The iconic sludge metal shredder, Matt Pike, continues to prove why he’s one of the greats with the unrelenting High On Fire. Founded in Oakland in 1998, this sludge metal act is in a league of their own with an armory of heavy albums in their back pocket, ready to melt faces and rot brains. Truthfully, it’s a miracle Pike is still alive with the crazy life he has lived, so for those who haven’t seen him play, this show is a perfect opportunity. Plus, they’re playing with the Motorhead-loving Charger and Bastardane featuring Castor Hetfield, son of Metallica frontman James Hetfield.

High on Fire

Tue, Sept 30, 6:30pm, $28-$32

The Ritz, San Jose

One of the things that brings people into the punk scene is its sense of community. They rally around one another in the good times and especially the bad, and that will be proved once more this Saturday at the Caravan Lounge for the Mark Fredrickson Memorial Show. As the lead singer of American Standard, Fredrickson was larger than life. When he passed away unexpectedly in May, he left behind a wife, two daughters, and a giant hole in the local scene. This weekend, his band will be joined by Local Bylaws and Facekicker for a night of punk rock, cold beer, and good times spent with even better friends to honor his memory.

Mark Fredrickson Memorial Show

Sat, Sept 27, 9pm, Free

Caravan Lounge, San Jose

Now, more than ever, we need to brass against the machine. At least that’s what founding guitar player Brad Hammonds thought during the first Trump administration. Taking popular rock songs, Brass Against covers them with—that’s right—brass instruments, transforming everyone’s favorite tracks into unique, almost new tunes. Their cover of Rage Against the Machine’s “Wake Up” or System of a Down’s “Toxicity” are prime examples. After all, like the tour is called, “What better time than now?” It’s going to be a weekend of getting down with the sound and being relieved everyone can still celebrate the good times.

Brass Against

Tue, Sept 23, 8pm, $40

Guild Theatre, Menlo Park

In 2019, DJ/producers Tripp Churchill and Collin Maguire came together to take over the EDM scene. Now, six years later the Los Angeles duo known as Ship Wrek is doing just that. Creating hypnotic house music, Ship Wrek has over 1.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 14,000 subscribers on YouTube. Along with a plethora of fans, Ship Wrek has also gained respect from established musicians in the scene like Skrillex, Diplo and DJ Snake. Their latest track, “The Fall,” is a collaboration with the Chainsmokers and has already racked up almost 47 million streams alone.

Ship Wrek

Sat, Sept 20, 10pm, $24

Pure Nightclub, Sunnyvale

Letting go. It’s one of the hardest things human beings have to do in this life. And—oftentimes—we can’t. After all, it’s one of the reasons why we invented photography, the ability to capture single moments forever. There’s an entire television show dedicated to hoarding.

Then there’s the oldest and most obvious form of not being able to let go: cemeteries. Our entire species, for thousands of years, has created burial places for our dead because the living can’t—and don’t want to—fully let go.

So it’s only appropriate that San Jose post-punk trio Provoker—who play The Ritz on Saturday, headlining a bill with Choir Boy, Touching Ice and DJ Basura—came up with this title for their latest album about letting go: Mausoleum.

“I was living in an attic in Echo Park in the house Jon [band founder Jonathan Lopez] lives in now,” singer and lyricist Christian Petty explains. “I was really isolating myself and writing a lot of songs from a ghost’s perspective.”

Like the track “Germaphobe,” with its lyrics from the perspective of a literal germaphobe who won’t leave the house (and ironically—in the video—lives in squalor).

Petty says that while their 2021 full-length Body Jumper is a collection of sci-fi songs about avoiding feelings, 2023’s album, Demon Compass, is about finally confronting those difficult emotions. So it was only natural for a next album about letting go and finding closure.

“Maybe the albums are all connected but unintentionally,” guitar player Jonathan Lopez says. “The first one is about escapism, followed by confrontation, followed by letting go. In that way they’re connected, but that’s it.”

Which makes sense for a band that writes albums as their own movies. Each one with a common concept or theme strung throughout each song to build a bigger picture.

“All of our albums are anthology-ish,” Petty says. “They’re a bunch of different stories that don’t seem connected but are.” 

When we last caught up with Provoker, they were following the path of their Demon Compass release. They had a bicoastal tour with multiple sold-out dates and had booked an album release show in their new chosen home of Los Angeles. However, at the time this prolific band already had most of Mausoleum done.

“We just had to work with [producer Kenny Beats] on the last 10 percent,” Lopez explains. “We had to record the vocals and work on the production, but the bones were there.”

And the production is definitely on point.

Mausoleum stands as the band’s most clearly produced album with samples and melodies in the foreground, highlighting their dark, gothic sound. Their videos also received the production treatment. Since Provoker started as a band to score the fake horror and sci-fi movies Lopez dreamed up in college, the band has always had a very visceral, visual aspect. Past videos like “Rose in a Glass” or “It’s in My Head” are great examples.

