Guerilla Toss/Pleaser @ Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY 2/25/25

 


Bill: Guerilla Toss/Pleaser

Venue: Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY

Date: 2/25/25

Door: Free (advance free RSVP via Dice)

8:30 Guerilla Toss



Active: 2011 (New York, NY via Boston, MA)

Latest Release: Famously Alive (Sub Pop, 2022)

Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs AllMusic Setlist Wiki YouTube

7:30 Pleaser



Active: 2023 (New York, NY)

Latest Release: Sweet Beautiful Music (Pleaser, 2024)

Bandcamp YouTube 

Somehow I ignored Guerilla Toss all these 14 years of their existence.  Somebody at Lucky's Bar last year was raving about them and went through the effort to text me about them after the conversation. That conversation was miraculously remembered over half a year later.   Another friend of mine had RSVP's for the free Tuesday Night Series at Union Pool passed on to me that proved to be useless since they don't guarantee entrance.  Fortunately, I got there early enough that I was 3rd to last to secure entry.  For future lines there, if it snakes 10 people beyond the food cart outside you probably aren't going to get in on the initial cut off although another friend of mine got in hanging around as people left the room.

First up were Pleaser (not the Copenhagen one that spells their name in CAPS).  I had my fill of duos behind a synth bank from the Daniel Lanois show the other night and this was a synth and vocal duo.  Their visuals were cool but the music consisting of bouncing and wailing wasn't pleasing to me.

Anyway, next up were Guerilla Toss.  I had no idea they were "free out" level popular or that they are now on Sub Pop.  To me they seemed like a jam band that might've played Wetlands 30 years ago except with a more modern "indie rock" "dance punk" with a dash of emo inspired modern rock sort of thing.  At first, I thought vocalist Kassie Carlson was atonal and thought the band were annoying jam indie punk hybrid, but I warmed up to them and liked the songs at the end of the set.  Kassie is undeniably charismatic.  There was just enough of a hint of modern big club ticket psych influence from the band to be noticeable.  At this level I guess it doesn't matter what I think since they are so established, except for now my brain can be comforted having crossed them off my endless bucket list of bands I haven't seen.



























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