Warpaint, Sego - The Crocodile - 05.13.24 - Photos by Emmett Orgass
Man, Sego is so much fun.
Take the absurdist lyricism of Viagra Boys and mash it up with the rolling pace of Parquet Courts, and BAM! You’ve got Sego.
Instead of trying to find the right words to describe their sound, please enjoy this bulleted list of all the descriptors I quickly scribbled down in my notebook during their set:
- dance punk
- post punk alt rock
- synth pop
- autotune, like T-pain
- washed out indie rock
- headbangers
- synth jazz
- the type of show where you’d see the mosh pit move in slow motion. like a movie.
- slow rolling atmospheric bop
On top of their unbelievable genre-less production and raw energy, they also do something I’ve never seen any other band do. They text you. Like straight up. No marketing scheme, no automated emails. They pause between songs to say “hey, we have a phone for our band— text us! We’ll text you back when we play in your area. And text us right now! And hey- whoever I just sent two pizza emojis to, go get a free shirt!”. When they say they’ll text you, they mean it. In talking to lead singer Spencer after the show he told me they text everyone by hand. They don’t put your number into an algorithm or CRM, they just back up their authentic sound with authentic actions. So go listen to them. Go read about them. And go text them. 323-480-0500.
I remember the first time I heard a Warpaint song. It was at Bumbershoot last year, and I was on the search for the bathroom. See, I was on a mission. I really had to pee. I felt like there was nothing that could stand in between me and a toilet. And that was true, until I wandered into the Warpaint crowd.
I held it for the whole set.
I was stunned. Warpaint was my new favorite band.
See, the thing about Warpaint that I really like, is the way their music blankets you. Listening to their music is the closest thing I’ve felt to floating in water at night. Weightless, bobbing up and down slowly, living in your head, feeling at peace. Warpaint provides me a soundtrack with which I can process, rest, and reflect. Like the chorus in their track “Champion”, they’ll help you figure out everything you’re on about. Their layered, soft-spoken vocals paired with melodic guitar feeds and ambient percussion creates a product just shy of birdsong.
--Review by Emmett Orgass