DIY Never Dies
Hoopla Fest 2, a music festival local to my hometown of Murrieta, California, took place this past weekend on July 19th 2025, spotlighting 9 special bands at Solaris, a brewery off of Cherry Street that has made a name for itself as one of the only places to see original local music around town in the past few years. I’ve had the pleasure of watching this place grow ever since one of my former bandmates and best friends showed me the place in 2023. I’ve seen many awesome bands play there and had the chance to meet some of the awesome people in said awesome bands. Hoopla featured a bunch of stellar bands all with their own unique charm. For five dollars at the door, you could see bands playing from 2:45 pm until 8 hours later with the show ending around 10:45 pm.
Hoopla 2 was put on by Reelverse Productions, and I had the pleasure of speaking with Dylan, the founder of Reelverse and organizer of the whole thing. I asked him about what went into putting together a lineup like this, and what his thought process was.
“To me Hoopla Fest is all about showcasing the variety of music we have to offer in SoCal and especially within our Inland Empire music scene. I wanted this year’s lineup to be more cohesive than the first Hoopla Fest and I was more deliberate with sequencing the set times so each band can be a palette cleanser for the attendees from watching the previous band” -Dylan from ReelVerse Productions
Dylan very much achieved his goals with this year’s lineup. Whether it was grunge, hardcore, or emo, there was something for everyone to enjoy in the eclectic lineup; there was always something fresh right around the corner.
Chloe Antoinette
Playing solo with just an acoustic on the stage in the hot sun, I caught her song “Girlhood” and her cover of Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag”. “Girlhood” is a catchy somewhat melancholic tune, which she introduced with the note “anyone can experience girlhood”. Her songs feel deeply personal, and the intimacy of just her voice and the acoustic guitar make for a calm start. Her last song “Fame is Overrated But I Want It Anyway” (something like that) is an especially catchy tune. I wonder if she plans to do much more for this song, if there are intentions to have more instrumentation behind it. She noted that it was a new one that she can “actually play on guitar”, and she announced at the end of her set that she will be playing with a full band soon. I’m excited to see what the full thing will end up sounding like. This was my first time seeing Antoinette play and she mentioned on her Instagram (@chloeantofficial) that this was a rare occasion for her to perform solo, so I hope I get to catch her play with her full band soon. Listening to the recorded version of the aforementioned “Girlhood” opens with warm, reverberating, faint guitars as Antoinette takes lead on the track.
Night Swim
What, for me, was the main draw of the day was definitely Night Swim, the new project formed out of the ashes of what was one of my favorite local bands: The Varas. Starting with a verse of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”, they launched straight into their original set from there. A barrage of distorted bass, surfy guitar noise and driving drums, this trio picks up where The Varas left off. Playing delightfully raucous surfy indie rock with plenty of sick guitar shenanigans. They only had a handful of songs to play, but man am I excited for more. Their singer/guitarist’s (my friend Jonathan) low, sarcastic croon lends itself to the 60s-like swagger that the band’s songs seem to be chock-full of. The band played with an intense energy through the whole set despite the technical issues and blazing California sun. They are currently working on their EP and I couldn’t be more thrilled. They’ll also be performing again quite soon. so please check their instagram (@nightswim.ca) for more from them. And if you need something related to keep you busy, definitely check out The Varas’ “And Now” EP from last year, a solid batch of songs from a bygone band.
Monkee Brainz
Monkee Brainz took a moment to start, due to sound issues with the venue’s system, but then the singer’s mic finally turned on and the delay only took up a few minutes. The band began their set by kindly requesting the audience meet them in front of the stage and with the singer hyping up the crowd, they began to play. I’ve seen this band a couple of times here at Solaris — I was actually at their, like…second ever gig. It’s been a couple years since I saw them, but boy have they changed a lot sonically. When I had first seen them, they were much more based on an old-school 80s hardcore sound. But after, what I understand to be, a couple of lineup changes, the band has shifted sonically to a more skate punk and melodic hardcore sound. They hit all the marks you’d want a punk band of this style to hit: complete with gang vocals, speed, aggression, a touch of melody, and some pretty sweet hooks. With the “obligatory political song”, as they put it, they shift effortlessly through some of punk’s most iconic sounds. Slowing things down to a slow reggae pace before accelerating into a frantic hardcore thrash before ending. The band also ripped through two thrilling covers of punk rock classics “Hope” by Descendents and “Linoleum” by NOFX, before closing their set with the soon to be released “I Want to Be an Ape” and thrash hardcore doesn’t get much more exciting than that track does. They really brought the energy for this show.
Los Houndstooth
Maybe it’s the matching cowboy hats but this band has the western edge to them that really makes them stand out from the rest of the day’s bill so far. The singer’s voice and stage presence really sells the band. She’s entirely into the performance, she’s got a powerful voice and she puts it on full display. The songs are moody, ethereal, psychedelic, and mid-tempo but thankfully not a slog to listen to. “Can’t Help You” is a standout track from them. The band itself is tight, which allows not just their singer to thrive, but the collective sound to as well. A great band with a solid mix of moodier tracks and more lively songs that make you wanna dance, such as their closer “The Void”, they announced that the song would be their next single, out August 8th.
Dead By Sunday
Heavy on the distortion and big into contrast, the shoegazey, dark, and heavy sound of Dead by Sunday is tricky to define. At least tricky if you want to be really simple. They seem to fit into this 90s hard rock niche. Akin to that of Helmet, Hum and so on. The band does a great job at making their dynamics flow as the changes between their softer sound and their heavier sound feel smooth even when they are more abrupt. It makes sense that these dynamic changes feel a lot like something Nirvana might do considering that the band ripped an excellent cover of the classic Nirvana track “Breed”. One of the most interesting moments in their set has to be when, in-between songs, the band’s singer took off her guitar, ran into the audience and started telling people sitting at tables to come up in front of the stage. The slow buildup of their final song seems to promise a cathartic release, opening with a bass solo where they slowly bring in the drums before breaking into a heavy, mosh worthy riff that drives the song.
