Words and Photos: Hotline TNT / Flooding / Foil at 22/32
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| Hotline TNT at 22/32. Photo by Aaron Rhodes. |
22/32 - Kansas City, MO
New York-via-Minnesota rock band Hotline TNT returned to Kansas City earlier this month for the first time since a 2018 gig at Roller Dog (the short-lived predecessor to Farewell Transmission). Since then, the band has churned out two additional EPs, several mixtapes and singles, and this year its first LP. Despite primary songwriter and vocalist/guitarist Will Anderson's adamant anti-streaming stance (the band's music is only available on physical media, Anderson's YouTube channel, and paid MP3 download via his website), Hotline TNT has garnered a cult following and was set to open a leg of Snail Mail's recently postponed American tour. In the wake of those postponements, Hotline booked a lengthy DIY tour that included this show in the basement at 22/32.
This show came about a week before the tour's end and Hotline was clearly tour-tight-as-can-be. Punchy, punk-adjacent tunes reminiscent of Midwestern classics from Husker Du and The Replacements (for example "Are U Faded?" from the band's debut EP) spawned push pits from excited teens while slow, noisy shoegaze numbers like "Had 2 Try" from the new LP elicited blissed-out head bobbing (Anderson afterwards admonished the crowd for not properly headbanging to it, as illustrated in the song's music video). The set's balance of slow-and fast and loud-and-soft was masterful and only further confirmed the integrity of Anderson's compositions. As unfortunate as the Snail Mail postponement was, I was selfishly grateful it gave us this gig.
Flooding singer/guitarist Rose Brown noted that this was "the dustiest basement [she's] ever been in," but otherwise expressed her gratitude to share the bill with the night's other two bands (she politely accepted my mid-set apology regarding the dustiness). This set felt like another win as a promoter considering it could be any day now that the band is scooped up by a major indie label and sent off to open a month-long theater tour. Also, not to toot our collective horn, but I think the bill was neatly curated with Flooding complimenting Hotline's thoughtful songwriting and Foil complimenting their occasionally chaotic energy. This gig felt like a rock music food pyramid is what I'm saying (this is good).
[This show was booked and presented by Shuttlecock and The Silicone Times.]
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