I don’t know how but I’ve never seen local legends Run West Run live. That all changes when they take over the Turf Club on Friday, July 30th, and to say I am excited would be an understatement!
Founded in the mid-1980s by Kraig Johnson and his brothers Kirk and Kyle from St. Louis Park, Run Westy Run never made the big splash outside Minnesota like the ’Mats, but it did ripple through cool circles and enjoyed a strong following here in town. The hard-blasting, psychedelic art-rock band recorded two albums for famed punk label SST and another for Twin/Tone with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Hüsker Dü’s Grant Hart as producers. The Westies were better known for their famously unpredictable, adrenaline-filled live shows, the last of which was probably sometime in 1998 at the 400 Bar, though the band members themselves can’t even remember.
Lunch Duchess will get things started off right for this Friday night show. Launched in 2016 with the EP, My Mom Says I Have A Rich Inner Life, Minneapolis grunge-pop band Lunch Duchess has continued to make cathartic jams for the sardonic and the heartbroken. Their latest single, “Ride or Die,” questions the wisdom of unconditional romantic love and ends up giving the listener permission to free themselves from dire entanglements. Over the years, front person/drummer Katharine Seggerman has used songwriting as a therapeutic exercise: sitting with difficult situations until the truth materializes in a melody, and then protecting that truth with the help of a loud rock band.
Besides Seggerman on drums and vocals, the lineup consists of Sam Frederick (Burn Fetish, New Primals) on guitar, Nicky Steves (City Counselor, B.O.Y.F.) on synthesizers, and Matthew Sandstedt (Hayden Fox, Aneuretical) on bass. In 2018, Lunch Duchess played home gigs and toured to the east coast and to the American West, refining material for their debut full-length slated to come out in summer 2019.
Tickets are still available HERE!
