MOLD! at O’Briens Pub, 9/27/23
As an advocate for the local music scene in Miami, I have had the opportunity to meet and see many of the local talents in the area. Miami-based psychedelic rock collective MOLD! has been coming out with music since the “leader” of the band Carlo Barbacci came to Miami from Peru in 2017. Carlo has mentioned in interviews that he likes to use the term collective rather than band since there is always space for musicians to come and go, offering a space for other musicians to come in and collaborate, something that other collectives like Arcade Fire and Brockhampton have been successfully doing throughout their respective careers.
MOLD! went on tour during September and early October to promote their new self-titled album, MOLD! with fellow Miami musicians Bronto Montano, Frankie Lujan, and Joshua Soria, who is also in another local Miami band by the name of Creature Cage. Featuring their first release since 2021, “Don’t Wake Me Up!” perfectly represents experimental noise rock. Their sound is constantly evolving, inspired by new experiences in the city of Miami, along with the new experiences and people they meet on tour.
I met the guys in Miami virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was around the time I hosted an online spring festival in 2021, and I had the honor to include them in the stream. Ever since then, I have been following their ever-growing presence in the local scene of Miami. The weird thing is, though, that I haven’t had many chances to see them live since then. The last time I went to a MOLD! show was in the summer of 2021, and I have had a hiatus from their live performances ever since I moved to Boston. Needless to say, I was extremely excited that I had the opportunity to see them, especially outside of Miami. It is incredibly refreshing to see a local band from back home on tour in a city that I am still getting to know, let alone a city that is new to them.
The show was hosted at O’Brien’s pub in Allston, with the bands Gut Health and The Dreamtoday also scheduled to perform. The venue is modified to fit a smaller audience (since it’s a pub), making it a more intimate performance than if it were to be hosted at any other venue in the city. The venue also had low lighting, which played well with the punk rock vibe the night had planned for us. I had a chance to chat with the band before they went on stage, and they told me that they were very excited to perform. “We drove 16 hours to get here today, all the way from Savannah [Georgia], so we are excited that we get to perform in Boston tonight; the drive will be worth it.” And indeed it was.
They took the stage and jumped into their set shortly after setting up. They started off the night with “Choose to be Controlled!”, which appears on their new album. Hit after hit, they did not fail to keep the crowd moving. It was heartening to hear them perform “I Can See The Ghost!”, a song off their 2021 album titled No Silence. It was the one that made me fall in love with them, and fall into a deeper appreciation of the local Miami scene. MOLD! is doing things that very few bands in Miami are doing, if any. They are one of those bands that stand out since what they are doing for the scene is something that I haven’t witnessed before, and I am so happy that they had the opportunity to spread their sound along the East Coast of the U.S.
You could feel the band members’ energy shine from the stage, which shows why they love performing: sharing their music with new audiences. They ended their set with “Walk Alone!”, the closing title of their new album, which was the perfect way to wrap up the night, full circle. After they took down their setup, we went outside to chat some more. “The guys are planning to do another tour very soon, possibly in November…” said Joshua, just as I was headed to my car. Although this is tentative information, if I were you, I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to see MOLD! in what could be the most fertile point of their career.