Jen Louie This year was a blur; I barely remember what happened so I had to think long and hard about this one. I’ve told myself a billion times that I was coming out of Bad Copy “retirement” within the last few years and here I am… still forgetting my camera when I go to shows… again. I haven’t really paid attention to much this year either, about what is coming out and what is new. Maybe I’m just getting older and more tired? Could be a number of things I guess. I’ve been battling an autoimmune issue for about a year, trying to work on my mental health and some trauma issues, all the while being incredibly sad about horrible things happening in this world.
So as I sit here last minute, on the exact deadline date that Kendra gave me to do this, here are some things I remembered from 2023.
Top 10 bands I enjoyed seeing that I have seen before:
1. Tiltwheel
2. Greg Rekus
3. Boss’ Daughter
4. Tsunami Bomb
5. Se Vende
6. Lone Wolf
7. Middle-Aged Queers
8. Lost Love
9. Strike Anywhere
10. Failing Up
Top 10 bands I had never seen before that were awesome and you should check out:
1. New Junk City
2. Awful Din
3. Gorilla Biscuits
4. Loud Graves
5. Big Sad
6. Tiny Stills
7. No Man
8. Omnigone
9. Postage
10. Call Me Rita
Top 5 2023 releases I checked out that I liked:
1. Failing Up: Stories of a Disturbed Mind LP
2. Lightweight: The Next One’s On You EP
3. Se Vende: Half Way Home Session EP
4. Startle: Terrible, Zero Stars! EP
5. Middle Aged Queers, “This Song Is Sponsored By Absolut Vodka” SINGLE
Top 3 things I am excited about for next year:
1. Greg Rekus is putting out a new album next year and I can’t wait for that.
2. City Mouse is coming out with something new soon. Hopefully in the Spring. Yep yep. Get pumped.
3. Hammerbombs is doing… things… ? Shhhhhhh! TBA. Will hopefully be out by summer. Maybe winter. Maybe 2025. You know how we are… HAHAHA.
Top 3 random things that kinda sucked this year:
1. Hammerbombs was supposed to do a little tour with New Junk City and we ended up cancelling it because I got exposed to COVID, but then I didn’t get COVID but also it was better to be safe than sorry? That really sucked.
2. Having an autoimmune disorder is not fun. I don’t get to go out much and I have to really try to not get sick at all or I will be sick for a long time. Figuring out how to navigate this has been really rough.
3. There’s been a lot of loss. For everyone. It’s heavy.
Top 3 random things that just ruled this year:
1. FEST was really fun, highlights were playing with City Mouse, seeing Strike Anywhere TWICE and Tsunami Bomb’s cover set where they were all Ghostbusters and seeing ALL THE FRIENDS both playing and hanging out.
2. POUZZA FEST was also fun and I was stoked that I got to play twice this year, with City Mouse and with Heartless Folk. We also went to this cool little speakeasy murder mystery thing on the third day of the festival with some friends and that was really fun.
3. Went to record some stuff with Hammerbombs at Earthtone Studios in Sacramento. It’s fun to record even though it’s a lot of work (especially for Pat, sorry Pat we are annoying and you are amazing and patient and the best recording engineer out there right now).
And that’s a wrap. I gotta go to bed. Hope you found distraction in this ADHD fueled last minute random list of top numbers! See y’all in 2024!
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