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Quicksand

Jul 20, 2026 Web Exclusive By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Jason House

As fun as they can be, in-store live sets are usually awkward for a wide variety of reasons. First off is the fact that the artists usually have a limited amount of time to play compared to their more normal club sets, especially if they are headlining. Furthermore, many nocturnally oriented artists don’t see their typically early start time as optimal, given when they normally play. Attendance is also usually smaller than at a “regular” show, and there is the added pressure for some shy musicians to talk to fans afterwards and sign records and whatnot.

Regardless of all of these factors, sometimes an in-store can be a wonderful, even monumental event. Such was the case yesterday as the long-running, legendary New York City post-hardcore outfit Quicksand opted to have the record release party for Bring on the Psychics, their brand new fifth studio album (and first on Equal Vision as well as their first since 2021’s Distant Populations) in their native New York City at Rough Trade Below, the venerable record store’s basement space and defacto live venue for these types of in-stores, where I have also seen Ratboys, Superchunk, and others over the past few years.

While originally slated for a 4 PM start time, the set ended up starting much later for unknown reasons, leading to a long line that wrapped around a good chunk of the surrounding area, likely baffling tourists there to try to get a glimpse of Jimmy Fallon or Colin Jost or buy an SNL souvenir from the gift shop.

This wasn’t the only way that this in-store was unusual, though. Instead of doing the usual four or five songs from the new album plus a few hits, Quicksand decided to play all ten (!) songs from Bring on the Psychics, all in order of appearance on the new album. After this was completed, they finished with “Landmine Spring” from 1995’s Manic Compression, exciting many old fans in the crowd, even instigating a small pit (perhaps a first at this iteration of Rough Trade) at one point.

Though singer/guitarist Walter Schriefels said that he had woken up groggy and with a sore throat, he sounded absolutely fantastic, and one would never have been able to tell if he hadn’t said anything. Furthermore, Quicksand’s energetic, enthusiastic performance, with all three members (including bassist Sergio Vega and drummer Alan Cage) looking visibly like they were having a fantastic time just being up there and playing with each other, more than made up for lost time.

Shows like this disprove the old lie that reunited bands somehow aren’t as relevant the second (or technically third, in Quicksand’s case) time around, as they are clearly firing on all cylinders, look happy to be there, and that is reflected in the energy of their newest music, reminiscent very much of their 1993 debut album Slip. And thus, while they’re not reinventing the wheel here, they do what they do very well, and sometimes that is more than enough, especially when they inspired just about every post-hardcore and alternative metal band to exist after them in the first place.