Hoops, Trophy Dad (Nirvana tribute), The Workers (Weezer tribute)

press release: WUD Music Presents: a Halloweekend spectacular

featuring HOOPS

w/ Trophy Dad as NIRVANA

and The Workers as WEEZER (featuring members of Disq, Dash Hounds and more playing Weezer's "The Boo! Album")

Thursday 10/26 // 8PM, The Play Circle (Memorial Union) // FREE

Hoops was born in frontman Drew Auscherman’s teenage bedroom as a solo ambient and beat-driven project à la Oneohtrix Point Never’s Replica. Auscherman named the band after the hoop houses at the nursery where he worked (not for his home state’s mania for basketball). Eventually he corralled a few of his friends to flesh out his songs, and the music inevitably shifted toward something new: more melodic, more guitar-driven, more extroverted. Fast forward to 2014, Hoops became a fully formed quartet. Since then, Hoops have released three cassette tapes and last year’s self-titled debut EP, and full-length debut Routines, a bittersweet and honest record that sounds both warmly familiar and jarringly distinctive.

The Indiana band craft hyper-melodic songs, built around power-pop chords, deceptively complex drum patterns, and rock-anthem sentiments that hide some tellingly dark thoughts. Three of the four members write and sing, each a frontman and a sideman simultaneously. During a live show, the bandmates can be seen frequently swapping instruments and positions on stage. The setup isn’t democratic so much as it is simply adaptable and committed: doing what the song demands, getting the sound just right.