Leather Lung & Domkraft Live 9/12/24
Live at Sonia’s in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA *September 12th 2024*
Week night shows are always a challenge for me. It’s almost a guarantee to pay the price for lack of sleep the next day or two later, while trying to function normally in my work environment. However, there are some situations that the sacrifice is worth it, and last night was that instance. The hour and twenty minute drive into the city is always a trip, while dealing with traffic and finding good parking. I was lucky to manage a decent parking spot and had a plan to see two bands that I really wanted to.
Leather Lung, a band from the Boston area, for whom I missed two years prior at Desert Fest New York was reason number one. I am really digging their latest and first full length album on Magnetic Eye Records, Gravesite Grin (review here). They have added a second guitarist to their lineup also, so I figured the time was right. The second big reason to go to this show is Sweden’s Domkraft. I’ve been really enjoying this band lately, especially last year’s epic record, Sonic Moons (review here), also on Magnetic Eye Records. The final decider was that the headlining band of the night was Belzebong from Poland, in which I have never heard before. So to justify going, I would leave right after Domkraft and be back home still relatively early.
Sonia’s in Cambridge, Massachusetts is a nice small club. I have seen a few shows there before including The Atomic Bitchwax and Valley Of The Sun, to name a couple of favorites. The stage is elevated and the club has a good sound system and a competent sound engineer. Once the opening band finished, I went directly in front of the stage to get ready for Leather Lung.
When Leather Lung hit the stage, it was on! I would say most of the people at the show were there for them. The band opened up the set with “Dirty Mangy Dog” off their 2019 EP Lonsome, On’ry And Evil. Leather Lung lit the place up! They had great energy from the start and the crowd was really digging them too. They went right into “Twisting Flowers” from Graveside Grin. Zach, the guitarist who sings clean vocals on this song was having issues with his guitar strap unhooking but everything worked out and the band played on. The next two songs played were “Big Bad Bodega Cat” and “Empty Bottle Boogie.” Leather Lung was on fire at this point! The swing shuffle groove of both of those songs ignited the place up. Once the party song, “Empty Bottle Boogie” started, a mosh pit erupted. I got a little beer spilled on me but it was all in good fun. Lead vocalist Mike has fantastic stage presence and some cool dance moves too. The whole band gets into the performance. Leather Lung are a great live band and they are having a blast doing their thing. “Spit In The Casket” was next and the party kept going. The band is there to have fun and they get the crowd into it also. “Miscreant”, also from Lonesome… was a devastating song too! The band ended their set with “Pissing Gasoline” from 2022’s Dive Bar Devil EP.
It must be a daunting task for a band to follow Leather Lung in a live setting but most bands are not Domkraft. I stayed right in front of the stage as a lot of the crowd thinned out after Leather Lung. I had a feeling that Domkraft would blow the doors off the club with their style of heavy, psychedelic doom. I was not wrong about that assessment. At first, the band warmed up to the atmosphere but eventually delivered an obliterating set of their own. They were not trying to outperform Leather Lung or match their energy on stage. Domkraft had their systems in place and let their music do the damage. It was sonically captivating witnessing their sound. The band creates such a huge and expansive drive with their music that it needs to be experienced. They were locked in to their thing and the crowd respected that and showed them gratitude. I was definitely in a trance throughout their set. I recognized the song “Whispers” from their latest, Sonic Moons but the rest was a blur. The band managed to hold their own and didn’t have a set list anywhere to be found on the stage. It was another brilliant performance to match up with Leather Lung.
Unfortunately, I didn’t stay to see Belzebong play. I wanted to get home at a reasonable hour because I had to wake up super early for work. I managed to talk to the band members of Leather Lung and Domkraft and interacted with some cool people too. I bought a T-shirt from both bands to show support and I handed out some business cards for my blog also. It was a fantastic night witnessing two awesome bands playing live music.
