On a normal Sunday evening, as Adult Mart shoppers made their final purchases and the store began to close, some stupid bullshit was brewing outside. A handful of normal patrons, lube and dirty magazines in hand, stopped in their tracks to watch the crowd of 100-ish degenerates already gathered outside the store.
According to the flyers posted online, this normal parking lot will soon be host to an abnormal event. Four hardcore bands and a bunch of freaks were about to turn this patch of concrete into Cleveland’s coolest stage. We arrived at the “venue” just as the show was about to begin, and I was shocked by the number of people crowding the parking lot. This was about to get weird.
A few months prior, a similar shitshow occurred in the parking lot of a Taco Bell in downtown Cleveland. A pop-up punk show: Starting and ending before the sun went down, and clearing out before the police could stop it.
“Taco Bell was just a manic idea I had to do a guerrilla-style pop-up event. I made a funny Facebook post saying ‘New venue… W.117th Taco Bell’ and the post went crazy,” said Mitch Frear.
“The Adult Mart show was a joke text I got from my friend Markus from 1000x Salvia. We had every intention to continue doing these after the success of the Taco Bell show anyway. This time we were a little more organized. This time we went in and asked permission, or at least TOLD them what was going to happen,” Frear said.
A number of people managed to climb on the roof before the show began, setting the tone for the entire event. The crowd gathered at the side of the building, around a pickup truck that held the amps and a TV set up to play Simpsons Kart 64. I hastily set up my camera and made my way through the crowd to see Eds Gains, Cleveland’s newest hardcore band, begin the chaos.
“The build-up to the show was incredibly stressful because we had to figure out who was going to bring what gear to backline the show, how we were going to transport it all in and out quickly, and all with the hope that police don’t shut us down immediately,” said Ed’s Gains’ vocalist Brendan Sonnenberg.
Even for the first band, the spark in the air was already electric. A total stranger saw me struggling to get good pictures of the band and offered me the bed of his truck, and two other people helped me climb into the back of it to get a better shot.
“The energy was insane, I was having a terrible night but the moment we got to setting up I could tell everything came together and I didn’t feel anything but the energy of the show from then until the bands quit playing. I knew I was doing something special playing there and watching the other bands, I hope shit like this keeps coming,” said Jacques Missire, who plays guitar in Ed’s Gains.
The lineup was incredibly stacked. After Ed’s Gains killed it, there were still three great bands yet to come. Next up was Abraded, led by a singer clad only in a high-vis vest and boxer shorts, followed by your D.A.R.E. officer’s biggest nightmare, Drug Abuse. But though the enthusiasm remained high, it was clear the crowd was awaiting the show’s headliner. The set kicked off, and the crowd exploded in a burst of energy. During the headliner’s set alone, I watched as three people leaped off the roof of Adult Mart.
The songs soon became a manic blur as the band blasted their set all over the audience, and it became hard to decide whether to focus on the crowd or the musicians themselves.
Apart from the roof jumpers there was all kinds of tomfoolery, like chicken fights and crowd surfing. Complete strangers climbed on each other’s shoulders to get a better view, and the mosh pit didn’t slow the entire set. By the end of the show, even the attendees on the very fringes of the crowd had made their way to the center. I’ve been to a lot of hardcore shows, but never before have I seen one with such frenzied spirit maintained throughout the entire night.
“I thought the turnout was fantastic. It looked to be a good 100-200 people. The great turnout shows to me that there is a desire for unique, novel, and exciting events outside of the main channels for shows,” Patric Pariano, drummer of Abraded said. “There are many great venues in Cleveland but as niches and social circles develop around these venues, monotony eventually ensues. This event shakes that up and adds an element of uncertainty that I believe is definitely in alignment with the spirit of DIY music.”
The next day, a clip from Ed’s Gains’ set was posted to Instagram account @imfromcleveland, garnering over 400,000 views and 12,000 likes at the time of writing.
“Seeing a clip with my band get in front of so many eyes is unreal to see, but I feel it wasn’t that significant of a video to the 380k viewers who aren’t in the DIY or hardcore scene and will probably fade from memory fast. My hope is the spread from those clips helps more young people see that there is this huge and active underground music scene in Northeast Ohio that they can be a part of,” Sonnenberg says.
This show was a great reminder of the power of community in the music scene. Before this, I found myself burnt out from the constant routine of going to shows every weekend. But this show was a reminder of the vibrancy that a good concert can bring, and it was rejuvenating to see so many new faces among people I’ve known for years, all dedicated to the same chaos. The D.I.Y. spirit in Cleveland is alive and well, and I look forward to a future where more events like this are more common.
Be sure to keep up with all the bands mentioned in this article, and keep an eye out for a second Taco Bell show, Baja Beatdown 2 in early 2024!
Special thanks to all the bands we interviewed, Jacques Missire, the people at Slime House, and the employees of Adult Mart for making this show possible.
