Bodyhammer Plunder Over Louisville

Bodyhammer Plunder Over Louisville

Photo by Lonnie Turner

Now that I’ve had more than a week to slow-cook my thoughts on the fest, I’m ready to empty the Plunder Over Louisville crock pot. And boooy, it smells sooo good.

The inaugural Plunder Over Louisville fest was absolutely a success, and such a relentlessly great time from start to finish. Every single band was so fun to watch, and having so many old and new friends in the same place was such a joy. From the bottom of my empty, charcoal black heart, THANK YOU to Allison, Steve, Jake, and everyone else that made last Saturday such a great time.

Read a brief recap of the show below, complete with videos of each band’s full set. Huge thanks to Beau Kaelin for these visuals!


Opening the show was modern indie goth band WIREWORKS. They played a number of songs from their debut selftitled album, as well as a few newer singles that are streaming now on Spotify. This was the first time I’ve seen them play with their new synth player Paul, and the survey says they sounded better than ever.

Stoner metal band SHI – 死 were as tight and loud as ever, and to my recollection, this is the best I’ve ever heard them sound. They played a few deeper cuts, as well as more recent songs including a really cool new song that I’d never heard. This band only continues to get better and better, and I can’t wait for the follow up to their latest record Basement Wizard.

I’m not sure I can think of a more interesting, unforgettable modern live band than LUNG. I was reminded of this throughout their brilliant set as Kate and Daisy blasted through an impressive set of great songs, while sounding as good as ever.

Considering that I’m in the next band, all I can really say is that I had a really good time playing this set with PRAYER LINE. It was only our second show with our new drummer Dave Chale, and we felt as tight as we ever had before.

While every band absolutely fucking crushed it, I will never ever forget BODYHAMMER dropping a heavy anvil of noise onto an anxious, ready to rock crowd. As a 38 year old man, I haven’t felt that specific kind of rush in such a long time, but thanks to these guys, my neck and lower back hurt pretty bad for days. They played all of your favorite renditions of White Rabbit, even the really loud one where that one guy screams a lot.

Headlining band SHITFIRE were fucking incredible. The played a slew of new and old songs from both EPs… speaking of new songs, Is it too shameless for me to remind you that Never Nervous released their new album on cassette that night? And that the tape is available now on Bandcamp? NO? I didn’t think so. If you haven’t seen this band yet, or heard the new EP, it’s time to rethink your life and make some serious fucking adjustments.


Anyway, long story short — I laughed, I cried, I hurled. I hope we get to do this again next year.

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