Lunar Riptide
An upbeat band whose first song felt reminiscent of power pop. They describe themselves on their Instagram (@lunarriptide) as simply an alternative band — a fitting, frankly vague, term that works perfectly for a band that explores so many different sounds. Their first song got straight to the point and was, just simply put, a banger. Their song “Hello” was a particular standout. The back and forth between the “saxophone” (it sounded like one but it was a different instrument, the name of which I don’t recall, kinda gives “what if a saxophone was a keytar?”) and the vocals really sold the song as the rhythm section kept momentum. The song ends with an epic guitar solo featuring some pretty sweet tapping towards the end to wrap up the song. The build of the song features the singer of the band eating sour patch kids onstage and between two of the songs, she explained that she’s not snacking, but instead commiting a ritual to supposedly help her sing, something she saw in a YouTube video. Gonna have to try this myself sometime and see. Despite the band’s initial song being a power pop banger, the other songs they have (which are also bangers) cover a variety of sounds which make for a fun set.
Bitter Half
Sludgy, heavy, gloomy, all describe this band’s sound — at least sometimes. I ended up missing most of their set due to my decision to eat food that wasn’t at the venue (I wanted Raising Canes) I did catch their last few songs and was able to witness the band end their set with a collaboration with the band Slingshot (who are due for discussion later). Bitter Half ended their show with a cover of the Destroy Boys and Mannequin Pussy song “You Hear Yes” with all the rage and energy required. They describe themselves as “doom grunge” which based off of the couple songs I got to hear, I think is an apt description of their sound. I got to hear their song “Hexxxed” which starts quietly with a build featuring a driving bass-line, chorused, reverb soaked guitars hitting chords on the downbeat, before going into the sped up, chorus before winding back down.
(Side Note: in the far too long process of writing this, I actualy ended up going to Warped Tour in Long Beach and saw Destroy Boys live and they closed with “You Hear Yes”. Unsurprisingly Destroy Boys are also great live.)
Glorbo
Loud, abrasive, heartfelt — those are the words I would use to describe this band. They began their set with an important statement: “Fuck ICE, and Free Palestine”. Their second song “Quarantine” is a somber and beautiful yet noisy tune about the pandemic and the toll that it took on all our mental health. They debuted a song called “Izzy”, a tribute to the singer’s dead cat. While the idea sounds a little funny, the song is a genuinely emotional and heartfelt ode to a family pet. The great thing about emo bands, which Glorbo has described themselves as (which is a fitting descriptor of their style and sound), is the sincerity in the music. What was to me the standout track from Glorbo’s set was their song “Family Tree”. The hook in the song’s lead guitar is just infectious as hell. The song’s structure is tight and manages to builds to a cathartic chorus. I honestly think I have a bias towards any band that labels themselves emo or has the qualities, but Glorbo was by far my favorite set of the day.
SlingShot
The final band, SlingShot, the ones who organized this whole thing. And what a band they are. The energy they bring, the clear connection between the band and the crowd was all fantastic. You really feel like you are a part of a scene, of a community at their show just based on the energy, which is how all local shows should be. They seem to really resonate with people. Sonically, they are this fantastic blend of dark heavy riffs, clean and harsh vocals, speed, aggression and haunting melody. They fit perfectly into the hardcore space. There’s a darkness and an anguish in their sound that really grabs your attention. The crowd was alive for this set — everyone, up front, moshing or jamming on the side. The band played a cover of No Doubt’s song “Hella Good”, which was…well, hella good, to put it simply. The set ended with an encore of a slower song from their catalog called “Sound of Metal”. The song began slow and soft before exploding into a cacophony of distortion before quietly winding down and fading. The band played a set where you could dance and head-bang, or sit and let the darkness wash over you.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, all of these bands were a special treat to listen to. I didn’t know most of them before going in and I was proud to see that there are so many awesome bands that live just around the corner. Almost all these bands have music out on streaming, whether that be your usual services such as Spotify, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Apple Music (Chloe Antoinette, Lunar Riptide, Dead By Sunday, Glorbo, Slingshot, Bitter Half and Los Houndstooth) Some are still working on their first releases (Night Swim and Monkee Brainz) and ALL of them are active on instagram where you can see upcoming shows, new music, live video, and photos that are done by people who actually know what they’re doing and so on. It was an absolute pleasure heading to this show and meeting fellow music lovers in the community, seeing cool new bands and even reconnecting with some friends I haven’t seen in a while. I look forward to seeing what these bands accomplish and I look forward to hopefully, another event next year.
Links for the artists:
Chloe Antoinette: https://www.instagram.com/chloeantofficial?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MW81NmV1dHJ2Z2Zv
Night Swim: https://www.instagram.com/nightswim.ca?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MTRneGxlYTZnejJhaw==
Monkee Brainz: https://www.instagram.com/monkee_brains?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=a3BwZ2R5NDJ4M2R1
Los Houndstooth: https://www.instagram.com/loshoundstooth?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=Z3R6cmNkZmJucmwy
Dead By Sunday: https://www.instagram.com/deadbysundaymusic?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MTFkcDA5YWcyaXQzbg==
Bitter Half: https://www.instagram.com/bitterhalf666?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MTEwbTA4YzRvbDA0bw==
Glorbo: https://www.instagram.com/glorbo_band?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=aTA3eTczOHUzazBr
Slingshot: https://www.instagram.com/slingshot.band?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=NGVzZmxpcjNuejRv
TheReverendDoctor 
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