Show Recap: 2.28.25 Silver Lake Presents
Years before we even knew when and where we were going to open our brewery, we understood that we wanted our taproom to be a crossroads for all sorts of artists and artisans, and to specifically focus on promoting independent creators. In an age where it’s both easier and somehow harder to discover new and original voices, we believed that a safe, inclusive, and welcoming third space would be the perfect antidote to algorithms engineered to serve the status quo.
We’ve been fortunate to collaborate with all sorts of artists and makers in all forms of media, but nothing has evolved quite as organically or successfully as our ongoing collaboration with Silver Lake Booking. For almost two years, we’ve been working with them to give a space to the reemerging DIY music scene in Pittsfield, and each month, we’ve been seeing some incredible acts coming through, as well as a core audience that shows up to support this tightknit community.
Our show on February 28 was no exception. Featuring four bands, all from outside of Pittsfield, we were able to showcase a bunch of new and emerging talent, and it turned out to be one of our favorite shows to date.
The Maladaptive
The first band to take the “stage” (we don’t actually have a stage; folks just perform in front of our logo wall) was the group The Maladaptive. They had to perform with a slightly adjusted lineup because some of the members couldn’t make the show, but other than the a few conversations between songs to go over which key they’d be playing in, you really couldn’t tell that they had stand-in talent, or that one of their guitarists was filling in for the drummer because he absolutely killed it.
My favorite aspect of their sound was the expert use of effect pedals. The way their songs transition in and out of clean to distorted riffs reminded me of the alt rock of the 90s that first made me fall in love with music. (I’ll admit I’m a sucker for any clean-crunchy-clean guitar bands.) Combined with earnest and powerful lyrics, these guys set a great tone for the night.
Modern Ego
For me, one of the biggest surprises of this show was the sound and self-awareness of this band. A lot of these DIY shows feature emo, post-punk, or post-hardcore bands who are perfectly capturing the current cultural moment we’re living through with a ton of energy and hard-driving songs. Modern Ego is kind of a throwback.
They have a strong and heavy rhythm section that immediately makes you think of proto-metal bands like early Black Sabbath. Building on these solid grooves, the soaring guitar playing and echoed vocals reminded me of what was actually cool about mid-70s classic rock. They’ve only got a few songs recorded on Spotify right now, and they’re worth checking out to get a sense of what makes Modern Ego so fun, but I’ll admit that like so much music, a recorded track doesn’t come close to doing justice to what it’s like to see these guys perform live.
Neverless.am
Making the trip from Boston and fighting through some horrible interstate traffic was a band that’s hard to perfectly classify other than using the non-technical term of kicking ass. Their high-energy set immediately captured everyone’s attention, and from the first song, it was clear that this female-fronted band is anything but a novelty act. The lead singer and guitarist can honestly shred and scream with the rest of them, and she can also tap into a quiet and sultry side to provide a really compelling contrast to the moments where she impressively belts out lyrics with a gravelly growl.
For how young these musicians are, they have a strong sense of what they’re trying to accomplish with their work. While you can pick up on influences that run the gamut across so many subgenres of rock music, they’re able to synthesize those touchstones into songs that are way more than the sum of their parts, which is why they feel so excitingly original.
Radical Joy
We were really excited to welcome this band, who headlined the show this time and even had fans traveling from a few counties over to come and check out their set. As their name would suggest, their songs are fun, filled with energy, and fully aware of their musical inheritance. As we’ve continued to see a resurgence of interest in emo bands, it’s started to help people like me (who are either approaching or have already entered middle age) why the late 90s and early 2000s were flooded with guitar-forward bands with lyrics that felt real and necessary.
During their set, the lead singer talked about the importance of all-ages shows, and how their band wouldn’t even exist if they hadn’t been able to attend similar performances when they were still growing up. Thinking more about this sentiment, it’s clear to me that bands like Radical Joy are tapping into something that older folks would be wise to pay attention to: they’re aware of how uncertain and insane the last few years have been, how strange the present and future seem to most of us, and how it’s still possible within all of that to make space for fun and joyous expression. That feels incredibly vital to us right now.