Radio shows and podcasts sometimes fly under the radar—but for listeners, they can be a fixture of musical life and an important way for people to learn about local music.
Local online shows include Worst Little Podcast, This Shouldn’t Work and Mix Tapes. Another notable show, Just Punk Enough, just wrapped up an eight-year stint on terrestrial radio and is now headquartered on its freshly redesigned website, justpunkenough.com.
JPE’s host is Andy Harrison, who grew up in Carson City and still lives there. He is the guitarist with local punk band Last One Down, and he also promotes occasional shows at the Shoe Tree Brewing Company in the state capital.
In 2018, Harrison launched the Just Punk Enough radio show on KNVC-FM in Carson City, featuring interviews with local musicians, and a separate Just Punk Enough podcast that is still available on Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms.
Earlier this year, Harrison decided to end the KNVC show. He now has episodes—both vintage and new—on Mixcloud, YouTube and his website, which also features long-lost releases from ’90s-era punk bands from Reno and Carson City including Evenground, Indecisive Youth and Superblonde, along with a 2000s live set from the California punk band The Lucky Eejits.
Harrison is also posting live sets and studio sessions from current local artists that he recorded and mixed on pro equipment. So far, they include Bobby Benedict from Sad Giants and the bands Drag Me Under and The Scattering. He hopes to upload some work by American’t Citizen, the Carson City band from the ’90s, along with recordings of him spinning discs from his vast vinyl collection. Eventually, he wants to archive show fliers from Reno, Carson City and the other places he’s lived, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas.
Harrison is on the lookout for any archival releases to post, and for any current local bands to feature on Just Punk Enough. Oh, and Last One Down needs a bass player. You can reach Harrison @justpunkenoughradio on Instagram.
Introducing Reno’s newest unlisted venue, The Krypt
Reno has a history of music venues that don’t follow the traditional bar model. The house-show scene is still going on for punk and metal fans, and there have been some speakeasies in town that required a password or online conversations for entry.
As of earlier this year, a new Reno venue called The Krypt is hosting dance nights and other events.
Izzy Brewer, owner and director, doesn’t give the Krypt address out until someone purchases a ticket. “It’s not necessarily the exclusivity of it, because everyone’s welcome,” she said. “But, it’s like this fun scavenger hunt. I personally loved when (downtown Reno bar/ nightclub) Shim’s was operating as a speakeasy. People noticed that we didn’t really have anything like that in Reno.”
Brewer’s show production experience includes booking shows in local venues, stage managing and production for local casino and theater shows, and doing production assistance and show management on regional tours. She is one of the promoters of Belfry, which puts on goth/post-punk DJ and live music events at several venues around town, including Holland Project.
Brewer said she developed The Krypt, for starters, because she wanted to work at shows closer to home instead of being on the road all the time.
“Talking to the new local promoters and everybody in the scene, they were like, ‘We have a lot of holes that need to be filled,’” Brewer said. “So, I said, ‘OK, let’s do that with The Krypt and be really intentional with the space.’”
Brewer said those gaps in the scene include booking opportunities and spaces for younger promoters to learn on the job.
“This is an opportunity to bring new promoters—and promoters that already exist—together to start creating opportunities, but also to provide education and training on how to start elevating their professionalism and work on a level that’s more compatible with the productions they are trying to get,” she said.
To help, she offers low rental fees and support with production elements.
So far, most shows at The Krypt have featured electronic music from techno to industrial. But Brewer described the upcoming June 6 show—from Conjured Events, a “witch-owned” event planner—as “fully immersive, more like a theatrical show. They bring in actors; you show up in costume; you’re playing along with the games. Everything is themed.”
As far as live bands go, Brewer said The Krypt has the capacity to host them, but only if they can provide their own equipment—which might be a challenge.
“We’re in a basement, and as somebody who has carried bass amps up and down three-story venues in San Francisco and New York … yeah, I wouldn’t personally want to do that here,” she said.
For more details, visit www.thekryptreno.com.
The forecast is Overcxst
Overcxst, one of the more engaging younger alternative/indie rock bands in the scene right now, released its self-titled, six-song EP today (Friday, May 29), on streaming services including Spotify.
The band has been together for about nine months and features guitarist and singer Owen Davis, bassist Jake Lopez and drummer Caroline Baughman. Davis said he recorded, mixed and mastered the EP at his mother’s house.
“I’m not a professional engineer or anything, so some parts were definitely difficult,” Davis said. “Recording is hard in general, but I’m really proud of what we were able to put together.”
Baughman said the self-titled EP is a good snapshot of how Overcxst sounds as a band.
“It’s raw, distorted and emotional, which feels right for us,” Baughman said. “I feel really lucky to be part of a band where Owen is always writing new songs. And when we get together to play a new song for the first time, Jake and I can usually jump in with our parts pretty fast. It’s fun seeing a song take shape and then keep evolving over time, in every room we get to play in.”
Overcxst’s music stands out in Reno due to the sheer power and noise that its three members can conjure. It’s also got a lot of range, from conventional punk rock to the type of more technical, even progressive numbers that some indie bands shy away from.
“We don’t want to do the same thing twice,” Baughman said. “We always want to play something new and different. We don’t want to get bored and not have fun when we play, which is why every song we have is different from the last.”
Overcxst is set to play at The Greenhouse on June 26, and its members plan to keep writing and recording.
“I write new songs all the time, pretty much every day, and we already have more songs than we can record right now,” Davis said. “Our sound keeps evolving, and we’d love to tour someday. We’re going to keep pushing this as far as we can go.”
Catch up with Overcxst on Instagram @overcxst.band.
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