The 2018 New York female-fronted indie pop rock band Strawberry Launch made sure St. Louis was on their 12-city spring tour (with another gig at SXSW mixed in). After they had to reschedule their St. Louis stop, they squeezed us back in near the end. And we’re glad they did.
Before this fabulous five headlined at the Duck Room on this cool, March 25 night, two St. Louis bands, Goo Man and Martyridge, opened.
Goo Man kicked off their 30-minute set at 8 p.m. to a sparse crowd of young 20-somethings. Their sound is a mix of quirky underground with almost a hint of shoegaze led by the gregarious frontman Lucas O’Donnell. Songs included “Yo Yo,” “Bird Brain,” and “Take in the Noise,” which O’Donnell prefaced by saying it’s about driving.
Martyridge appears to be fairly new on the scene and self-describes as indie rock from the Midwest. Their dynamic, passionate, hard-playing stage presence riled the growing crowd into a frenzy (and brief mosh) with punk-tinged rock songs such as “Thug Smoothie,” “Scared 2 Know,” and “Deja Vu.” This recent Substack interview is a good primer on this up-and-coming band.
The crowd had finally moved closer to the stage by the time Strawberry Launch entered the room at 9:30. On the next to last night of their tour, the members have had time to gel together for what was a pleasing hour set. A mixture of sparkle with a slight tinge of garage-rock ranging from raw to polished (this concert photographer heard, at times, a bit of Luscious Jackson). They kicked off with the lovely, dreamy “Emily” then slid into “Light Blue Sheets,” which brought bright vocals amid a raw, throbbing beat. Their third song was the easy, thoughtful, “Ready Yet.” After covering Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time,” frontwoman Riiza asked the crowd if it was okay to perform a yet-to-be-released song and dove into the raw, garage-rock sound of “Start of Forever.”
They concluded the night with their high-streaming song “Sweet Basil,” and the poppy, breezy “Fork.”
Dear Strawberry Launch, please make the trek back to St. Louis in your fast car sooner than later so more people can enjoy your varied indie pop-rock stylings. Sincerely, everyone who missed your show.
See so many more photos from the night here: https://bit.ly/Strawberry25cz
In my work life, I help nonprofits and small businesses with media and public relations. In my what I love to do life, you can typically find me photographing either wild horses or concerts.
