Live Review: Pile, Cope Acidic at Slowdown…

Category: Reviews — Tags: , — @ 12:18 pm January 29, 2025
Pile at Slowdown, Jan. 28, 2025.

By Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Performing last night in front of a crowd of around 100 in Slowdown’s front room, Pile proved it’ll be the perfect pairing for Cursive as the two launch a North American tour starting this Thursday in Fort Collins. 

In this configuration, the band is a powerhouse four-piece of pure angular goodness, fronted by guitarist Rick Maguire at the height of his vocal prowess – we got him before the tour, folks. 

I’ve listened to a lot of Pile albums but I don’t remember them sounding this straightforward and brutal. They rocked a shit-ton harder than anything on their last EP (of which they only played one song, a white-knuckled version of “Scaling Walls”). The pace throughout the first third of the set was breakneck (Cursive better watch out or they’ll be blown off the stage); leaving room for their weirder stuff later on (except for the set closer, but I’ll get to that in a minute). 

Highlights included the set opener, a song called “Deep Clay” that must be new, followed by a head-banging rendition of “Loops” from their last LP, 2023’s All Fiction. The band reached back into the archives for “Uncle Jill” from 2010’s Magic Isn’t Real before Maguire introduced another new one, called “Meanwhile Inside,” off their yet-to-be-released new album, warning the crowd that it’s “very long.” But it didn’t seem long at all — the intricate time shifts and dynamics made for quite a ride. 

Pile closed the 14-song set with yet another new one, which Maguire said wasn’t about any single person but a bunch of people. Titled “Stephen Miller,” the angular explosion was like listening to a sonic fistfight, with Maquire throwing one haymaker after another while the band crushed – perfect, angry, venomous, mosh-pit punk — exactly what we all need right now. 

Cope Acidic at Slowdown, Feb. 29, 2025.

I caught the last two songs by opener Cope Acidic and wish I would have heard their whole set. Playing as a power trio, the guitarist/frontman brought shades of Bob Mould to the vocals, while the rhythm section brought the heat. Complex rhythms that never lost track of the core song, in the old days we called this style of post-punk “math rock” — an impressive outing by a band I need to see again. 

Last night was the first time since before the pandemic that I attended a show in the month of January, which is historically always a shit time for touring or booking shows (especially in Nebraska). So, a good sign. We made it through what arguably is the worst month of the year in terms of rock shows, and the calendar is filling up nicely over the next few months…

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Preview: Pile drops by Slowdown prior to Cursive tour, w/PROBLEMS, Cope Acidic 1/28…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , — @ 11:03 am January 22, 2025
Boston post-punk band Pile returns to The Slowdown Tuesday, Jan. 28.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Next Tuesday’s (Jan. 28) Pile concert at Slowdown Jr. will provide concert goers a sneak preview of the Boston band’s new, yet-to-be-released album on their new label. 

It’s also a warm-up gig as Pile will launch a (mostly West Coast) tour opening for local heroes Cursive beginning just two days later in Fort Collins that runs through Feb. 23. 

Pile are no strangers to Omaha. Their first gig here was aboard the River City Star back in the summer of 2017; they returned for a night at The Slowdown two years later. Fronted by singer/songwriter Rick Maguire, Pile’s sound has taken a number of iterations but lands on the same abrasive DIY post-punk territory that’s made them fan favorites. I mentally bunch them in with older acts that have nothing to do with them – Dismemberment Plan, Grifters, Chavez, Silkworm, Karate – though Pile’s sound is much more varied and experimental, often taking wild, progressive tangents. 

Their latest release, Hot Air Balloons EP, dropped earlier this month on Exploding in Sound Records. The tracks were recorded during the sessions for their 2023 full-length All Fiction (Exploding in Sound). Are they leftovers not weird enough to make the cut? Who knows, but I dig this EP much more than the full length if only for its more straight-forward melodies and song structures. Check it:

Pile recorded the EP and full-length as a trio with Kris Kuss and Alex Molini, but appears to be touring as a four-piece. According to their gram, they just wrapped up their next full-length, that will be released on Chicago’s Sooper Records sometime this year, and according to their website, will be playing songs from it next Tuesday. 

Nebraskan by way of Chicago PROBLEMS a.k.a. Darren Keen will open this show along with new Omaha prog-punk-math trio Cope Acidic (guitarist/vocalist Connor Moritz, bassist, Alex Airola and drummer Ramon Carias). $20, 8 p.m., this is a frontroom show.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i