Naked Giants | Saturday, February 18It’s awfully hard to give a much better first impression than Naked Giants did with “Dead/Alien,” the opening track on their 2018 debut LP SLUFF. A flurry of dissonance eases you into what turns out to be a brashly infectious blend of surfy punk, strangely melodic noise, and the kind of unbridled enthusiasm that can’t be manufactured. When they burst on the scene, Naked Giants’ triumvirate of merrymakers – Grant Mullen, Gianni Aiello, Henry LaVallee – were yet another group of fresh-faced, high school grads, bringing their energy and ambition with them, in all its’ bottled-up glory. In 2023, Naked Giants have established themselves as one of the more surprising entrants in the Pacific Northwest’s crowded field of melodic indie punk. 

The Lucky Silver Tavern has new owners!! It’s beautiful to see a classic reinvigorated instead of resurrected after being closed for months or even years before someone has the guts, business acumen or blind passion to save a piece of history. For many millennials the Lucky Silver has been roadside scenery, just another bar from the old guard of Tacoma and the South Tacoma Way heyday. If you didn’t have a family member that once frequented or still frequents then you may not have a reason to pop in other than having a heavy case of curiosity. But the Lucky Silver has been a hub and port in a storm to a crowd of Tacomans for 50+ years. It was even featured on a King 5 segment: 5 Star Dive Bars in 2019 surely in an effort to bolster local businesses as the pandemic and COVID regulations were active. The bar itself was built in the 1940s and the original signage, that still exists today, was already there when former owner Kathy Carr’s parents purchased the bar way back when.

Timing is so crucial to starting a business and any sustainable small business owner will vouch for that. But it’s not just timing of course, your entry into the market needs to be impressive as well. Shed Studios has both and it’s been working for them ever since. It also has the golden ticket, location, on the corner of Opera Alley in the 705 Court C building so there’s decent parking and depending on the time you’re surrounded by food and entertainment. 

There hasn't been too many bands in recent memory to burst on to the scene quite like Denial of Life. Composed of Logan Miller on guitar, Brenna Gowin on vocals, Nicky Cody on drums, and Spencer Russo on bass, the band formed in 2019 and hit the ground running quickly releasing a demo and playing shows around Tacoma. I feel lucky to have been able to witness one of the first ones. Since then the band has shown no signs of slowing down even in the face of a global pandemic. I caught a DOL show this summer and the live shows have grown so much since I last saw them. They bring arena rock energy to a hardcore show and nowhere is that more apparent than their debut full length. No Reason was released August 13th and has quickly elevated the profile of the band. Since then the band has completed a full North American tour as well as a killer in studio performance on what most would consider hardcores biggest youtube channel, hate5six.  I had the pleasure of speaking with Logan from the band to get a little more insight into how they got started, what they've been up to and where they wanna go next!