Harlem, Dante vs. Zombies: Concert Review and Photos

With a girl in a pink cowboy style outfit, a drummer in scrubs with a sars mask, a singer in some glittery monk style robe with the hat Paul Revere wore, and the popular indie duo of male guitar wielding nerd with attractive girl on keys, it looked like a bad episode of Pee Wee’s playhouse sound checking at Spaceland on Saturday night. It wasn’t exactly what you would have expected to see on the night of a Harlem show, but every single detail definitely brought something to the experience.

Complete in costume, Dante Vs. Zombies opened with the night with their track, “Branded by Nuns,” a noisy collective collection of “wohs” and incredible distorted guitar licks and catchy to the point of foot taping until the guitars broke out with another “woh!” Their set continued with more over-driven guitar riffs reminiscent of the 50s garage sound that many musicians try to replicate but often fail. Even when the band stripped the sound down for their last song, “Oblivion,” they never stray away from that 50′s vibe.

Dante vs. Zombies was great band to get every on in the mood, but everyone was truly anxious for a three piece with the giant kick drum who came out on stage to close the evening. Harlem, a band who had to leave their hometown for getting a little too rowdy with other bands from Nashville, tried it once in LA but have honed their skills and felt more at home in Austin. It was hard to not notice the Texan influence in their music and the crowd was more than ready for them to play those raucous garage tunes.

Thrashing and and heavy dancing immediately started with the first note played and the set went on get more wild. Keeping it interesting as they switched off on instruments (and showing their versatility) and offering confetti in the midst of the silly string already provided by the audience, this psychedelic punk band made it a memorable night and definitely a band to remember during SXSW.

Check out some of our photos from the show below.

Photography and review by Carl Pocket