A LUCID NEW YEAR
Coverage of the Auburn metal band, LUCID's debut album "The Last of Us" release show, December 28, 2024
NPZ #3 — JANUARY 2025 — PAGE 7
The first local metal show I went to in CA was from a flyer I saw on the @sacramentopunkshows insta in Marysville, CA. On a whim, I drove up by myself on 1/12/24, and found myself hooked on the scene ever since. One of the opening bands was LUCID, and I vaguely remembered thinking two of the members must’ve been brothers b/c of their hair, but then truthfully didn’t follow them much afterwards. Fast forward exactly one year minus one day later, I spent an evening becoming fast friends with these guys at their Meadow Vista studio.
But before that…
THE LAST OF US DEBUT ALBUM RELEASE — 12/28
I heard about this show through Malpractice, who were gonna open, but had to drop unfortunately. My show bestie Nico and I drove up to Auburn, heading north to the foothills town neither of us had been. I had a couple copies of the zine on hand, thinking maybe I’d give one to the band if I got the courage to talk with them. I also brought my digital camera as I didn’t have any film, figured might as well take pictures since my knee is still on the mend.
The substitute opening band was UNTITLED, but we arrived near the tail-end of their set. Auburn Oddfellows was a relatively large venue, and the open floor made way for some crazy moshpits, stage divers, and even a couple of battling shoulder-riding duos. As soon as I got close to the stage, the sides of the pit collapsed, taking me down with it, and my still healing knee folded way faster than it should’ve; hurt like crazy and thank fuck for my knee brace. Rest of the night stuck by solid walls or put a few bodies between me and the pit.
The LUCID of this show definitely felt different from last I saw them, skulls and chains decorating the stage, blood red lights, and cameramen filming crowd footage for a future music video. There was a stronger command in the room through their impressive solos and heavy breakdowns. At one point, the bass drum tore, and they had to pause for some emergency duct tape. During the break, I wandered to the merch tables, and found the Jackson King V guitar raffle being hosted by Auburn Strings (@auburn_strings_music), more info on pg. 17!
Overall, the show was super energetic, highlights when the bassist kicked a diver off the stage (found out later that was their friend), a guy hauling a dude over his shoulder and running, and this one moment when the pit moved in one big mass and felt like a freight train rushing right at my face.
By the end, I wasn’t sure if I’d talk to the band—I was tired from rushing to wrap up the 2nd issue, so I was gonna just leave. Luckily, Nico wanted to check out the merch and guitar raffle before we left. We ended up chatting with some people at the tables, and I handed over a few copies of the zine as we traded stories of pit injuries. I also got a Lucid pin from someone, no idea their name but shoutout!
Then, as we were about to leave, I saw the bassist of Lucid, recognizing his hair and septum ring, and decided to introduce myself and offer a copy of the zine. Learned his name was Norse, and floated the idea of collaborating in the future before making my introverted leave.
We listened to the album the whole way back to Sac. By the time this is out, I’ve probably spun the album like a half-dozen times (especially “God Particle” with the filthiest breakdown).
Unfortunately, the cover art of their singles also stood out to me: I realized they were AI generated. Won’t lie, at the time I was disappointed. But I also wanted to investigate further, especially since the cover of their full album looked like real (great!) art. So, I decided to reach out to them and see if they’d be interested in an interview. And wouldn’t you know…
Photo: (top left) bird’s eye view of the band, left to right: Norse Hokanson (bass/backing vocals), Giovanni Taylor (guitar/vocals), Nate Salado (drums), Caleb Green (lead guitar)
Background image: cover art of Lucid’s The Last of Us, illustrated by Giovanni Taylor
