Real Live Action

Sled Island 2019: Bully

w/ Housepanther

Palace Theatre; June 21, 2019

Words + Photography
Tate Kaufman

With an exhilarating pop-punk cover of TLC’s “No Scrubs,” Housepanther established the tone for the night to come: nostalgic, energetic and immensely fun. The band’s fuzzy guitars and chunky basslines aided in momentous builds towards their choruses. On the standout track “Can’t Believe They Killed Marissa Cooper Off,” vocalist Bailee woods sang “I watched four seasons of the OC in no time,” before directing her grief over the death of character Marissa Cooper towards the death of a relationship, stating “If you go, I don’t blame you.”

Housepanther||Photography by Tate Kaufman for Discorder Magazine

Bully followed Housepanther, bringing a modern grunge sound with the occasional post-punk accentuation to keep things interesting. The bass and drums on many of these tracks were punishing, containing a deep sense of threat and urgency, despite many songs remaining mostly upbeat, if slightly nihilistic. During “Trying” off the band’s first record, singer Alicia Bognanno dropped her guitar to wrap both hands around the microphone and put her whole heart into the lines “I am trying to hide from my mind.” 

Bully||Photography by Tate Kaufman for Discorder Magazine

The second half of the set hit with knockout power, as the band wheeled through an awesome rendition of “Running,” where Alicia wailed her guitar in the air to build an anticipatory, ringing feedback; and “Feel the Same,” which sent the crowd into mosh mode. At the end of the set, with the crowd echoing the bridge of “Kills To Be Resistant” back at Bognanno, she ventured to the far corners of the stage, getting as close to the audience as possible, before leaping into the fray and joining the mosh pit, where she remained for a good minute or so before making her way onto the stage for the final moments of the set.

Housepanther||Photography by Tate Kaufman for Discorder Magazine