Fidlar • Alex Sucks • September 30, 2024 • The Complex
Reviewed and Photographed by Morgan Newbold
Last Monday, LA punk band FIDLAR made a stop in Salt Lake on their US fall tour! They played at The Complex, to a small crowd who were about to get really rowdy! Fidlar has been on my list of bands to see this year, and I knew their energy would make for some great moments to capture. Lighting isn’t always on my side, so I had to get creative and get shots that really encapsulated the vibes of the show and the room! There were about 800 people, with still enough space to push each other around for constant moshing. I was glad to be up high from a safe distance in order to get these photos.
Fidlar is a three-piece punk and garage-heavy rock band from Los Angeles. Their name is an acronym for “F*** it Dawg, Life’s a Risk.” Fronted by Zac Carper, Brandon Schwartzel on bass, Max Kuehn on drums, with Elvis Kuehn formerly on guitar, they released their self-titled debut album in 2013! Their sound is very similar to bands and artists like The Frights, Ty Segall, Green Day, and PUP. They have 5 studio albums now and their latest was released this past month, titled “Surviving the Dream”.
Alex Sucks
Their show was opened by Alex Sucks, another LA band that debuted in 2021 and has a pretty similar sound to The Strokes! They had great energy and definitely got the crowd riled up. With Alex Alvarez on lead vocals, guitarist John Luther, drummer Ethan Demoulin, and bassist Garrett Orseno are the faces of this alternative rock band. They were super fun and high-energy! I captured a lot of great moments of their set and crowd surfers.
FIDLAR
The room filled up quite a bit more by the time FIDLAR came on. Chaos and pure punk energy was about to explode. Their visuals were very cool with a looong neon light tube draped across the entire stage, spiraling and looping through gear and over the drums. It pulled it all together and I thought it was quite unique. Looks great on camera, for sure! They opened with FIX ME, the first song on their new record.
From the first song, I knew these guys were going to be fantastic to watch perform. My favorite song of theirs is definitely ‘By Myself. It has a fun summer vibe and reminds of something by The Strokes or Rage Against the Machine, for sure. Witnessing the crowd surfing and moshing was a highlight of the show. I really haven’t seen one that intense before. There was one point during the set where they asked to get as many crowd surfers as possible going at once!
These boys had great energy and chemistry and put in funny bits and quips in between songs that made me laugh. They played a couple of their new songs and mostly old ones and played Wake, Bake, Skate, off their debut album for the encore. I think I would most likely try to see these guys again if they came back to Salt Lake! Their tour just kicked off last month so make sure to check them out!