O.G.O.” actually reappropriates the motto from “you only live once” to “fear of going out” – scoring a bullseye that pierces the anxiety-addled core of pop-punk. Even if you’ve made up your mind about your weekend plans (or lack thereof), “F.O.G.O.”‘s frenetic section changes, full-band vocals, and barely-functioning first-person narrative won’t make it easy to to stay sedentary during the tune’s turbulent two-and-a-half minutes.
- Do you want to submit a song for a Song of the Day feature? Email kutxsotd@kutx.org with the phrase “KUTX Song of the Day” included in the subject line.
Support for Song of the Day comes from The Werd Company.
