Maybe all the end-of-year deadlines had us loopy, but we thought it would be a great idea to corral a grab-bag of entrenched Orlando music types from all over the stylistic map — some of whom have never met —and grill them on 2023. What could go wrong? Nothing, as it turns out!
Your esteemed panel:
Amber Teicher: Bar manager, Conduit and Will’s Pub.
Brielle Bennett: Vocalist for Watts.
Nadeem Khan: Bingo host, member of Big Jef Special, Obliterati, underground lifer.
Pete Olen: Promoter, Endoxa Booking; co-owner, Conduit.
Eva Strangelace: Vocalist for M.A.C.E.; DJs as Hexorcist; wearer of many musical and otherwise hats.
Rogelio Velazquez: Beatmaker/producer as Mother Worm and Gwadcip$, curator of monthly ‘Please Understand’ hip-hop night.
Jim Leatherman: Music photographer going back decades, “couldn’t resist chiming in” while taking photos.
Orlando Weekly: What was a big moment in your life around music this year?
NK: I’d fallen out of love with music. I’ve done it for a really, really long time. My whole adult life. I just started listening to news relentlessly, just listening to NPR. I just couldn’t take it anymore. And then on my wife’s birthday … She surprised me on her birthday with tickets to Electric Daisy Carnival. We went over there, and we had an absolute blast. It’s made me love music again.
AT: I can understand that. A lot of stuff was getting really repetitive for awhile. It just seemed like there was really nothing new. So it’s been nice with the opening of Conduit and, like, honestly, both of your bands [Watts and M.A.C.E.] are two favorites that I’ve seen recently this year. Younger people starting new stuff and emerging on the scene and playing bigger venues, even the Girls Rock Camp bands and watching them grow.
PO: One of the things I really liked was making the flyer wall at Conduit — which was Amber’s idea. We managed to get a lot of old flyers really quick. I’ve been playing in bands since the 1990s, and it’s been nice to see that continuity. It’s like, “Wow, I’m looking at this Morbid Angel flyer from 1986.” All this kind of stuff, and it’s just, just great.
ES: It’s just crazy. I think Florida has got such a great music history and not that it gets ignored — because it doesn’t — but I think it’s a great thing to be a part of, no matter your entry into it. Orlando is always like this little kind of a bubble. We all feel safe here. To step outside of it, you never know what you’re gonna get.
NK: It’s a bubble with a lot of bubble tea places.
ES: Last year I was playing with and fronting Call In Dead and we played a punk rock flea market over in Lakeland. I had taken over for the old singer and changed some of the lyrics to be more trans-forward and queer-oriented … And a bunch of kids are moshing around for our show, and afterwards, sort of just mobbed me. It was all the queer punk kids. And they’re like, “Thank you for giving us a voice and making a space for us.” And I was like, I was floored … I’ve been playing music for like 40 years and I’m like, “All right, this is my purpose. I found it in Lakeland.”
BB: I would say it’d be becoming closer with my bandmates. We were always friends, but having people that I can like … the lyrics are a really big part of being the singer. Writing them and thinking about what you want to share is really important to me; having to decide what’s worth saying? And how am I going to go about it? I’ve never had a creative outlet in this way. This is my first band, I’ve never done anything like this. So it’s getting over that fear of like, what are people going to think about my words, how are they going to react?
What was your favorite thing you either heard or saw this year?
AT: M.A.C.E., when you opened for HIRS Collective.
PO: I was very excited about Cynic playing Conduit, just because it’s a band I’ve been listening to for 30 years. And they were doing the Focus album in full. Having a chance to see that album front to back was pretty wild, and to have it in the new venue that we’re all working in … Pretty, pretty wild.
ES: Seeing young people here bringing the noise. It’s really great to see younger bands starting up because I think scenes come and go. So this is the positive part of that; it’s nice to hear new sounds.
NK: Hey, there’s something to be said for old people rocking.
Do things change a little bit more quickly here than other cities? Orlando is a bit of a transient city.
RV: There’s a lot of younger kids who have come in lately. I started doing shows back in like, 2016 out here. And now there’s all these new bands popping off, like Warm Frames. I feel like that’s kind of how it is. And it should be because we need fresh faces, we need more people in the scene.
PO: I would think that’s one of the good things too about things like Girls Rock Camp is it takes that anxiety out of it.
ES: So they’ll end up like, “OK, I got this more solid understanding of it, for standing in front of a bunch of people for the first time.”
I’m curious about perceptions of larger challenges to being in a position to make music in this city — TMG is building right next to Uncle Lou’s like as we speak. Will we be doing this in DeLand next year?
RV: You don’t want to go to DeLand! [laughs]
JL: Uncle Lou’s and Grumpy’s Underground Lounge are both kind of larval. Kids can play their first shows …
NK: Lou’s is the most authentic punk spot in the world.
PO: Money aside, Orlando is not in a bad spot because very few other cities have anything like Lou’s. We also have Will’s Pub, Iron Cow, the Abbey.
ES: In 1998 there was some goth night every night of the week except for like one night, and maybe two or three. We’re building that back up. I actually think compared to most other cities … we have more goth nights than Tampa. Make sure that gets in this.
JL: [pauses while taking photos] The I-4 goth wars.
Do you see much in the way of intergenerational cooperation between musicians or arts enthusiasts?
ES: There definitely is an intergenerational sort of thing going on because even in the goth scene, a lot of people coming out to these things are like 20 to 25. And then you have like me who’s been around for-fucking-ever doing this shit. I love that like, sort of sharing of ideas between all of these different groups of people that are from different generations.
NK: Can we do this at the Villages Publix deli next time?
BB: I was surprised, just like, with Stardust Video. I grew up there. I feel like small places like that, anybody can come in and start a conversation with someone who’s older or younger, pitching ideas or sharing experiences. These open-forum spaces are important, where people can just talk.
Is there something you want to highlight or something that’s happening for you creatively going into 2024?
RV: I host shows at the Nook on Robinson every month — every third Friday. I do experimental electronic hip-hop type stuff on my own. I host these shows called “Please Understand,” and I call it that because of exactly what we’re kind of talking about right here. I felt I needed to make something that was like a community where it’s not just my lo-fi hip-hop friends, but also my DJ friends, my noise friends, my modular synth friends. I want everyone to come in.
NK: I’m doing a two-piece with Jef [of Big Jef Special]. I’ve been playing with him for 21 years and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s very stripped-down and he just plays the bass drum and guitar. [editor’s note: Khan plays stand-up bass.] So far it sounds completely different and I’m really, really enjoying it. I’m not done yet. … I’m excited for the future. [looks over at tablemates] You give me hope.
ES: [M.A.C.E. are] planning a tour sometime in late March on the East Coast and maybe up to Buffalo and Chicago. I’m working on cello stuff, bits and pieces here and there. And I am working with Meka [Ms. Meka Nism] on a sort of steampunk cabaret project which has been a bit under wraps. We haven’t talked much about it yet.
BB: My band is coming up on like a year of existing. I’ve never like been a part of something like this. It’s so fun and so freeing creatively. I’m really excited to just continue on and make more music. To play shows and meet new people is probably one of the best parts.
JL: I look at Watts and see world domination. You’re the future.
PO: We did like 260 shows at Conduit this year and Endoxa did 300-something. Some of those intersect, but I don’t keep track. The hope is to open a bigger room here in Orlando and maybe do some more stuff in Tampa. Start a label. That’s the plan.
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This article appears in Dec 27, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024.