Otoboke Beaver and BRNDA at 9:30 Club
Go To This Because We Asked So Nicely – A Concert Preview
By Amal Qazi
Otoboke Beaver; The Summit FM
BRNDA
Otoboke Beaver is a punk rock band hailing from Kyoto. Formed in 2009, the garage-punk group consists of Accorinrin, Yoyoyoshie, Hirochan, and Kahokiss. With their first releases in 2011 and their most recent studio album, Super Champon, released in 2022, they’ve been in the game long enough to garner global attention – their colorful style, wild onstage presence, and relentless attitudes are almost guaranteed to pique any listener’s attention, regardless of their music taste.
Younger generations growing into themselves leads to their discovery of different subcultures, and that’s where Otoboke Beaver comes in. In recent years there’s been an increased mainstream interest of the riotgrrrl culture by Gen Z’ers (which any TikTok user can attest to), and the band’s release and touring timeline coincides perfectly with this new audience. Young people are going to more concerts, listening to more music, more willing to broaden their horizons, and the fresh and unruly sound of Otoboke Beaver is the perfect lure. Songs like “I am not maternal” poignantly capture the inner monologue of the average young adult today, with lyrics like “Please calm down my emotional instability, take a deep bow to my hormonal imbalance”. They just get it. They’re kind of everything you could want in a band today: fun, authentic, and knows how to put on a show.
Joining Otoboke Beaver for their D.C. show is local four-piece art-punk band BRNDA, consisting of Dave Lesser, Leah Gage, Mark McInerney, and Nick Stavely. Formed in 2012 and with 4 studio releases so far, BRNDA is anything but settled into a sound.
My introduction to them was last spring when they opened for New York rock band Hello Mary, and by the time I left the show I was a BRNDA fan through and through. When they came on stage, I didn’t know what to expect, but they put on a show so fantastic that I was jumping the whole time, a sweaty mess by the end of their set. They were leaping, genuinely leaping, across stage, performing tracks spanning their decade long discography. I was so impressed at how much energy they had, as I was exhausted just from watching them in the audience. Their stage presence is awe-inspiring, but their music in itself is something else entirely. In a perfectly bite sized duration of 22 minutes, 2021 release Do You Like Salt? ping pongs the listener through spoken word lyrics of the stream of consciousness of a diner customer, the yelled complaints of a wrong order, and mismatched French (and, tennis?) over noisy backing instrumentals. Their music is perfect to leave on repeat, complementing and folding into one’s internal ramblings just oh so well.
The 5 W’s (and a few H’s)
Who: Otoboke Beaver with BRNDA opening
What: Punk in all forms
Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St, NW Washington, D.C. 20001
When: Sunday March 24th, doors at 7 PM
Why: I can personally guarantee you will have a good time. Pinky promise!
How you might know them: Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters said in an interview for Vulture that Otoboke Beaver is “the most f*cking intense sh*t you’ve ever seen”. Their song “S’il vous plait” also has over 3 million listens on Spotify. You might know BRNDA from their local gigs, and their song “Service Loser” has over 30K listens on Spotify. (If you don’t get the chance to see them this Sunday, keep an eye out for wherever they pop up next in D.C.!)
How to go: Tickets are $28 for general admission on Ticketmaster
To keep up with Otoboke Beaver you can follow them on Instagram and Twitter @otobokebeaver, and listen to them anywhere you stream music
Follow BRNDA @brndatheband on Instagram, support them on Bandcamp, and listen to them anywhere you stream music.
