Photo Gallery: The Minneapolis Uranium Club Band / Natural Man & The Flamin' Hot Band / ROTA / Salty at Holy Cow Market & Music

Brendan Wells of Uranium Club

The two cities sit only six hours apart, but The Minneapolis Uranium Club Band -- or more simply Uranium Club -- finally made its first visit to Kansas City on Thursday night. The group quickly won a cult following among the DIY punk crowd with its first LP in 2015 and local rockers have been itching to see them since. The crowd that turned up to Holy Cow ranged somewhere between 100 and 200, making it one of the scene's largest outings of the year.

While it's clear that Uranium Club draws inspiration from the new wave and punk bands of the late seventies, it's also clear that the band's music is much more than "Devo-core." Their unique wit and spastic, yet calculated energy packed the flea market's dancefloor with smiling, wiggling fans. Even "Operations," a slow-building, seven minute track held the attention of each and every punk in attendance. To add to the joyous oddball themes already present in the band's speedy tunes, their stage show included two light-up boxes which encased rotating mannequin heads.

Perhaps it was due to finally possessing a stage that could comfortably hold all of its members, but Natural Man & The Flamin' Hot Band's set seemed particularly theatrical this night. Friend of the band Olivia Gibb also popped in again to add to the madness, contributing to the mix the sounds of a toy horn.

In addition to playing with Natural Man, drummer Max Crutcher pulled double duty as the drummer of ROTA. ROTA has only played a small handful of gigs so far, but looks to be a real contender in 2018. Their gothic style of post-punk isn't overly heavy and contains some stellar bass grooves courtesy of Tongues' Dillon Joeckel.

The frantic yelps of Salty's Jonathan Brokaw made it obvious that the band was well-suited to open up for Uranium Club. Decked out in all-white, after the band's mineral namesake, the boys inserted a series of jocular pre-recorded messages between songs, including an advertisement for another show they're playing. Despite battling through technical issues, Salty's performance was more rigid than several past outings.

Full photo gallery here.