SINWAVE Presents PRIEST : THE NEON CHRONICLES TOUR with JULIEN K, SEPTEMBER MOURNING, guests SYSTEM 6

Las Vegas has a new music venue and this past weekend I finally got a chance to check it out with a stellar lineup of bands. SINWAVE, located in the Arts District, is the newest music venue in Vegas thanks to partners Blake Attenbury and Martin Boynton, who also happen to be in the System 6 lineup. The venue is a perfect size, very intimate where you are no farther than maybe 30 to 40 ft from the stage, with a sound that is very loud and should be amazing for metal shows. My only issue was the lighting, no front lights, only side and back which at times made the performers look like silhouettes, but hopefully some kind of front lighting is in the future. Sum up, I loved the new venue, and look forward to the upcoming ILL NINO show and more this month.

SYSTEM 6 is a Vegas based industrial metal band we at SMM have covered a few times, and I loved each performance I have seen from them. The energy that this band displays onstage makes them a hard act to follow, featuring great vocals and a killer guitar sound, and a stage presence that is fun to watch. I LOVE this band and look forward to seeing them at their next show, hopefully here.

SEPTEMBER MOURNING returned to Vegas, led by singer Emily Lazar who was dressed in her usual white leather outfit and wild long white hair and crazy makeup, she is a sight to see perform. Their show is full of theatrics, almost comic bookish, that includes videos perfectly synced to their music. But during their set they had big bursts of smoke from under their risers, that actually set off the smoke detectors that were directly above, and then they chirped throughout the bands set. Emily asked if they could be turned off, but that was not to be, but the music was so loud the chirping was barely noticeable. Great show all in all, September Mourning is always a visual and exciting set.

Now it was time for the act I actually came to see, JULIEN K. I first saw Julien K a few months back up at Vamp’d, and were blown away at the high energy and sound that this band brings to the stage. Julien K is an electronic rock band created after members Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck parted ways with the band ORGY, and are just amazing live.

Vocals, guitar, synth and drumming are all on point with Ryan handling the vocal duties and some guitar, and Amir playing both guitar and synth. This tour has been selling out shows all over and that comes as no surprise to anyone who has seen them perform live. Surprisingly Julien K had the best lighting of the night, thus I also got the best pics of them performing live. The highlight was the band closing out their show with the Orgy hit, "Blue Monday" which was actually a New Order cover. Julian K is now my MUST SEE band whenever they play Vegas, and SINWAVE was a perfect venue for them.

PRIEST was a band I have never seen before, which featured ex members of the highly successful band GHOST. The three ex members go by the names Mercury, Salt & Sulfur. The band hails from Stockholm, Sweden and as the other bands were more high energy, Priest had a slower, darker sound, very danceable and the floor went from a mosh pit with Julien K to a dance floor with Priest. One thing that really stood out to me was the amazing voice that singer “Mercury” had, and his stage presence is something that kept your eyes riveted on him as he danced and moved about the stage, accompanied by shrieks and screams from all the females who were in attendance. One the down side, the band wore all black with black masks, and with hardly any lighting on them it made it nearly impossible to even see the other members near the back of the stage. But that's their stage image, we sorta knew that going into this set. The band's set showed a bit of more recent songs including new single "Just A Game", and they have an upcoming album out in 2024. Good show and a lot of dance fun from this band.

We concluded our first night at SINWAVE and we give this venue a "two horns up", and wish it many successful shows as a great addition to the Vegas music community.

More on SINWAVE and upcoming shows HERE.

Priest photos Harold Mountain / JustAFanPhotos