by Savana Robinson
The Miniplex, located in the back of Richards’ Goat, was dark with only a purple light emitting from the stage. People slowly shuffled in, some donning costumes in the Halloween spirit. The crowd was bustling with excitement, many concert goers with a drink in their hand. The show began around 9:45 p.m. and lasted about an hour and a half. Collectively, the boys put on a show that had a modern emo, hyperpop feel. The crowd danced and a small moshpit opened up in the center. With smiles on their faces, it was obvious that the crowd was happy to be there.
Louie Lingard, Osha Fiuty and Benny Pavloff make up the local trio Cemetery Boys. Respectively, the boys go by NotLewy, MESpirit and beninpayne. The collective played a show on Saturday, Oct. 14. The show had a turnout of about 20 people, which was perfect for the tiny showroom in the back of the tavern.
Playing more as a collective than a band, the boys took turns taking the stage, each playing a set of about ten songs. Pavloff went first, then Fiuty and Lingard last. Although they each had their own sound, they complemented each other at the same time.
Pavloff dedicated a song to his girlfriend, Shannon. It was a heartfelt song where he stated he doesn’t know how she got him and falling in love isn’t like him.
“Girl, you got me floatin’/ I be swimmin’ through your oceans,” sang Pavloff.
Pavloff’s sound could be described as emo y2k electronic. His soft yet bold vocals mixed with the autotune and hyperpop backtrack blended well.
Pavloff described his sound as influenced by Midwest emo with math rock samples and a mix of different types of vocals.
“I have a lot of different things that I do. Sometimes it’s really harsh autotune, and very glitchcore-hyperpop stuff,” Pavloff said. “I’ve recently been branching out and trying to get my real voice more out there and just singing.”
Fiuty’s sound was also drenched in hyperpop with an emo overtone. Bassy lines and quick lyrics made his music sound polished.
“Real cemetery shit, yeah I’m in for life,” sang Fiuty, referring to his dedication to the group as a whole.
Fiuty said that the group’s music has changed throughout the years.
“It started with the emo rap wave that was happening in 2016, 2017,” Fiuty said. “We’ve all kind of developed and gone off into different directions with it.”
Lingard played several songs off his mixtape “2k13” released Oct. 13. The mixtape has heavy overtones of trap.
“Now we in a different league,” sang Lingard.
Lingard has a sound influenced by a blend of genres including rap and witchhouse.
“I’m really influenced by 2010s trap music. Chief Keef, Gucci Mane, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, stuff like that,” Lingard said.
The group has been together since 2019, but took a break during the pandemic. They have played a total of nine shows together. Lingard and Pavloff are both College of the Redwoods students who plan to transfer to Cal Poly Humboldt.
“We all fucking killed that,” Pavloff said.
