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Listings are
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next is the support band(s),
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Thursday August 20
2026
7:00PM doors -- music at 8:00PM ••• ALL AGES $30 $36.31 in advance [30 face value + 6.31 service fee] -------on sale 4/10 Speakeasy Studios SF, Oakland Weekender, Slumberland Records, KALX, and BFF.FM present... SF Bay Pop Fest Tony Molina instagram.com/tronybom rock metal pop Galore instagram.com/galoresf metal pop shoegaze Paper Jam instagram.com/paperjampage rock pop Monster Treasure instagram.com/monstertreasureupyours metal punk rock shoegaze Tony Molina -from San Francisco, CA -Bay Area native Tony Molina has been putting out records with marked consistency for well over twenty years. Underpinned by an unwavering ethos of independence and an unrelenting devotion to songcraft, his music ties together a passion for the history and tradition of song writing/production with a steadfast work ethic and an uncanny ability to exemplify and transcend those inspirations. Be it pop, folk or even classical, Molina's talent lies in his continuing work of distilling the elements of hook, riff and melody to their most basic yet totally compelling forms. Molina broke through with 2013's Dissed and Dismissed, which leaned almost exclusively on his louder songs to great effect. Not content to be pigeonholed, however, he switched to the gentle, acoustic side of his dual nature for his next two releases -- which included the eight-song EP Confront the Truthin 2016 and 2018's Baroque pop-influenced LP Kill the Lights. 2019 saw the release of Songs From San Mateo County, a 14 song collection of previously recorded unreleased tracks, released while Molina was working on songs for 2022's In the Fade, an album that incorporated all aspects of his previous work as a solo artist. In 2023, Molina also released In The Store with his side project The Lost Days, made up of beautiful home recorded folk rock songs. Molina played in various D.I.Y. hardcore acts starting in his teenage years, while at the same time recording short songs that varied from acoustic ballads to almost symphonic metal, none of them lasting much more than a minute. This work was released under the name Ovens, beginning in 2006 with the "Beau Goes to the Hospital" single. He kept up a prolific pace, both as a member of bands and as Ovens, and in 2009 released the first music as Tony Molina, the 12-song Embarrassing Times cassette. In 2013, Molina released his second solo album, Dissed and Dismissed, a collection of 12 short and fuzzy tunes that took notes from '90s indie and power pop acts like Weezer, Redd Kross, and Dinosaur Jr. What was intended as a demo caught the attention of fans of melodic guitar pop and hooked two legendary American labels, Matador and Slumberland. The former released the Six Tracks EP later in 2013; the latter signed him and reissued Dissed and Dismissed in 2014. In 2016 he released the eight-song EP Confront the Truth, on Slumberland Records, which featured Molina playing acoustic guitars, adding keyboards, and channeling his love of the Beatles. His next full length album Kill the Lights, came out on Slumberland in 2018. Songs From San Mateo County, a 14-track album was released in July 2019. His fourth album, In the Fade, was released by Summer Shade, an offshoot of Run for Cover, in August of 2022. His new album and fifth full length, "On This Day" might be the most Tony Molina album yet – an achingly beautiful set of 21 songs that feels like a choice selection of lost singles (or deep cuts). The album was produced and recorded by Tony and Alicia Vanden Heuvel (The Aislers Set) to 8 track ½"analog tape in their San Francisco home studio. Hammond and piano tracks were recorded with longtime Molina collaborator Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden. The album was mixed by Nick Bassett. The album was augmented by contributions from live bandmates Rachel Orimo (vocals), Stephen Oriolo (guitar), and Steve Kerwin (drums), as well as long-time friend (and Ladybug Transistor founder) Gary Olson on trumpet. The unhurried home recording process gave them plenty of time to experiment and hone the arrangements, adding Mellotron, piano, organ, mellotron, bells and more to exquisite effect. Songs like "Ghosts of Punishment Past", "Livin' Wrong" and "FC23" could be lost singles on the legendary Autumn label, echoing with the ghosts of the 60s folk rock explosion. "Despise the Sun" pays tribute to Heron's landmark 1970 self-titled album (also home recorded, though entirely outdoors). "Don't Belong" is yet another attempt at channeling