Date & Time: Fri, Nov 22 @ 5:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: Quartyard
Address: 1301 Market St, San Diego, CA 92101
Soda Bar Presents: Hockey Dad x Remo Drive with support by Tatiana Hazel
What began as something to do while there was no surf has become so much more for Zach Stephenson and Billy Fleming aka Hockey Dad. In 2013 the two, who have been friends since early childhood started jamming in their parent’s garage because there were no waves. With Zach on guitar/ vocals and Billy behind the drum kit the two quickly progressed to writing their own songs and had a set together to start playing some shows locally across Wollongong. Ten years on and Hockey Dad now have an EP, four full length albums and a live record under their belt and have headlined tours across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada, the USA and UK as well as played main stage sets at some of the worlds biggest festivals. In the process they duo have earned themselves gold and platinum records in Australia, two top 10 chart positions and a loyal set of fans that have sold out shows at some of music’s most iconic venues.
Remo Drive, the longstanding project of brothers Erik and Stephen Paulson, want you to feel something. Following a six year run of pristine emo-influenced rock ‘n’ roll records comes Mercy, the band’s fourth album and third for Epitaph. It’s the band’s most lyric-focused offering to date, a record about reinvention, trusting yourself, and wearing your heart on your sleeve even when it’s painful or vulnerable.
Mercy has its origins in a move. Specifically: Erik moved to the sleepy upstate city of Albany, New York during the pandemic, Stephen stayed back in the duo’s native Minnesota. In his new environment, Erik wrote constantly. He’d play alone in his room, allowing himself to use his music to think existentially about life. About the complexities of being in a relationship, the complexities of making art and having it be received by a wide audience, the complexities of being in a new environment and finding your footing (as he sings in “New In Town,” “Apparently everyone’s going to Susie’s/I’m not exactly sure who that is”). Mercy, thus, is in some ways a record about getting in touch with your mental health, deprogramming what you thought you knew about yourself and using music to unlock inner honesty. It lends to some of the band’s strongest lyrical work in their career, from the impressionistic introspection of “White Dress,” to the pointed naturalism on “All You’ll Ever Catch.”
