20 Years of High Noon
Event Description
Come join us for a special THANK YOU to everyone who’s helped High Noon Saloon reach the 20-year milestone! We’ve curated an eclectic lineup of a few of our favorite artists who’ve graced our stage over the years, and want to open our doors for a FREE night of music for all to enjoy. Our patrons have meant so much to us, we couldn’t think of a better way to show our gratitude. Stop by for your favorite band, or come hang for the whole darn shebang… and here’s to 20 more with all of you!
Disq Bio
With their debut album Collector, the Wisconsin-bred alternative rock outfit DISQ seemed to have everything required to take the world by storm. They had the full support of revered veteran indie label Saddle Creek. They’d received favorable notices from outlets such as the NME, the Guardian, and Stereogum. They had an energetic live show which was sure to convert a sea of devotees, and an international tour booked to prove it. Most crucially, they had an album of winning and memorable rock songs, polished to a fine sheen by legendary producer Rob Schnapf. You could not fault these five fresh-faced youngsters for betting it all, but their big mistake was one that no musician could have seen coming : their release date, March 6th, 2020. Within days, the world Disq was poised to conquer ceased to exist.
Undaunted by a storm of misfortunate which would have crushed a lesser band, Disq now returns to take what is rightfully theirs, with their sophomore effort Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet, a record which reaffirms the charms of Collector while pushing the sound and dynamic of the band in exciting and unexpected new directions. Rather than splintering and surrendering to their cursed circumstance, Disq has emerged a stronger band, more daring and more defiant, ready to finish the job. It is fitting that the clever backronym effectively makes this the band’s self-titled album, as it introduces the public to a new Disq, a band both seasoned by experience and newly invigorated toward vivid new heights.
Though initially formed as an extension of the lifelong friendship between guitarist Isaac DeBroux-Slone and bassist Raina Bock, Disq has evolved into a far more democratic and egalitarian organization, as Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet finds guitarists Logan Severson and Shannon Conor splitting singing and songwriting duties with the aforementioned DeBroux-Slone and Bock. Such an approach could have easily fallen into the trap of “satisfying everyone, pleasing no one,” resulting in committee-approved music devoid of any personality or rough edges, but happily, the opposite is true.
Pushing play on Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet, it is easy to imagine that it is the year 1998, and your cool older sister has returned from her freshman year at college only to hand you the sort of mind-altering mixtape out of which lifelong rock fanatics are born. It is the sort of record Beck might have made in his prime, if you swapped out the hip-hop and delta blues of Odelay for midwestern emo, Scottish power-pop, and the sort of all-American indie that functions as “classic rock” for this cherubic cohort.
A song such as “Prize Contest Life” initially scans as a straightforward and easygoing pop treat, only to take a startling detour into the sort of cacophonous noise jam on which Yo La Tengo made their name. Rousing opener “Civilization Four” introduces itself with a dizzying collage of bells and whistles, before a spoken sample helpfully announces “music,” and the band lurches into a glam-grunge riff with enough Stones-y swagger to earn a place in the next Scorsese soundtrack. On understated closer “Hitting a Nail with a BB Gun,” Bock sounds like Kurt Vile fronting Supertramp right when the edible hits. In between, there are heartfelt rock anthems (“The Hardest Part”), acoustic lullabies (“Meant to Be”), and yearning alt-country gems (“If Only), to name just three of the detours along Disq’s winding road to long-deferred satisfaction.
Wrangling a melange of styles such as this is no simple task, but the record is held together by the powerful yet nimble rhythm section of Bock and drummer Stu Manley, whose muscular and hyperactive playing alternately keeps these adventurous compositions tethered firmly to the Earth and sends them soaring into stratosphere. Producer Matt Schuessler (the recording engineer of Collector making the most of his promotion) rarely lets a verse or chorus go by without adding some new sonic sparkle, keeping the arrangements an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of textures and moods. If there is a record in 2022 which squeezes more ideas into 41 minutes, then that record could surely only be the unlistenable mess that Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet avoids becoming so deftly.
Things being how they are in the world today, the idea of finding “someplace quiet” feels like an increasingly remote possibility, and the act of imagining such a place does, indeed, feel more and more desperate. Listening to Disq navigate the myriad twists and turns of their new album can feel akin to an attempted processing of our endless poly-crisis, where each new catastrophe and atrocity jostle for position at the top of the timeline. With their new album, Disq take a valiant stand against the temptation of complacency. As for that “someplace quiet?” It will have to wait… it’s about to get loud in here.
...or Does It Explode? Bio
…or Does it Explode? (oDiE) melds elements of Midwest emo, post-hardcore, and post-rock into a style that is uniquely theirs and difficult to place in a box. oDiE aims to explore the highs and lows of the human experience; while not overtly political, they do not shy from addressing issues of equity, privilege, and power dynamics. One song may find a polyrhythmic drumbeat, a twinkling lead, an atypical chord structure, a prodding bass line, and an emotive vocal phrase all directing the listener to think, listen, and react. oDiE also mixes in sound samples and visual projection to heighten the experience.
Formed in Madison, WI–a town known for its university and the transience that comes with that–oDiE consists of native Madisonians and implants from around the country. The current lineup includes Erik Rasmuson on drums, J Granberg on bass, Brandon Boggess on guitar, Shawn Bass on guitar and vocals, and Katya on vocals, sound samples, video projection, and occasional synth musings.
oDiE has released two full-length albums, Chrysalis in June 2022 and The Medium is the Message in August 2023. Both are available for download on Bandcamp or on all streaming services.
Droids Attack Bio
Droids Attack are a heavy groove infused riff & rhythm based three piece stoner thrash band from Madison, WI, founded by guitarist & vocalist, Brad Van in the late 90’s.
Wristwatch Bio
Punk Rock from the No Coast.
Powerwagon Bio
Massive power-trio Powerwagon formed in Madison in the early 1990s grunge heyday, but is now Milwaukee-based. Leader Jeff Ditzenberger also played with Killdozer in 1996. Powerwagon has a 30+ year history and released three albums, one cassette, three singles, and several compilation songs starting in 1993. The fertile local punk-grunge landscape of ’90s Madison, especially at O’Cayz Corral, would not have been complete without the presence of Powerwagon.
Event Information
This is a free show and may reach capacity, so plan to arrive early. If we do reach capacity, new patrons will be admitted on a “one in, one out” basis.