Cher Khan + Fight the Future: Private Show @ Paxton Studios 10.12

Nearly six months after releasing their debut single, local post-hardcore band Cher Khan put on their first live gig at Paxton Studios over the weekend. I’ve written about Cher Khan a couple times, so I was thrilled to attend and see if the group would be as dynamic and rowdy as their recordings. I was not disappointed. Between Fight the Future’s raucous opening, Cher Khan’s thunderous performance and the charmingly unorthodox venue, this turned out to be an all-time local show for me.

Fight the Future kicked off the night with “Gaslight,” their Bikini Kill-adjacent anthem about holding to the truth of your own narrative no matter what you’re told to believe. I’d never seen Fight the Future live, and I was steamrolled by their titanic stage presence. Singer Kelly Green stomped and hopped around like a screaming kangaroo in combat boots while the rest of the band explosively chugged at their instruments on the plush rugs that served as the venue’s stage.

I was particularly enthralled by the way Green slipped back and forth between haranguing the mic clutched in her powerful fist and smiling warmly at the audience between lyrics. “I’m pissed, but not at you. You’re my friend because you’re here with me” is the impression she gives, making space for everyone willing to join in her righteous defiance of patriarchy, homophobia and racism. 

Fight the Future rumbled like a tank through their 30-minute set, playing all their best songs, including my personal favorite, “Erica.” Then, it was time for Cher Khan to take the stage. 

I want to pause here and talk a little bit about the venue, which added just as much personality to the show as any of the musicians. Paxton Studios is every bit as intimate as Kilby Court, but it’s also as blue collar as a blacksmith’s workshop—because that’s more or less what it is. The building used to be a warehouse, but John Clarence, a former contractor, has converted it into a multipurpose space for two of his passion projects: making music and making knives. 

During the show, power tools hung from hooks along the cinder block walls and heavy machines rested beneath tarps like immense, angular ghosts who’d gathered from beyond the grave to investigate all the ruckus. And let me tell you, you haven’t heard hardcore music until you’ve heard it played ten feet from an industrial lathe. Unique locales like this really put the “underground” in “Salt Lake underground,” and I’m taking every opportunity to catch a show at Paxton Studios from now on.  

After a brief sound check and some technical difficulties—during which guitarist Brad Rhoades filled dead air by flexing his impressive repertoire of early 2000s guitar licks—the band launched into “Cycloptic.” I was particularly excited to hear this song live because of Aria Newberry’s scalding solo, a highlight of the band’s self-titled EP. 

With half of her hair dyed pink and the other half brown, Newberry evokes Neapolitan ice cream that learned how to absolutely kick a guitar’s ass. Her nimble fingers hit every note in her solo with pitch-perfect precision, keying up the audience for the rest of the band’s set, which somehow only went upwards from this already staggering height. 

Over the next 30 minutes, Cher Khan avalanched through their entire EP, threw in a fantastic cover of Superheaven’s “Knew” and played two unreleased songs that singer Syd Hale announced would appear on the band’s upcoming record.

In contrast to Green from Fight the Future, Hale has a much more restrained—but no less imposing—persona. When she first took the stage, she planted herself like a willow in front of her microphone and stared with intense vulnerability at the audience through the curtain of her black bangs. From this resolute stance, she draconically roared through each song, galvanizing lines like “Tell me that you want to be dead / without saying that you want to be dead” with plasmic vitriol.

Despite the palpable angst of Cher Khan’s music, a loving energy flowed between the bandmates through supportive smiles and impish banter. I felt like I was watching a family soldered together against the cruel world which they’re trying to make better with their combined rage and compassion. 

And while Hale mostly stayed in one spot during the entire performance, Newberry, Rhoades and bassist Wesley Manalo brought the party by thrashing around like people possessed (without missing a single note), and drummer David Sedano bathed everyone in his bone-shattering percussion.

The band finished with their frenetic new song “Shift Shape,” and the house lights came up during the resulting applause. Because this was a secret show, the crowd didn’t have the numbers necessary to catalyze a mosh pit, but the energy for one was definitely there. We in the audience were a convulsive mass swaying in the waves of sonic fury that radiated off the band. Coming back to the real world after such a trance is always a little disorienting, and in every blinking face, I saw the wish to be enveloped in the music’s obliterating glow just a little while longer. 

Afterward, I caught up with Hale and Newberry for some details about the upcoming album. The official release date is unknown, but Hale told me the record will come out in 2025 under the title Bliss. I for one can’t wait to hear some new Cher Khan, and I’m also eager to see where the band goes after their stunning inauguration.

Read more concert coverage here:
Clairo @ The Great Saltair 10.13
Judah & the Lion @ The Union 10.07

Photos by India Mendoza | indiamend@gmail.com