Pissed Jeans | Stickers | Vexx

I first saw Stickers in Denver last year in a post-SXSW haze—it was that time of year when every band ever was making their mid-March way home from the festival and playing obligatory break-up-the-drive Colorado shows. But Stickers and tourmates Pony Time stood out. Stickers woke us all up. The post-punk four-piece thrashes around with seductively menacing skronk as singer/saxophone queen Gabi Page-Fort booms out lyrics about Nikola Tesla and Ryan Gosling as if she’s casting some sort of thrilling, probably dangerous spell. Tonight kicks off a tour supporting Stickers’ excellent new LP, Swollen, with Sub Pop shredders Pissed Jeans, whose raw-nerved howls and gritty In Utero–style rage, along with Olympia’s explosively enchanting hardcore favorites Vexx, will create a killer show that might result in a full-on wicked-witch-style meltdown. ROBIN EDWARDS