Best of 2013: Top Talent from Tacoma
By Wade Neal
Tacoma is a constant generator of some of the area’s best talent, though many of them leave this paradise for climes with higher rent on occasion. Here are nine bands that originated in “The City of Destiny” so I still consider them locals and open my heart to them.
- Girl Trouble – Still the undisputed champs of rock and roll music.
- A Leaf – I like trippy music and self-described “stoner folk rock” band A Leaf fits the bill. They haven’t played in a while but they say they are still together, so that’s good.
- Shore – This band put out a great 7-inch this year. I am hearing Swervedriver and Shudder to Think as influences.
- Red Hex – These guys have destiny coming, whether they like it or not.
- Lozen – Two bad-ass chicks who cite Karp, the Melvins and the Apache warrior and prophetess of the same name as influences.
- Helms Alee – File under “Blistering.”
- Porcelain God (pictured above) – I like this dream-pop band and am pretty sure I’ll like them even better in six months.
- Cody Foster Army – This is the most fun metal(ish) band in the region, if I may be so bold. They even have their own comic book.
- The Night Beats – OK I’m not sure it’s fair for Tacoma to claim these guys, but I hope we can get away with it because they are really good. The rest of the world is starting to take notice too. I saw they even played South Africa the other day – nice one boys!
Wade Neal is a long-time Tacoma resident who plays guitar in the iconic northwest band Seaweed.
More 2013 Year-End Coverage:
- 29 Albums we Enjoyed Very Much
- Matt’s 9 Favorite Songs
- 98 Songs we Totally Loved
- 9 Cool Photos we Took
- Colin’s Yearly Playlist
- Our 11 Favorite TV Shows
We are a gurl power punk trio.we will be playing our first show as an all girl band feb.8th wihh 13 scars from tacoma.wa