Locals Sell Out Kilby Court
Article Written by: Destiny Ross & Photography by: Alec Moody
Salt Lake City, Utah residents prepare yourselves for the soon-to-come Kilby Block Party Festival. This continuation of the Local Highlight Series shines a light on the incredibly talented bands from the local scene that are performing this year at the festival. KBP has happened for the past three years now… This year is the fourth iteration and probably the largest scale it’s gotten to so far! The Locals Highlight Series has been held at various smaller venues, like Urban Lounge and this one, in particular, Kilby Court, all being around the inner and outer parts of Salt Lake City and all owned by S&S which has supported and lifted the local music scene immensely for years now.
Another thing that’s important to note is that KBP started as a one-day festival the first year, a two-day festival the second year, and now for the past two years, they’ve been flourishing as a three-day festival. Kilby Court is what started everything from day one back in 1999 when Phil Sherburne transformed his personal garage and woodworking shop into a makeshift concert hall for the early indie scene back in the late 90s. To make the venue official the next year in 2000 with zoning permits to then host names like Mac Miller, MGMT, My Chemical Romance, and Young The Giant… Kilby Court has defined the character of the local music scene and especially the indie scene. Kilby Court, as you can imagine, is a smaller venue that jump-started the local’s music scene to a different level in the later days, especially being one of the few smaller venues that survived the devastating hit on the music industry during the pandemic.
Being one of Salt Lake’s all-age venues it’s always a friendly, all-inclusive, environment for people of different lifestyles and paths in life. You walk in through the worn wooden doors after checking in at the small, almost concessions size, box where the ticket master stamps your hand and lets you in for the fun of your evening… And there lies an array of different things to keep you just a little bit occupied before the show. They have four garden benches surrounding a quaint fire pit, for the really cold winter nights. They complete the Court with a separate building, covered in band stickers/art and all of the bands that have performed at that venue, that doubles as a merch stand for the bands to sell their merch in before or after shows. Of course, if you’re not feeling either of those options you’re free to wait inside the venue as they usually have the garage door open when the doors of the venue open for the night.
Sunhills being the first of three to perform tonight, already had high expectations from everyone in the audience, being it sold out the night of, and before saying anything else, they definitely soared higher. Sunhills is comprised of a close-knit friend group, the members being Drew Nicholson, Sam Olson, Leo Fernandez, and Cameron Zitting. This indie, dream-pop sounding, talent-filled group is mainly known for their melodic guitars with crashing drums mixed with sweet synths, all knitted together by their chemistry and personality that make them, so fun to watch on stage. Not to mention, Drew’s sweet buttery vocals simply melt your heart as they tie the whole act together as your hair stands up on your arms because there’s nothing you can do about it while they have the stage together.
They walked through the back door, and the ringing screams of the crowd filled the room with anticipation for the next fifty minutes of melodic noise. They jumped right into their set as everyone had been antsy from waiting, and no one gave it the slightest thought. They gave an insane start-up as the drums crescendo into chaos-filled noise, slowing down into the sweet hypnotic sounds of an electric slow-paced dream. Closing my eyes while at this show and listening to their music, especially during their first song Sugar Coated, almost felt like it was the soundtrack of my own coming-of-age film. Most of their lyrics give a sense of self-hope or self-improvement, accompanied by the array of talents coming together at one point in time to form a beautiful feeling encapsulating everything life should feel like.
Throughout the many songs they performed, you could constantly feel the love radiating between them as a band and the energy given during their whole set. Whether they were clearly jamming out, shown by their expressive faces, or if it was playing directly to the audience… Sunhills makes it a clear objective to make its audience feel comfortable and at home. Truly throughout the whole show, it felt as if we were at a studio session or just at an at-home jam session kicking it and having fun. After giving us a taste of what’s to come from the rest of their set, Drew introduced the members of the band along with a brief statement giving thanks to everyone for being here and for their fellow bands on the lineup for the night for being there as well… Showing once more the type of love shown throughout this community and especially radiated through Kilby Court.
Every single member of this band is jam-packed with talent, and it’s shown clearly through how easy and fun the “job” is for them. It’s blatantly clear they love what they do, and they have fun doing it. Drew constantly plays into his fellow guitarists Leo and Cam through the dreamy interluding instrumentals. Sam, the drummer, being positioned in the back, still stood out purely because he was just murdering the drums. By murdering, I mean he absolutely killed it; his energy radiated through the whole venue as he kept the band on the beat and provided constant smiles with how captivating his energy was. Cam wailed so hard on his guitar at one point he got on the ground and rolled around while he played perfectly, just adding to what makes them so entertaining to watch.
