What You Missed at Spillover 2016

Spillover has always been the cherry on top after the havoc that is SXSW, but now on its 9th year Spillover has managed expand to three days instead of being the cusp of the week. And with that, those three days racked up a whole mix of experiences: insane drama with The Orwells, hardcore insanity from Power Trip, delightfully rich happiness by Anamanaguchi, and so much more for the big ‘16. Here’s what you missed:

Saturday

Grungy, 4-piece rock band, All Dogs opened up the Three Links stage at 6:45pm. Lead singer, Maryn Jones’ hard hitting lyrics and fuzzy guitars filled the stage with energy and made for a good opener to the night. All dogs released their debut album, “Kicking Every Day,” which is equally as jammy as it is optimistic.The beauty of Spillover is the fact that the bands are all so accessible and truly love to play at these shows, and sharing the beautifully crafted and intimate moments with All Dogs on Saturday was worth the early call time. – Angelicque

Hours before everything hit the fan at Trees, laid back indie rockers Porches helped kick off a packed Spillover Saturday night. The band comes across a little bit rockier in person, with their slick production stripped back a bit to reveal a more amped up sound. Their lowkey danceable tracks provided a fitting calm before the storm. – Jamie

Following Porches’ set, UK based band Yuck, stepped on stage accessorized with their best 90’s indie-rock-influences on their sleeves. Their set consisted of a combination of shoegaze-style tracks as well as some mid-tempo tracks off of their effort. However, Yuck’s set thrived best when they played up the “rock” part of “indie-rock” and gave in to old-fan favorites off of their debut album such as “Get Away” and “Suicide Policeman”. The crowd pogo’d into each other during these throwbacks. The energy was so infectious amongst crowd members that  lead singer, Max Bloom, made the remark that he appreciated people “looking like they actually enjoy music” referring to playing at sxsw for the past few days. – Erika

Six piece post-hardcore band Self Defense Family right off the bat told the crowd at Three Links that, as a city, we’re better than Austin. Listing other cities such as El Paso and McAllen, singer Patrick Kindlon put great emphasis that he was happy to be at Spillover with other bands he genuinely greatly enjoys. The crowd seemed to love this jab, and welcomed their quiet/loud dynamic with open arms. Kindlon sings as if he’s preaching, and the whole band seemed to be in perfect sync with each other. Unlike his complaints of Austin, the set was nothing to complain about at all. – Tony

Sunday

The crowd erupted with excitement as Diarrhea Planet took the stage inside the tight packed Club Dada venue. Once you get over the initial shock of a band name like Diarrhea Planet it’s hard not to love them after hearing them plow through their set of equal parts riff-heavy as well as melodic tunes. The six-piece band didn’t let the small headquarters get in the way of showing off their best air guitar-esque moves as they shredded through their set with ferocious speed. The band’s energy was a force to be reckoned with as guitarists Emmett Miller, Evan Bird, and Jordan Smith alternated with one another and climbed onto the speakers and got the crowd riled up with tunes spanning from old favorites as well their latest song “Bob Dylan’s Grandma”. The band’s on-stage banter encouraged audience participation and made for an all around feel-good-atmosphere that by the end of their performance one couldn’t help but feel a sense of camaraderie with other audience members after having experienced such a sweaty and rambunctious performance. – Erika

Baltimore fivesome Wildhoney conjured up pop ecstasy at Three Links. Wildhoney felt a warm presence from the welcoming crowd, and fed off of it with a richly lush set of carefree dream pop. Just coming from SXSW, they felt at ease by engaging and treating each individual like they’ve been friends for years. Wildhoney mainly stuck to new material, but the loudness and guitar breakdowns showcased were all the crowd needed to know what they were getting into. With lovely, fuzzy hooks,  Wildhoney proved to be a diamond in the rough with infectiously sweet shoegaze dream pop. – Tony

NOTHING just came back from an overnight flight, but still gave a jam packed show at Club Dada. Compared to their studio work, their performances translated more melodically. NOTHING were a right level of loud, and talked to the crowd saying that movement should occur soon. Soon after that announcement, the crowd started a small rowdy mosh pit. Despite their equipment being broken, they managed to give a killer set that mixed in the old and the new. – Tony

Pure Bathing Culture, clean-cut and looking fresh, took the stage at Trees this past Sunday during Spillover 2016. The band performed to an audience made up of Uptown natives, punk-rock kids, avid fans, and fans waiting for Anamanaguchi, who were up next. Pure Bathing Culture graced the audience with their sweet, delicate chords, playing mostly songs from their most recent album. The band would of sounded good to anybody who had their eyes close, but it was obvious the band lacked an infectious stage presence. Their lack of enthusiasm was an obvious reflection of the otherwise uninterested crowd, besides for a few true fans. – Kevin

Grungy, sludgy, and at times groovy Brooklyn band, Slothrust, hit the Three Links stage, and brought a mix of feels we were not ready for. Leah Wellbaum’s heartfelt and tender performances juxtaposed her laid back and disinterested voice in between songs and kept the show flowing with hits from their 2013 album, “Of Course You Do.” Slothrust ended their set with the closing track of their album, Beowulf, which showcased the band’s dynamic perfectly as they hit every unexpected beat and made eye contact at every break of the song. This is why we’re petitioning to bring back Slothrust for #Spill17. – Angel

Never has there been a more aggressively happy bunch than the crowd that assembled for Anamanaguchi on Sunday. The venue was packed to the brim and eager attendees were all too happy to bounce of the walls (and each other) to the unique blend of electronic rock. Projectors and bars of light framed the stage in a technicolor glow as giant balloons soared over the crowd. The show was joyous, colorful, and bright – everything Anamanaguchi has become synonymous with. – Jamie