Photo courtesy of StarionDreamer.
By Caroline Huber ’26
Staff Writer
As the outside world remained bitterly cold, showgoers slowly gathered at Amherst College’s Marsh Arts House at 6:30 p.m. for a show that mixed elements of shoegaze, grunge and classic punk. Over the next hour, the space became increasingly crowded, with attendees perusing merchandise for bands Tributary and Blandest, including Ruby Thompson’s “Unrequited Fanzine.”
Connecticut-based three-piece band Blandest began the night with a melodic set. Guitarist and vocalist Damien Galvez described the band in an interview with the Mount Holyoke News as “a cathartic noise rock band that has hints of shoegaze and grunge” that gets their “experimental and noisy sound from bands like Sonic Youth, Swirlies and even Slint. … [Our] quiet to loudness [is inspired] from bands like Calm, Pixies, Hum and Nirvana.” The act played a wide variety of songs, some that featured soft singing from bassist and vocalist Maysalee “Maybell” Gray-Khen and others utilizing Galvez's more intense vocals over the rhythmic drumming of Kolby Evans.
The band's songs incorporated cathartic climaxes, to which the audience danced with emotion, alongside elements of repetition and softness. During the song “Sister Molista,” the band prompted, in the words of Gray-Khen, “an all-girls and queer pit,” which the audience enthusiastically participated in. Gray-Khen wrote that she “love[d] seeing that because I love to mosh, but sometimes I’m scared to, because I don’t want to get bodied by giant dudes.” The band also covered Sonic Youth’s “My Friend Goo,” a big hit with the audience and their fellow performers. Sgraffito Kill vocalist and guitarist Gray Abshire ’26 from Smith College said that “they killed it. The cover was so good. … They brought a whole bunch of new influences; they didn't just do an exact replica. It was so good … so magical … I don't have the words.” The band closed their set with a song that featured spoken word poetry over floating guitar.
Next, three-piece punk band Sgraffito Kill played an upbeat set to a responsive audience. Bassist Devin Hecht ’26 from Smith, cited “Bikini Kill, Fugazi [and the] Dead Kennedys” as major music influences for the band. Abshire’s singing and spoken vocals linked together at times discordant elements of a repetitive base, alongside the energetic drumming of Pearl Sapirstein ’26 and spoken word storytelling for an upbeat and danceable experience.
The set concluded with a lively pushpit. Abshire noted that they specifically appreciated when “people get playful in the pit, and I love[d] that … [especially when] two guys got into a fight where they both pretended to be crabs.” Hecht added that “the silliness always comes out at the Marsh House … [it’s] always a good vibe. I feel like Amherst is the silly hardcore spot.”
Next up was four-piece, post-hardcore shoegaze band Tributary. At the beginning of the set, the audience packed to the front of the room, leaving no room for dancing, though at different moments, passionate moshers partook in the most violent pit of the night. The audience two-stepped and windmilled to the riffs, chanting the band’s catchy choruses. Evans noted leapfrogging in the audience, saying that “it was dope seeing people jump off of each other's backs and launching themselves into the air during Tributary’s set.” Abshire appreciated the dancing of the crowd, saying, “The sillier you can get with it … the better the scene is. … It's the true, like, no judgment zone. Everybody's just having a really, really good time. If you take it too seriously, it's not fun.” The band also played a rendition of their recent single, “Flourish,” to a rapt and singing audience, which Galvez described as “phenomenal!”
Finally, four-piece Western Massachusetts hardcore punk band Robbery closed the night with an energetic and passionate set. The band opened with a proclamation from the lead singer about the need for freedom for all before launching into a song that mixed screaming with an upbeat tempo. Though the crowd had slightly thinned, the remaining audience two-stepped with enthusiasm, at times running side to side.
Many of Robbery’s songs function both as danceable pieces and as precise social commentary with powerful lyrics decrying inequality, including one that received many cheers from the audience, titled “Gaza,” about the need for a ceasefire and the rising death toll in Palestine.
The band has previously acknowledged the suffering in Gaza, fitting given punk’s political roots. The short yet emotive songs revved up the crowd for a circle pit, as showgoers reacted to the music. Sapirstein “really liked Property is Robbery’s set. … [It] was fucking amazing … [and] brought such a classic vibe to the whole thing,” they said.