December's Children, as we saw previously with Tony's 2023 LP with The Lost Days. The gently fluid folk of "Take Some Time" is a perfect companion to the Bill Fox-meets-Byrds rendition of "Just As The Tide Was Flowing," a traditional tune memorialized by the legendary Shirley Collins. Baroque/psych-pop gems "Faded Holiday" and "No Place To Turn" foreground Tony's way with chord structure and the concise arrangements that are a continual delight throughout the record. Album highlight (and craftily adapted Eric Andersen cover) "Violets of Dawn" is all jangling 12-strings and cascading harmonies -- a gorgeously succinct 2:15 of pop perfection. While Tony also shows his prodigious guitar skills with several classical interludes, lovers of guitar racket get a supreme treat in "Have Your Way" - a one minute blast of The Who via Henry's Dress-esque scree. We could analyze all 21 songs (and there is so much more to say) but really the right way to approach this is just to *listen* to "On This Day" as a whole. This is an album in the truest sense - a cycle of songs linked by mood, melody, hook and purpose, and not by accident it's Tony's finest yet. "On This Day" came out November of 2025 on Slumberland Records as a split with Speakeasy Studios SF and Molina's new label Olde Fade. Galore -from San Francisco, CA -"Many bands preach the virtues of collaboration and cooperation, but few practice those dynamics as virtuously as the San Francisco four-piece outfit Galore." — SF Examiner San Francisco-based Galore released their second full length album, Dirt, on July 25, 2025, on Speakeasy Studios SF. With multiple songwriters, sinuous harmonies, and rock riffs born out of an intensely communal creative process, Galore — bassist Ava Rosen, guitarist Griffin Jones, guitarist Ainsley Wagoner, and drummer Hannah Smith — embodies the spirit of a true musical collective. Three out of four members of Galore were born and raised in San Francisco and Oakland, and all of them cite the Bay's storied music scene as inspiration. Local favorite Grass Widow's influence looms large in lead-style bass lines and frequent harmonies on tracks like "Solastalgia" and "Dream Palace", while tracks like "Bastard" and "Zinger" lean on the rowdy experimentation of early aughts femme punk band Hey Girl. The first single and first song, "Field Trip," points the way, embodying the collaborative songwriting and playfulness of Galore. Jones opens with stripped down vocals that invite the listener to "take a seat in the meantime," sung over the light strums of a harpsichord. A driving beat cuts in, Rosen's vocal takes over, and the track hightails it into a pop anthem for Bay Area summer. "Take me to the land / Take me to the dirt / Where the grass is long and weedy / Where it grows freely," sings Rosen, opening the album with an exploration of the volatile connection our lives have with earth, creativity, and each other. Says Rosen: "I was taking a herpetology class last spring, and had just learned that the word 'amphibian' translates to 'double life' because of their transformation from a water-based to a land-based existence. I relate to the idea of living a double life — maybe more than double — with my own transformations throughout the years, and with the double lives we all lead in late stage capitalism. Especially in a sometimes merciless city like San Francisco, we do what we have to do to survive. Then, we do what feeds our spirits — making music with people you love." Part of living in the city means getting out of it. As the single "Field Trip" took shape, the band went on a field trip of their own with new guitarist Ainsley Wagoner, a multi-instrumentalist and staple of San Francisco's underground folk scene. Driving north to the Russian River, the four musicians found time together away from work and the chaos of San Francisco to shoot a music video and write songs. On their return to Jason Kick's downtown Oakland studio, the band laid down "Field Trip." Wagoner plucked a guitar solo and soaring, layered vocals that perfectly capture the magic of truly free time. Paper Jam -from Denton, Texas -Paper Jam is a jangly guitar-pop band known for a Twee-pop sound and they released their debut album This and That in 2025. Monster Treasure -from Stockton, CA -Monster Treasure is a California-based grunge-pop trio from Stockton, formed around 2011 by friends Briana Granados (vocals/guitar), Rachel Orimo (bass/vocals), and RJ Mar (drums). Known for their fuzzed-out guitars and sun-kissed, dreamy vocals, they blend 90s grunge, shoegaze, and indie pop. They released their self-titled debut in 2016 and the sophomore album II in 2017. |
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