Drakulas “Raw Wave”

sfilzen — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 17:10:35 +0000

Drakulas “Raw Wave” 2016. Dirtnap Records. Weird, wild supergroup (of sorts) punk from Texas with members from Riverboat Gamblers plus one (guitarist Zach Blair) who was in Rise Against and Gwar (and some other bands). We caught Drakulas at Dirtnap Fest over Labor Day weekend and they were awesome and fucking hilarious. DRAKULAS! (if you were there, you literally heard that in your head while reading that and will proceed to randomly just shout it, probably at inopportune moments). Singer Mike Wiebe is certifiably insane in the very very best of ways – unbelievably entertaining, high energy and utterly unique. Backed by other Riverboat Gamblers (bassist Rob Marchant and drummer Sam Keir) + guitarist Blair, the band provides a hard-driving, upbeat Dirtnap-punk sound, playing straightmen to Wiebe’s antics (the lighting was on-brand red for the show but makes for horrible pictures so here’s the best I could for a show photo).

Raw Wave was the band’s debut album – and only Dirtnap release (they have another LP from 2020 on Dine Alone Records). It’s fun, punchy punk, super-catchy and at times dancing on the edge of pop punk, but it’s too weird (and the rhythm too hard) to really make that full commitment. My top tracks are the rapid-fire album opener “I’m Getting Out,” the 80’s dark-wave tinged “Beta Max,” the quirky jerky lightning fast “Headphones,” “Venus Retreat” and “VHS” (which they released as a 12″ ‘loaded’ single in 2017 on Stiff Hombre Records). I’m not sure that they will regroup anytime again soon but damn they were a good time.

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Riverboat Gamblers “Something to Crow About”

sfilzen — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 17:36:32 +0000

Riverboat Gamblers “Something to Crow About” 2003/2023. G.F.F.G. Records. Ours a reissue picked up from the band; it was originally released Gearhead Records and the reissue is the band’s label (stands for Gamblers Forever Forever Gamblers). Garage punk from Austin, Texas. Something to Crow About is the band’s second LP and its fast and loud rock n’ roll, waaaayyy high energy and very fun. We saw Riverboat Gamblers this past weekend at Club Garibaldi with openers Daniel James Gang (from Milwaukee) and The Evictions (Chicago). So fun! We saw one of Daniel James’ other projects, Indonesian Junk, and The Evictions back in 2017 at Garibaldi, then opening for the legendary Dead Boys. Riverboat Gamblers aren’t quite at that level, but it was a good show. We might have seen them play a couple of years ago at Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas but I can’t remember.

I’m fairly certain they played a few songs off of Something to Crow About at the Garibaldi show including a few of my top picks: “What’s What,” “Rattle Me Bones,” “Hey! Hey! Hey!“, “Sparks & Shots,” and “Ooh Yeah.” All are ass-shaking rockers, some with sing-along opportunities for the crowd.

I’m not entirely sure why we missed these guys the first time ’round – back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s – both their records and their shows. They’ve even played Milwaukee before (though according to their stage banter I think they said it’s been about 16 years). Happy we got a chance to see then perform and pick up one of their records, which sounds like it’s been out of print for many years.

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Drakulas “Raw Wave”

Riverboat Gamblers “Something to Crow About”