Drew takes a second to recollect the venue’s energy and then asks the crowd, “You wanna dance?” into one of the grooviest beats of an unrecorded track called Pastey. This is the song where the whole crowd got moving and followed the direction to dance. The band transcended the entire room into a jam party as everyone was jumping and dancing together as they teased the audience with this unreleased track, hopefully, to be on their debut album that’s currently on the way. They gave us a full variation of heard and unheard tracks and played us out with another unreleased track titled “Always on My Mind.” They gave it their Sunhills flare and finished their performance strong with the audience at an all-time high as the venue slightly emptied as they left for the merch table.
After a short interlude, whether it was spent dilly-dallying outside at the merch table or getting cozy on a bench with your loved ones, Kipper Snack took the stage. A band of five members walks out, clearly happy to be there, as they are covered with giant smiles on their faces. Sean Mena, the lead singer, takes a second to introduce the members of the band before they do anything else. Sean, previously known as The Sardines, is accompanied by Simon Palo on bass, Jackson Jenkins on keys, KC Carrillo on the drums, and Javi Barajas filling in on guitar. All members are multi-faceted artists, coming together while doing their own thing for the night, as this was Kipper Snack’s first show of 2023… unfortunately for all of us, a member got COVID and was unable to make their first show of the year. But, they’re back in FULL FORCE.
Encapsulating more folk vibes of the indie genre lately but still providing the rock side of indie they’ve always been so iconic for. Sean’s distinctive twang-filled raspy vocals are accompanied by the rhythmic beats of the drums filled in with the keys and guitars to give us the sound of what Kipper Snack is in today’s current era. The band has headlined a number of times as well as played supporting acts to bigger local names such as Ritt Momney, Krooked Kings, and Dad Bod. Not to mention that Sean Mena will have played 3/4 of the Kilby Block Parties, alongside all the artists that performed over the years, after this Mays installation
Kipper Snack starts the set with Summer, a song from their newest album Pretty as a Flower, showing us the type of sound they’re so good at providing. They usually seem to succeed with their introspective lyrics and the most harmonious vocals, but more so specifically in this song, as it’s off an album assumed to be about the loss of a loved one portrayed in the most beautiful way. The strums of the guitar swell as the drums kick into a cheery, hopeful sound. Quickly transitioning with a hook of guitar riffs battled by the crashing cymbals to fade into the lulling vocals. This song encapsulates the highs and lows a good song has… To have a true beginning, middle, and end to this song just makes you want to listen to it more, especially after seeing it live.
They treated us to the surprise of playing some of the older singles they have released over the years. First, they played “Aburrido,” followed by “Concrete.” I’m no mind-reader, but I’d assume they played some oldies since Javi filled in on the guitar, and Javi once was a member of Kipper Snack. Aburrido is a higher-tempo song and more of what I would consider surf-indie. It’s a nice catchy beat that makes you wanna sway back and forth with a killer surfer guitar riff at the end. The difference between Concrete and Aburrido is the narcotic pick pattern matched with the keys to keep it all on the beat of Aburrido. This specific track finished off with one of the most electric indie slide riffs I’ve ever heard. The bass does a great job of tying both songs together. As well as with the constant playing into Javi, expressing that friendly love between them both, just accentuating the talent radiating off them all.
Personally, before that night, I had never seen Backhand live or really listened to much of their music… But I was missing out on a whole different experience that is hard to find these days. After the intermission, they turned up the background music which was Shoota by Playboi Carti. After watching two categorically grouped indie bands, you could imagine I was thrown for what I was in store for with a rap song playing. I cannot explain how crazy the crowd went for this group of Mormon-raised icons comprised of Ben Owens, Jake Owens, Mitch Owens, and Matt Timmons. Experiencing them for the first time at Kilby Court truly was crazy… The building was shaking, and your ears were ringing, if you didn’t have earplugs, from how loud the audience went for the band as they stepped on the stage. Fans have been missing their live music as this is their first show since November of last year.
