As a creature of the night, matinee shows have always confused me. What do you do with all of that extra time in your day? What is sunlight? That was future Aleida’s problem, present Aleida’s only concern was checking out some live music at one of her favorite venues, but enough with speaking in the third person.

I would like to give a special shout out to the traffic of Cambridge for adding on almost another half hour to my trip. I managed to make in time for The Under’s last song and a half or so, but what little I saw was fantastic. If what I have listened to since then is anything to go by, then I have every right to be bummed out that I essentially missed their entire set. I won’t make that mistake next time and I encourage others to follow suit.

Up next were homegrown rockers Goddamn Draculas who stood out from the rest of the line up due to the lack of stoner-y grooves in their sound. They were a little more red-blooded rock and roll with a touch of the eighties thrown in. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them at first but repeated listens have them growing on me. At the very least, I find myself intrigued by their brand of rock and roll and that song ‘Raise ‘Em Up’ is rad. I could throw that track on repeat easily.

This is a story about love at first at first riff. The boys in Against the Grain really made a great first impression and left me wondering how the hell I hadn’t heard about them sooner. Imagine taking some stoner-rock and stabbing it right in the heart with a needle full of adrenaline. Those riffs and grooves were calling my name from the very beginning. Can we just talk about the voice on that singer of theirs, Chris Nowak? The man’s got some serious soul. It’s been a long time since a band so new to me has grabbed me by the lady-nads like that and I highly recommend seeing them for yourself.

The Atomic Bitchwax has always been that one band that I’ve been wanting to see, but life always decides it has other things in store for me but not this time. I was supposed to be well out of state at a certain gathering of bizarre human beings in Richmond, VA, but last minute scheduling changes found me hanging around New England. Sometimes things just fall into place. It may have been a combination of sheer excitement and Chris Kosnik’s bass playing but I was in stoner rock heaven. If I’m to judge by the amount of hair flying around me, coupled with the applause, I’d say the crowd agreed with me. Studio recordings do not do this band justice. Yes, an album will still sound great, but it’s live where The Atomic Bitchwax really shine and have the chance to infect you with those grooves. You feel it in you bones and in your gut and listening to them after the fact simply cannot produce the same effect on a person. Get out there in the real world and see something amazing.

I may have missed this year’s GWAR-B-QUE, but it was an honor to spend an afternoon with some ridiculously talented musicians and I’m happy with how things turned out. As for future Aleida, she found herself at another show that very same night. All in a day’s work, kids.

WORDS BY ALEIDA LA LLAVE