Warm shower, hot show: Warmduscher with TREASVRE at Cornerstone Berkeley

That special mid-October heatwave hit Wednesday night, in time for Warmduscher’s first time playing in Berkeley. A warm evening for a band whose name means “warm showerer.”  I was excited to see the band play some of my favorites from 2019’s Tainted Lunch, as well as some of the songs off the new 2022 record At The Hotspot. Cornerstone has a unique layout, and I found the raucous sound emerging into the outer restaurant and bar every time the back doors opened to be an absurd indication of where to go. I had to use my ears to find where they’d soon be blown out. 

Blown out they were, but not by Warmduscher. Opener TREASVRE was loud, and though the call-time crowd was sparse, the passionate Bay Area band rocked out to their best ability. Though I was unimpressed at first by everything but the volume, they surprised me with their mastery of a wide variety of genres, moving between psychedelic rock, death disco, and a more straightforward indie sound. These changes consisted of more than just switching guitar tones. All of the songs included  a shift in style, a versatility that displayed great skill and care, whether the two vocalists decided to lean into the different grains of their voices or the guitarist unexpectedly played a pizzicato accompaniment during the breakdown of one of their more raucous songs. The lyrics, when I could make them out, were sometimes unusual given the band’s aesthetics (“good good lovin”) but were often creative and delivered in the most important way: no matter how ridiculous “feel the blood, like a cigarette” sounds on paper, they meant it. Though the guitarists sometimes teetered into butt rock territory, they were as animated as the vocalists and drummer, and jumping down into the crowd for the closer’s solo added an electric touch to a performance filled with heart.

Seeing Warmduscher live was like watching your favorite comic book anti-heroes jump off the page and take your lunch money, and I was okay with that.

 “It’s going to get real loud!”

“No way they’re going to get louder than–”

I did some research and was surprised that Warmduscher predates Viagra Boys, and yet does not take up a larger space in the underground alongside their Swedish analogs. In fairness, the London scene is now pretty crowded, but Warmduscher’s 2014 debut substantially precedes  the current post-Brexit wave. I first discovered them through Tainted Lunch, where a guest appearance from Iggy Pop on “Rules of the Game” verified their punk credentials. Though I understand my opinions and feelings on what should be known are my own, every time I think about Warmduscher I also think “why don’t more people know about them?” Not only because I enjoy their music, but because discovering them is discovering something so obvious that it is difficult to understand how it is being missed.

The crowd had filled in, and I realized that though this show might be filled with music fans, they were not necessarily devout warmduschers. Vocalist “Clams Baker Jr.” had clearly  hoped for a more responsive audience, and though later the drinks had loosened up the crowd, the first goading of the night will stay with me. A call without a response, a microphone held out like an olive branch in a new land met with the brutal silence of an unready–or unwilling–audience.

This would have been disparaging, if the performers had cared that much. “Midnight Dipper” and “Hot Shot” brought to life the rock and the humor that are Warmduscher’s claims to fame, and new single “Love Strong” brought the chaos. Then they took it back to 2015’s Whale City, where the title track finally provided a chance for the crowd to participate by “Oi!”-ing with the band.

Single “Wildflowers” sounded much more raw and unhinged live than the twinkling disco sound on Hot Chip-produced At The Hotspot. Some of the newer songs flaunted some of Clams Baker’s best lyrical riffs to this day, whether confidently espousing “I AM THE MANAGER, that’s right. Today is my day!” in a way that still suggested he wasn’t even an employee, or observing that “Everybody’s laughin’ cause they don’t want to drown in the tears” (and then very gingerly “… of joy.”) at the end of “Fatso.” These lines seemed fitting for a record released on April Fool’s Day. 

Then there’s “Twitchin’ in the Kitchen.” The band took shots, cheering “To coughs, colds, and sore assholes.” Having just moved between the coughing stage to the clogged nose stage of my allergies for the year, this toast was much appreciated. Visuals projected behind the band included Donkey Kong (1981) gameplay footage, oddball early 2010s Cyriak Youtube videos, and Star Wars anime. During the X-wing battle they played one of their prettiest songs which I did not recognize, but had a simple, alluring keyboard part that stood out in the mix like the most resilient bubble on the floor of the shower stall. Their slower songs reminded me that the best of the grimey post-punk bands can often the sweetest, when they show it. 

In addition to literally meaning “warm showerer” in German,“Warmduscher” is also a common term for a softy or someone who is afraid to go outside their comfort zone. Their first time in Berkeley they held out the mic and got nothing, but by the end the band was confident leaving the stage observing “we’re all warmduschers.” I hope they shower, and I hope to see them again.