BOOTCAMP is a prairie city hardcore band who’s been making a lot of waves in the Iowa underground and punk music scenes these past few years. With a more feminist and queer background, they bring an interesting flavor and aesthetic to hardcore punk, creating music far beyond the “tough dude” stereotypes. To celebrate the release of their first full length album Time’s Up, they performed a release show on September 21 at Downtown Iowa City’s AlleyCat along with punk bands Oral Fixx, BUIO OMEGA, JIVEBOMB and Destiny Bond. As a fan of hardcore music and someone who’s seen BOOTCAMP live on a couple occasions, I wanted to check out the show. I went in expecting a fun night with some great music, and while I did receive that I also got to experience a true sense of community and belonging within the Iowa City music scene.
Oral Fixx kicked off the show with a really strong set. They’re a brand new hardcore band in the Iowa City area that’s been getting their first few local shows within the last six or so months. The group played some really strong originals with a cover thrown in at the end. The lead singers strong stage presence and lean towards crowd work made it a super fun and energetic set. Unfortunately Oral Fixx doesn’t have any social media or released music so definitely keep an eye on them popping up on some local flyers.
BUIO OMEGA performed next. They’re a very progressive hardcore band from Minneapolis who’s been tearing it up around the Midwest for the last couple years. They played a really strong set including tons of originals off their last few EP’s and a cover of “Nervous Breakdown” by Black Flag at the end. With loads of energy and crowd interaction they fostered a really great mosh pit throughout the show with their lead singer even getting involved at times and letting audience members sing into the mic. The group also made sure to bring awareness to multiple world issues right now specifically involving the genocide in Gaza and ICE’s human rights violations around the country. So it’s great to see a hardcore band going back to its political roots and speaking out on something so important. Good shit BUIO OMEGA!
The next set amped up the intensity even more. Baltimore beatdown hardcore band JiveBomb came in with harsher guitars, harder drum fills and some extremely good shrill vocals from their lead singer. This band’s been making a lot of great waves around the US within the last few years even playing with popular acts such as Soul Glo & Fleshwater. But this band doesn’t only deal in intensity with their music, they also bring some interesting themes and ideas. My favorite out of their set was one of their more popular tracks called “Primitive Desires”. The group played this song as their second to last and had an interesting story surrounding the idea of being queer and falling for this impossible idealized version of someone you can’t love. Connecting to the audience on a scale not always seen in hardcore music, making them stick out really well in a great way. Definitely make sure to check out their debut album ETHEREAL and other songs they’ve made along the way. Another phenomenal performance from this lineup!
Next was another really great set, this time coming from the Denver scene with Destiny Bond. These Convulse Record signees have been putting out a lot of really great hardcore within the last couple years and are definitely a band you wanna keep on your watchlist. But what I thought was more impressive was the message they decided to send out. In a speech before their last couple tracks they talked about the community and joy you can feel from a local music scene, and the importance of people continuing to support local and independent art. This is a really amazing message that I’m really glad they chose to put at the forefront of their set. So definitely go and check out their up-incoming album The Love coming out on October 25th. Or buy an early physical version if you catch them at a show! I bought one at their stand and when I went home to spin the album I got to be graced with some of the most consistent, cutting edge hardcore that’s come out within the last few years. You can really feel “The Love” this band has spoken about for this genre and scene within the album. Great work Destiny Bond!
BOOTCAMP closed the night out with an amazing show. Pulling mainly from their recently released album Time’s Up they brought unmatched stage energy and a true understanding and love for their local community. This was really shown when their lead guitarist spoke on a recent one hundred and six million dollar bill being pushed to build a new prison in Iowa City. Their guitarist Dolly Sperry spoke on the negative impact this could have on their community and the money this is taking away from more important social services. Urging audience members to go vote and potentially stop a destructive bill really shows the level of care this band has for their community that goes beyond just the music. What really stuck with me from the speech when she talked about how depressing the world feels with everything horrible happening all the time but how this means we need to keep fighting and how communities like this are especially important in times like these. What an amazing performance and what an amazing message. BOOTCAMP forever.
To close out this article I’d like to go back to BOOTCAMP and Destiny Bond’s messages about community and the importance of music scenes. In between sets I got the really great opportunity to speak one on one with Destiny Bond’s lead singer Cloe Madonna. She talked to me about growing up in Wyoming and the struggles that came with building a music scene there. Having to grow and get by playing at people’s houses, church basements and other DIY venues. And it made me think about how if she was able to grow a scene in a state like that, then a music scene can grow anywhere. A scene doesn’t need a fancy city, big record companies or massive artists. It really just needs people who have a true genuine love for music and their community. As someone new to the area, being at the show last Sunday and being in the pit surrounded by so many different people of all different musical and cultural backgrounds all coming to have fun and experience great art. I really did feel that shared love for music and my community. And as corny as it sounds in times like these, something like that can be really powerful. So go out, support your local music scenes, support great art, love your neighbor and never stop fighting for what’s right.
