Concert Review: Unlucky Theta Invades the Bay Area

    For up and coming bands, touring serves as an opportunity to conquer new lands and build a larger fanbase by captivating a new audience with some killer music. People do not understand that even though we can sit on our computers and listen to bands from all around the world, a live show is more compelling and you will never be able to replace that intimate setting.

    Unlucky Theta, a trio from LA with a unique hard rock and metal sound, decided to take their music and venture up to the San Francisco Bay Area to play at the Lister Bar. The band also visited Santa Barbra and Santa Cruz before making their way up to the Bay Area. Unlucky Theta would be joined by San Francisco locals Sting Raze making this a two show bill.

    Upon arriving at the Lister Bar, I knew this would be an interesting venue experience. The bar seems to be very accommodating and before the show had a group of people painting, which I have never seen at a bar before, but I think shows how the venue is open to different artistic groups. I thought the stage was rather suitable and compared to some SF bars I’ve been to in the past, it did not look like it was falling apart.

    Opening the show was Sting Raze, a trio of hard rock psychedelic maniacs who enjoy jamming out some groovy sounding cuts of music. The band started their set off with a trippy instrumental piece that flowed in such cosmic and ethereal fashion. The band’s guitarist Kazuki did a great job constructing these progressive psychedelic chord progressions.  Bassist Abbas and drummer Terrance did a solid job holding down the rhythm section and added to that heavy jamming atmosphere. Overall, I liked how they crafted their songs and I felt like band was very tight.

Sting Raze

    The final act of the night, Unlucky Theta, may have been the out of town band, however, the band received a strong reaction from the crowd once they took to the stage. Their music instantly clicked with the audience, which I would attribute to the band’s overwhelming musical passion and dedicated drive as performers. The opening song, “Thrown Off Olympus Mons,” was a crushing piece of savage riff carnage. Singer and bassist Daniel Goodman played with raw emotion while guitarist Nick Kontje hammered out glorious headbanging riffs complimenting drummer Rel Bleiberg’s juggernaut sized rhythms.

Unlucky Theta 

    Another enjoyable moment during their set was the song, “Psalm,” a very powerful piece of music with Rel on lead vocals. Unlucky Theta’s ability to write dynamic pieces of music is one reason why I believe the crowd responded quite positively throughout their set. The overall musicianship was on point and the songs never seemed to lose that potent punch. Also I want to point out how the band was extremely thoughtful and although they enjoyed smashing out some ear shattering riffs, they offered free ear plugs to people in the audience.

    In the end, both bands exhibited tremendous amounts of impressive musical talent and even though you only had a two band bill, I think the audience enjoyed ever minute of the show. I recommend checking both bands out, because their passion for writing hard rocking mind bending music deserves much praise.

    So for all the young band’s thinking about just sitting around and playing their local scenes, get out and take a chance, because you never know who you might be able to meet and who might become a new devoted fan.



Unlucky Theta Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/unluckytheta/
Sting Raze Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/StingRaze/