“Vada Vada is a term that represents total freedom of expression without guidelines or boundaries of any sort”
Vada Vada Home
Perhaps that ethos is what makes Wyatt Shears’ (AKA Enjoy’s) music so hard to define, an amalgamation of breakneck punk, quirky electronic synths, and prickly acoustic guitar; it’s a Johnny Cash song on crack, produced under brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears’ DIY label, Vada Vada. So when my Dad politely asked “what kind of music are you going to see tonight?” I was genuinely lost for words, sputtering out “it’s hard to explain” before hastily making my exit into a balmy Southern California night.
The Fox Theater Pomona is a veritable 909 landmark, beloved, yet home to a threshold I had yet to surpass despite growing up mere miles. Walking to will call was jarring in the sense that the venue appeared so archetypal, exacerbating a disconcerting sensation of FOMO: had this venue really existed unbeknownst to me? Past will call, the sloping walk to the photo pit traversed studded belts and split-dyed hair, not unfamiliar, but not exactly expected in such close proximity to what I fondly recall as the “bland” city of Claremont. It was only as I settled into a makeshift seat (the backside of a crowd-control barrier), cool metal biting into denim-clad legs, that I was able to reorient myself, to marvel with pride at the innocuous city of Pomona, the birthplace of a thriving subculture united in celebration of an artist who too, has a long legacy with the DIY.
“Do You Believe in Fairies?”
Cowgirl Clue’s heart-and-thorn-adorned banner, draped haphazardly over a jutting-out Enjoy banner, suggested the existence of the supernatural, a hypothesis confirmed as a glistening shock of white-blonde hair materialized from the stage’s wings. With the back pocket of distressed Rock Revival jeans stuffed with an eye-catching sequined silver scarf, Cowgirl Clue (Ashley Calhoun) wasted no time in launching into a bouncy, surreal set. A real-life fairy, Calhoun combined an amalgamation of otherworldly sounds from whatever Texas-meets-fae-meets-techno universe she had descended to Earth from. “Picket Fence” opened with a drilling bass, introducing Calhoun’s bubbly Y2K cadence as she chimed “Yeah I’m from Texas/Cadillacs, no Lexus/Open road with no fences.” A blur perpetually in motion, Calhoun was rarely stagnant, opting instead to trot between her drummer and the lip of the stage, pausing only to bounce in place, hair splayed as her head restlessly tossed side-to-side. “Rodeo Star” was a manifestation of Clue’s eclectic genre-bending: slide-guitar overlaid with lucid synths and hyperpop breakbeat drumming. Despite an uncanny mix, Cowgirl Clue’s smorgasbord of sounds was evidently successful as a frenzied crowd jolted and jostled along with Clue, demonstrating an energy rarely reserved for a supporting act. The best way I could describe Cowgirl Clue is a sleazy rendering of rural America, somehow both “yee-haw” and ‘90s Paris Hilton, yielding an exhilarating and atypical aesthetic and sound.
A leopard print bass strap traversed a navy naval-esque uniform, gold details illuminated by moody red stage lights. Wyatt Shears had arrived, accompanied by Rex Osterkamp [bass & acoustic guitar], Charles McGrath [drums], and Jimmy [guitar], the quartet launching into Enjoy’s first show of their 2024 Southern Tour.
“Ring Your Bell” off 2023’s Exploited felt the most overwhelming nod to Shear’s scene-kid adolescence, earthy, rapid-fire guitar licks preceding Shears’ guttural bass, drums crashed ferociously, deferring to the sheer intensity of a shirtless Charles McGrath. Despite punk motifs, the exploratory nature of Shears’ work manifested in a twangy guitar bridge, in Shears’ vocal tone which felt almost jovial relative to disillusioned, impassioned lyrics. Still early in the night, the quick cut was met with the expected thrashing crowd, bodies flung aimlessly, though not yet surpassing the implicit barrier severing performer from crowd.
“I’ve got the world in my pocket” iphones competed to capture, rigid arms straining over rows of heads to document the fan favorite. An eccentric, jittery cut whose release dates back to 2015’s Punk Planet, the crowd’s reception to “World in My Pocket” was a manifestation of a hardcore fan culture, yielding a plethora of media devoted solely to keeping tabs of the notoriously reclusive Shears twins.
Enjoy was a dripping tap, a seasoned veteran who watched with mild bemusement as rivulets consolidated, bulging outward ready to burst. “Target Feeling” was the stream which at last punctured a prolonged surface tension, the barricade between performer and audience ultimately broken. The performers hardly spared a glance as a repugnant stage diver skidded between them, circling Wyatt before diving into a waiting pit, boot-clad feet just missing the grasp of an overachieving security guard. Fueling a chain reaction, punkers took to the stage one-by-one, sometimes skanking, body twisting to meet legs jutting out one-by-one, sometimes just making a break for it, trusting the crowd’s preparedness as they sprinted, launching into swan-dives over the barricade. “Target Feeling” made a fitting soundtrack to the madness, a cacophony that exchanged a placid temperament for a riotous one, a maddeningly sprightly cymbal animating a nimble guitar maneuvered with a dexterity requisite in a rhythm requiring frequent hairpin turns.
Though tamer, the ever-classic “I’ve Wasted So Much Time” was most victorious in spotlighting Wyatt’s signature gravelly bass, brittle textures foregrounded as he rasped “I don’t know why/I have wasted so much time.” Performed stagnantly, almost nonchalantly, the task of movement was endowed upon a squirming crowd, over-eager in their physical displays of adoration for a cut I’m sure served as many of their introductions to Enjoy.
Enjoy’s premature departure was met with desperate whisperings “–the house lights aren’t up yet–” supplications answered as the band made their return to play two last cuts off 2023’s Exploited.
“Make a Dent in the City” is a retrospective cut, one which utilized the flitting drone of an acoustic guitar to edify lyrical reflections on legacy and permanence. Rounding out the encore with “Exploited,” softer guitar tones, veering on pretty, juxtaposed gritty lyrics: “you sick son of a bitch.” Intentional or not, it seemed as if Enjoy had lulled the energetic into the lethargic, with a calming finality manifested in a relaxed closing sound.
Cowgirl Clue and Enjoy’s playful incorporations of twinkling acoustic guitar juxtaposed hegemonic hyperpop and punk sounds respectively, parallel experimentations that distinctly embraced the Vada Vada ethos. As a still teeming-with-energy crowd spilled out of The Fox, an appreciation for experimental music was evident in experimental styles of DIY dress. Vada Vada is evidently so much more than just music. It is a state of mind fans were palpably eager to adopt, an outlet for unbridled creative expressions in all their colorful forms.
