Cole Becker of SWMRS performing at 'Uncool Halloween' at The UC Theatre in Berkeley, CA. October 28, 2017. Photo Credit: Jared Stossel.

SWMRS
w/ The Interrupters, The Regrettes, The Buttertones, The She's, Mt. Eddy
The UC Theatre
Berkeley, CA
October 28, 2017

Photos and review by Jared Stossel.

This article is going up after Halloween. Yet I'm still taken back to last Saturday night when the entire UC Theatre was decked out in full Halloween decor to play homage to the most fun Halloween show I've played witness to in years. Most bands will just dress up, come out on stage, and perform. SWMRS, the four-piece punk band from the Bay Area, took it a step further, decorating the entire theater with wickedly fun Halloween decor, including ghosts hanging from the ceiling, spiderwebs adoring every corner, and a movie projector running a back-to-back marathon of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween while every band played.

SWMRS dubbed the event 'Uncool Halloween'. Fans were dressed to the nines in elaborate costumes to celebrate the upcoming holiday a bit early (and every band member was in costume, no exceptions to the rule). Powerful opening acts that showcased quite a bit of variety came from the alt-punk stylings of Mt. Eddy, the delicate indie-rock of The She's, and the rockabilly intensity of The Buttertones. A standout act of the evening was The Regrettes, an LA-based "garage pop" group that can only be described as what a punk band would sound like if the genre emerged in the 1950s. The Interrupters provided main support for the evening, bringing forth a high energy set laced with ska music and invigorating stage presence.

SWMRS set was packed full of material from their electrifying debut album Drive North, which was released via Fueled By Ramen last year. Tracks like "Palm Trees", "Miley, "Uncool", and "Lose It" played major roles in the set. "Repeat after me!" vocalist Cole Becker shouts to the crowd. "I! Just! Want! To Be! Uncool!" The enthusiastic crowd shouts back every word in excitement. Cole and his brother, Max Becker (guitars and vocals) proceed to shred their way through a setlist heavy with up-tempo punk beats, electrifying guitar, and catchy vocal hooks that stayed with me until nearly two days after the show had concluded. Drummer Joey Armstrong and bassist Sebastian Mueller pound away at their instruments with an unbridled intensity that older punk bands would rival, while never missing a note in the process.

By the time the set winds down and we approach the last few songs, Cole and Max take the stage as a duo. "Well, we promised that if we sold out the show, we would do something special." To the amazement of the crowd, the two members performed a version of "Lost At Seventeen", one of the tracks from the eponymous Emily's Army record they had released years prior. The sentimental moment hit home for everyone in the crowd, as it was clear that the band had truly grown in the greatest way possible since their humble beginnings. The show concluded with vocalist Cole Becker jumping into the crowd during the final notes of "Drive North".

I've seen the SWMRS guys grow as musicians having attended their shows for a number of years: first when they were known as Emily's Army, and now in their current iteration as SWMRS. Something stuck out to me that night, and it finally hit me that SWMRS is an internationally-known touring band, not just a Bay Area treasure. Sure, they've opened for the likes of All Time Low on their most recent national US tour, and have even done overseas stints with acts like Fall Out Boy, but I don't know. Maybe it was seeing that they had sold out The UC Theatre completely on their own, and that the second they started, there wasn't a single person in the room that wasn't singing. Maybe it was the fact that there was at least two crowdsurfers airborne during every song of their set. There are some shows where things just hit you about an artist when you're watching them, and this was one of those experiences for me as a reviewer. I felt so proud watching these guys, who have grown immensely as musicians since their initial inception, finally get the headlining show they deserve.