CHICAGO– A couple months back, my father and I were having a conversation about Billy Corgan’s recent street interview on the music show “Track Star.” One of the many bridges of our Gen X and Zoomer divide is the love of sports, Game of Thrones, and especially 90s alternative music. Growing up we would embark on laborious road trips to the great state of Michigan, and as you can imagine, my younger self gloomed over wasting 4 hours of my precious time.
But my father never left a dull moment to occur. He had a full iTunes catalog of countless bands he listened to growing up. Hearing Nirvana’s thrashing drums, Weezer’s earworm melodies, and the wall of sound guitars of The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mayonaise” planted a seed inside my impressionable self that never left me.
Returning back to me and my father’s conversation, we were discussing one of the questions Billy Corgan was asked, “Who will be the next Nirvana?” My father asked me this very question, considering that I had a PhD in both ’90s alt rock and today, so I contentedly said, “I have no clue. ” And well, no one has a clue; electronic and pop music hold the crown that once was donned by the rock stars of the past.
But what I do know is that many Gen Z’ers are hungry for that band, and many aspiring musicians are gunning for that position on the mantle. A growing indie band from Atlanta, Georgia, is generating the right type of noise that might answer this question sooner than later.
On Tuesday, Feb. 24, the aforementioned band, Sword II, showcased their young and unbridled rock energy at Schubas Tavern. After crowd-warming performances by groups Con and Total Wife, Sword II took the stage in front of a roughly all Gen Z crowd, with the few exceptions of an older man that could be mistaken as a musician’s family member. The three-headed-vocalist act were dressed in dresses and a suit, resembling a prom scene from a punk-romcom. After the bells and whistles from fans at seeing the mere sight of them, the show commenced.
Spacey synths engulfed the thick air; Sword II had a trick up their sleeve, a sampler that filled the dead air in every moment of their set. The intro consisted of blaring synths that wobbled expeditiously in a rhythm that felt like a rocket ship’s launch. As the electronic specs and sounds became ever so chaotic, the band entered the scene in a frenzy. Wailing feedback, screeching pick slides, and clashing cymbals introduced Sword II in their truest form.
Guitarist Travis Arnold and bassist Mari Gonzalez sang softly into their mics after the rapture ended. “Dark, imprisoning me.” Their vocals bounced off each other flawlessly, with Arnold serving as the tenor and Gonzalez as the soprano. Having one singer is already an arduous task for a band to take, but Sword II seemed to master their craft in implementing different voices. The other guitarist, Certain Zuko, is the most dynamic, with Kim Gordon-esque vocals and bellowing screams capturing the most attention.
In contrast to their apathetic 90’s counterpart, Sword II relished in the energy of the crowd, not afraid to interact and control them on a whim. In multiple instances, the band implored the audience, with waving hands, to move around and to just live in the moment. Being a Gen Z’er, I can attest that it is always a crapshoot of the type of audience you receive when a younger crowd shows up.
The fear of an awkward deer-in-the-headlights type or the please-notice-my-niche-recording-device type. Against all odds, Sword II managed to squeeze past both notions and curated, all on their own, an audience that reciprocated and enjoyed every moment.
The final song, “Under the Scar,” showcased Zuko’s lead songwriting chops as their most lush release—in my opinion—to date. The headbopping crowd was hanging on every word she either hushfully spoke or screamed. From the back of the crowd, where I was reserved, I noticed that no one was on their phones, drunkenly spewing to their friends’ ears, or staring into the subspace. A captured attention that sparked a feeling in me that this feeling can only get bigger
Whether or not we’ll see rock return to the heights of its golden years, I know for sure that our generation will carry the torch that was lit by the greats; Sword II will have a great impact on that.
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