For The Benefit of The Tubbs Fire Survivors.

After fires burned down a large portion of Northern California in October, many people were left homeless and hurt. To raise money to provide help for those affected, Ace of Spades pulled in four Sacramento area bands to play a benefit show. Destroy Boys, Dog Party, Hi, Mom, and Fonty played for a crowd of just under 300 people. The amount raised is still being worked out by the venue.

The first two bands each played short sets of about five or six songs each. Fonty, a new indie-rock band from Carmichael, consisting of Jesse Grover (rhythm guitar and vocals), Reese Auble (lead guitar), and Colten Boatwright (drums) started off the show with a driving set that got the crowd going, with songs like “Back Seat,” “Killing Season,” and “This is Normal.” Via Facebook, the band said they were “stoked to play the show.”

Hi, Mom followed Fonty with an upbeat set. The Sacramento band, formerly known as Altessa, consisted of Bailey Zindel (guitar and vocals), Julian Grenz (bass), and Henry Diem III (drums). They rocked a 90s pop-punk sound, playing their own songs like “Life Ain’t Fair” and covering “Burnout” by Green Day. They pumped up the crowd with fast songs you could really jump around to.

Next, Destroy Boys played an eight-song set. When Ace of Spades approached Destroy Boys to play, they jumped at the chance. In a pre-show interview, guitarist Vi Mayugba said: “[they were] excited to support that cause.” Destroy Boys are from Sacramento but know people who were affected by the fires. Vocalist Alexia Roditis said her Spanish TA “had to go make sure her family and stuff were okay because she wasn’t hearing back from them.”  

“We had a couple fans out of Santa Rosa who messaged us personally and said ‘yeah I want to come see you play but our family just had to evacuate our house,’” said Mayugba.

On stage with Destroy Boys was Dana Wendel on drums who has been switching roles with Chris Malaspina from Mt. Eddy. Until recently, the band has been playing without a bass player. They have since added Falyn Walsh from Grumpster on bass which has really filled out their live sound with some heavy bottom. The band played favorites like “Cattywampus,” “Duck Eat Duck World,” and “Widow.” They also covered Black Flag’s “Rise Above.”

Closing out the night was Dog Party. They ended with a rocking thirteen song set which reached all the way back to their third album Lost Control for several favorites like “Jet Pack” and “Gutters” as well introducing two new original songs off their upcoming album: “Operator” and “In Your Eyes.” They also covered Wanda Jackson’s “Fujiyama Mama.”  

Dog Party is a pop-punk band based out of Sacramento, consisting of Gwendolyn Giles (guitar and vocals) and Lucy Giles (drums and vocals). Dog Party has been recording at the Dock Studio with Chris Woodhouse and is expecting to release their fifth album this summer.

Judging by the crowd’s reactions and the long lines at the merch tables, a good time seemed to have been had by all who attended.

Words and photos: Sullivan Hargrove.