However, for Mausoleum the band had a bigger budget, which meant a larger production team. Videos like “Another Boy,” with the band as mannequins that come to life, or “Tears in the Club,” with its retro videogame graphics, are evidence of the band’s evolution and growing popularity.

Then there’s the video for the title track: a dark, Victorian-esque piece depicting Petty as a ghoul resurrected from his grave. Throughout it he follows his lost, living ex-love, who is now with someone else.

“I was super happy about that one,” Petty says. “We steered it more into a paranormal direction instead of just a dead guy or zombie.”

Keen-eyed viewers might also notice a blue, stuffed teddy bear popping up throughout the videos as a callback to the album’s artwork: an ’80s-style videogame graphic crane machine.

“My brother suggested we make the album cover a claw machine,” Petty says. “It was so random to me at the time but he sent me a reference photo. I kept thinking about it and it seemed like a good idea. It’s one of those things where if you see it, I feel like you want to pick it up and learn more about it.”

A bigger album means a busier year and this past calendar year has been one of the greatest for the band to date. In July 2024 they played Sound & Fury Fest—the music festival for hardcore and hardcore-adjacent music based in Los Angeles.

Earlier this year they played another major Southern California festival, Cruel World, the 1980s-themed fest whose lineup consisted of bands like Devo, the Go-Go’s, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and New Order. Provoker also recently just got back from their European and United Kingdom tour, playing to new audiences in Dublin and Paris—the latter of which also featured a stop at another major festival, Rock en Seine.

But the year isn’t over yet and the band says they have at least one more major Bay Area show planned, so fans should keep their eyes and ears open.

“I feel like we still play a lot of shows in the Bay,” Lopez says. “We’re really lucky we can go back easily to visit family.”

Provoker’s show begins 8pm on Sept 13 at The Ritz, 400 S First St, San Jose. Ages 16+. Tickets: $20/$25. theritzsanjose.com

Hailing from Los Angeles, this four piece Latin band blends a mix of Pan-American traditions from cumbia to tango, bolero, bossa-nova and even other worldly music like klezmer for a sound that is as romantic as it is layered. It’s no wonder their debut album, 2011’s Noche y Citas was nominated for a Latin Grammy and the following album (2012’s El Valor) was picked by NPR’s Alt Latino as Best Album of the Year. This week, La Santa Cecilia plays The Ritz not one, but two nights in a row so there’s no excuse to miss this amazing night of music, dance and culture.

La Santa Cecilia

Tue, Sept 16, 7pm, $35-$40

The Ritz, San Jose

Sleeping On Gems showcases some of the hottest Bay Area artists as they rise into the mainstream. Kicking off at 2pm, Sleeping on Gems features A Cuffin SJ Family Set, Zuri Alexa, Kat Jabba, Rcade, Noise Complaints, Lou Phelps, DJ Lex and Sango. Fiery R&B pop singer Thuy returns to the Bay to drop a signature set of her dreamy sounds. Closing out the night is San Francisco’s own Larry June. With 3.7 million Spotify listeners and 425k YouTube subscribers, Larry June has organically grown his audience with smooth beats, clever bars and songs about life in the city, surviving on the streets as a single dad and loving the community that’s made his career.

Sleeping on Gems

Sun, Sept 14, 2pm, $76

Discovery Meadows, San Jose

Hailing from San Francisco, Bululú brings a tropical, Latin vibe to the Bay Area. And this weekend, they will be playing a free show with Salinas’ Flaco El Jandro y Sus Perros Callejeros (who mix punk, cumbia, and soul) and El Pecado de Juana (a Bay Area Bolero rock trio) for a celebration of Latin and Chicano music and culture. Now it’s more important than ever to come together as a community and celebrate California’s rich and deep connections to Latin America and Mexico. Now is the time to stand, dance, laugh, and say “Estamos unidos.”

Bululú

Sat, Sept 6, 3:30pm, Free

St. James Park, San Jose

It’s hard to think that Lil Wayne is only 42 because he’s been such a prevalent and influential part of hip hop for decades. The dude was discovered at the age of 10 by Birdman and signed to Cash Money at the age of 11. At the age of 17, he dropped his debut solo record, Tha Block is Hot. Since then, he’s guested on countless tracks and has released a flurry of singles, EPs, and albums with his long-running series Tha Carter, now in its sixth version. His “I Am Music” tattoo is one of the realest considering he’s never had another job outside of writing bars and beats.

Lil Wayne

Fri, Sept 5, 8pm, $44-$544

Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View

Hailing from the club capital of the world, Las Vegas, Rhome combines K-pop and EDM for a catchy mix that keeps it light while still throwing down heavy beats. With his residency at Vegas’ K-pop party Lovesick and a regular at Insomniac’s Electrik Seoul, Rhome has played across the nation opening for acts like JAWNS, Henry Fong, and FrostTop. His sets on YouTube have garnered tens of thousands of plays, and his Soundcloud continues to grow with thousands of plays as his fame continues to rise.

Rhome

Sat, Aug 30, 10pm, $14

Pure Nightclub, Sunnyvale