It’s been a rough year for indie rock in Miami. Churchill’s Pub remains closed and without a liquor license; Las Rosas hasn’t booked any new shows; and, let’s face it, missing your friend’s band’s set to smoke outside just doesn’t hit as hard when they’re playing a livestream.
But a few Saturdays ago at Gramps, Miami native Ben Katzman, along with his band, Degreaser, showed us that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and it looks a lot like a mixer in the red.
Katzman took the stage wearing a shimmering black morph suit with a big Aries symbol embroidered on its chest. His hair was long and curly in the back. He wore his goatee, sunglasses, and coke-white Charvel guitar, an '80s hair-metal bastion, with pride. After telling the audience he just got off a “manic bender,” he ripped right into his repertoire of high-octane rock songs, most of which are about astrological signs.