Lead singer, Ben, warns you that if you’ve never been to a Backhand show that you’re going to want to stay on your feet… And to extend the idea of concert gratuity and etiquette of “if someone falls, pick them back up.” Queue is one of the best adaptations of alternative punk since the definition was made, as they start with their track Everywhere Man. It was clear just at the beginning of the song that the middle of the crowd, where I was standing at the time, was not the place to be to take notes or even understand what was happening. I stepped back and could finally see as I was getting swallowed by the many fans reaching for the bandmates. Matt, on drums, gave the guys a solid startup, as lead singer Ben and his cousin Mitch get right on top of the amps in the frontstage. Ben giving us facials that you can NEVER forget of swag-filled fun before screaming at the audience as they scream right back as guitars are riffing in the back. Creating a sense of organized nonsense that I really like about punk music, and the crowd ate it up. It was clear Backhand had a fanbase there, and they were making it known by the first song.
They said little sound bites in between the songs to tease what track they were about to play. After dancing all across the stage to a song, unreleased to my knowledge, titled “Box It Up,” he took a second to recollect his thoughts as he looked to the crowd, smiled, and said, “Is anyone in the color guard?” and the crowd started moshing even harder than they had been. This song is very beach rock-esque as the drums and guitars roll together as Ben’s vocals give us a lengthened airy/beachy sound but then have that signature Backhand spin with punk turns but still captivating melodic rhythms. Guitar solos give us those funky-filled grooves and blunt beating drums for more mosh-filled fun while Ben runs back and forth, giving his bandmates time to shine.
All of the members made sure the crowd was okay the whole time asking if they were okay periodically. Just solidifies more they’re the type of punk band you want to go see live. They’re all a bunch of dorks that sell tech decks for merch but then, on stage, rock harder than most people ever could in their life. Imagine all of that and then some of the most captivating facials, not only from Ben but the whole entire band. Truly giving off that vibe of them loving their passion and proving their slogan of being “God’s Favorite Band.” There were crowd surfers during a good majority of their songs, some being Ian, their tour manager, and some being fans passionate about the band.
As I stated before, I wasn’t very familiar with the guys before that night, but I was enthralled the whole time by their taglines that rang loud and clear. In fact, every single song they played I was entertained by, and I wasn’t disappointed a second of my time in the crowd for Backhand. If anything, I was upset that I hadn’t been listening to them sooner and couldn’t see them live before tonight. On top of being entertained by their music and the lyrics, the bandmates themselves are all so talented and even just nice guys. They took the time to bring up a long-time fan named Mudd and proceeded to tell us that it was their birthday that day. Ben took the time to tell us she has been a fan since the beginning… The thought of even just bringing her up is literally so sweet to me and shows how special their bond is with their listeners.
It was such a pleasantly surprising set of rowdy, chaotic, punk, alternative magic. You could tell that band left every single piece of them on the stage that night as they were pretty much all doused in sweat. After playing their hearts out, they promised us that was their last song and quickly changed their minds when the crowd got visibly upset. The crowd went wild as they played one song, allowing everyone the chance to leave every ounce of them on the floor just as they did for the night. Experiencing Backhand, especially at Kilby Court, it being such an intimate venue, has engrained that connection between their live performance and my listening to their music at home every day. If you’re looking for an introduction to a new punk alternative band, look no further… You won’t be upset.
I was fortunate enough to speak with each member of the bands behind the scenes, before and after the shows to talk about the coming up Kilby Block Party Festival. As most of them stated during the concert, this opportunity is huge for them to play with their friends and heroes.
I asked each member of the bands what artists they were all most excited to see at the festival this year, here are all their answers… It has been specified by each, that if more than one is stated it’s in no particular order.
SUNHILLS-
Drew Nicholson, lead singer/guitarist: The Strokes, Alex G, Julie, Wednesday
Cameron Zitting, guitarist: Alice Phoebe Lou, Japanese Breakfast, The Strokes
Sam Olson, drummer: Pixies, The Strokes
Leo Fernandez, bassist: Cuco, Crumb
KIPPER SNACK-
Sean Mena, lead singer/guitarist: Japanese Breakfast, Pavement, Alex G, Kipper Snack, Sunhills, Backhand
Simon Palo, bassist: Crumb
Jackson Jenkins, pianist: Alex G, Japanese Breakfast
KC Carrillo, drummer: Run the Jewels, Pixies, Weyes Blood
Javi Barajas, guitarist: The Strokes
BACKHAND-
Ben Owens, lead singer: Parquet Courts, Pixies
Jake Owens, guitarist: Parquet Courts
Mitch Owens, guitarist: Parquet Courts, Japanese Breakfast
Matt Timmons, drummer: Parquet Courts
Ian, Tour manager/videographer: Alex G, Julie, Wednesday
If you missed your chance to see these crazy talented artists this time around you can always catch them at the Kilby Block Party, happening May 12-14th.
Check ticket availability here
