As polarizing as the band are, iwrestledabearonce won me over with last year’s Ruining it for Everybody. I think the record was legitimately fun and enjoyable, and I don’t really understand where all these accusations of the band being all ironic about their music came from. Sure, they don’t take anything seriously and they like to have fun, but you can sort of tell they write and play their music because they care, not because of some inside joke that amounts to, “it’d be kinda funny if we were in a shitty metal band, you know?”

Or I could be wrong. Whatever. It’s hard to tell these days.

Based on what I’ve heard, IWABO can put on a good live show. I’ve never seen them personally, but I know Noyan and our good friend Tre Watson saw them last year and they ended up playing instrumentally because vocalist Krysta Cameron was sick, and they thought the set was excellent. Maybe some cities on their upcoming Road To Metalfest tour (featuring the likes of Molotov Solution, Glass Cloud, and The Greenery) will be as lucky and feature the band as instrumental. Not that I hate Krysta with a passion (only slightly!), or anything. It’d just be rad as shit. Fingers crossed!

Here are the dates, below.

04/16 Oklahoma City, OK – Conservatory
04/17 Memphis, TN – New Daisy Theater
04/18 Knoxville, TN – Valarium
04/20 Springfield, VA – Empire
04/21 Worcester, MA – The Palladium (New England Metal And Hardcore Festival)
04/23 Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar
04/24 Evansville, IN – Boney Junes
04/25 Bloomington, IL – The Castle Theater
04/26 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
04/27 Iowa City, IA – Blue Moose
04/29 Denver, CO – Marquis Theatre
04/30 Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad
05/01 Flagstaff, AZ – Cinnabar

- JR