Superchunk frontman and Merge Records founder Mac McCaughan is 58 years old. If it wasn’t for a bit of gray stubble, the indie rock stalwart could easily pass for 40. He’s got the same youthful voice, guitar moves, and frenetic energy that he had 30 years ago when the Chapel Hill, NC-based band released their classic LP, Here’s Where The Strings Come In.
In Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater on Saturday night to support Superchunk’s newest record, Songs in the Key of Yikes, McCaughan wore skinny corduroy pants and Converse Jack Purcells — an impressive ensemble considering the many Gen X fans in attendance who traded such threads in years ago for cargo shorts and Hokas.
The last several albums find McCaughan and company ruminating on aging and death and meditating on our bizarre cultural moment. In a set that included “Is It Making You Feel Something”, “Everybody Dies”, “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo”, and “What a Time to Be Alive”, I couldn’t help but think that seeing Superchunk was a perfect way to end a crazy week: my coworker’s mom died, the news was one awful thing after the next, social media was a total swamp of angry politics, that Phillies Karen stole a baseball from a little kid, and to top it off, one of my favorite musicians, the Brazilian jazz fusion artist Hermeto Pascoal passed away.
Aside from the terrible headlines that litter the news cycle, it feels like music fans are losing someone they love nearly every week. So, I was glad to see a band I loved still doing its thing and acknowledging Father Time in a few alternative/punk songs. What a time to be alive for sure.
Songs in the Key of Yikes is the first album to feature drummer Laura King, who took over for longtime member Jon Wurster in 2023. After Wurster’s departure, it was initially hard to imagine Superchunk without him, but King is a perfect fit. She seemed particularly energized on new tracks “Care Less” and “Stuck in a Dream” where her own original parts are as creative as they are propulsive. King gets a true cardio workout during a 20-plus song Superchunk set and I marvel at her stamina.
The tracks from the new record also feature a lot of cool guitar riffs from McCaughan and Jim Wilbur which have as much in common with the power pop of 70s groups like Badfinger or The Nerves as they sometimes do with bands more commonly associated with Superchunk like Dinosaur Jr., Sugar, or Archers of Loaf.
Superchunk’s sound continues to evolve, and there are some personnel differences between Superchunk the studio band and the one that goes on tour. Founding bassist Laura Ballance still records with the band, but hasn’t been out on the road in years. After a brief break, touring bassist Jason Narducy has rejoined Superchunk for live shows. An indie stalwart who tours with Bob Mould, plays R.E.M. tunes with actor Michael Shannon, and is a great singer-songwriter in his own right, Narducy was solid and cool as always. So too was guitarist Jim Wilbur — Wilbur may not look as youthful as Mac when he’s peering over his glasses, but his guitar sound is the same as it ever was, providing a steady rhythmic bed for McCaughan’s solos.
Some set highlights (aside from the excellent new material that was showcased) included a stellar rendition of 1994’s “Driveway to Driveway”, which boasts a slow dynamic build and singalong chorus for the ages. The requisite “Slack Motherfucker” turned the theater into an all ages hardcore hall. And, I’ve long held a candle for 2010’s Majesty Shredding, which was something of a reunion record after a nine year period where Superchunk did not release an LP. It was great to hear “Cross Wires” and first encore “Digging For Something”, tunes that were requested by fans online. I didn’t put in the request, but I was certainly glad someone did.
McCaughan also acknowledged the thirtieth anniversary of Here’s Where The Strings Come In and some of the best moments in the show came from tracks off of that record. “Detroit Has A Skyline” is Mac at his best as a lyricist, guitarist, and singer. My music writing buddy Kirsten worked her way up front for “Detroit” and it was great to see her rock out — we shared an epic high five after the tune (my favorite in their lengthy discography). Deep cut “Green Flowers, Blue Fish” was originally cut for the Johnny Mnemonic soundtrack, which is about as 1995 as it gets. And, the encore “Hyper Enough” was a true shot of catchy adrenaline, made even more entertaining by three teenage dancers who were plucked out of the crowd to pogo on stage with the band.
While Bearsville wasn’t exactly packed for the Sunday show, the crowd that was there was passionate and packed the front of the hall. The 50-something dude wearing a thumb ring in front of me and hyping up the crowd all night knew every lyric (even to the new songs), and there were a lot of other guys his age there wearing cool band t-shirts (Ride, Husker Du, and R.E.M. were all accounted for). My favorite audience neighbor of the night was the maybe-15-year-old with braces and a Primus shirt who was invited up to the stage. That kid was living his best life, belting every chorus, and he was evidence that even though the great DIYers of Gen X are aging, Gen Z, raised on this music, may well hold the torch to keep things jamming econo for years to come.
Even Mac seemed to take in the kid’s youthful exuberance like some kind of good rock-n-roll vampire. The set closed with three great songs from the band’s earliest era. On “Binding” off of the band’s self-titled debut, Mac engaged a punk time machine, and it was 1990 all over again. The encore came to a close with two more early tracks off of 1991’s Hey Pocky For Kitty — “Cast Iron” and “Throwing Things”. The latter track was a sweaty punk singalong that made all of us old fans feel like that 15-year-old kid for three minutes before we turned back into aging punk Cinderellas.
Sydney, Australia’s Tee Vee Repairmann opened the show with a relentless 40 minute set that was something of a revelation.
Lead-singer guitarist Ishka Edmedeas is all snarl and popped collar. He’s a first-class punk front man in the Stiv Bators, Johnny Rotten, and (more obviously) Chris Bailey vein.
But Edmedeas, in his mid-20s, isn’t simply ripping off the sound of The Saints. He’s a lynchpin in the Egg Punk genre that mines its sound from an equal dose of lofi, powerpop, punk, garage, new wave, synth, and hardcore influences. The genre also boasts a kind of band fluidity rarely seen since the Goner days of Jay Reatard. Edmedeas is (or has been) a member of Satanic Togas, Set-Top Box, Research Reactor Corp, Remote Control, Mainframe, and most-successfully, Gee Tee.
And while the recorded Tee Vee Repairmann releases on the Total Punk label are lofi, one-man-band affairs with Edmedeas playing all the tracks, he rolled into Woodstock with a hip four piece band that was anything but lofi. I liked the records; I loved them live.
Edmedeas and company opened with “Bad Taste” a tune that sounds more like early The Strokes than it does The Ramones, but if you wanted a dose of nostalgia punk, there were also countless “1, 2, 3, 4” countoffs by Edmedeas that led to two-minute anthems. “People (Everywhere I Go)” was probably the best example of modernizing the Ramones’ schtick for the anxious generation. “Bus Stop” and set-closer “Drownin’” fit the bill as well.
Edmedeas was an unhinged, but lovable frontman throughout, breaking off solos that were more like sonic convulsions on his Epiphone SG. Over the course of the relatively brief set he managed the following: accidentally unplugging his vocal mic, making jokes about “the brown acid”, nearly hitting his bassist in the head as he swung his guitar wildly, swigging Modelo then kissing the microphone, and admitting that he would rather smoke a joint on the back patio than sell his merch.
As prolific as he was zany, Edmedeas also previewed a yet-to-be released double A side that was fully electric, no batteries needed. “Only a Memory” and “Bad News” were both standout tracks that show Edmedeas is only growing as a songwriter. Find these guys stateside while you can before they head back down under.
Superchunk, 9/14/2025, Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, NY
Setlist: Is It Making You Feel Something; Care Less; Everybody Dies; Tie a Rope to the Back of the Bus; Crossed Wires; Detroit Has a Skyline; Green Flowers, Blue Fish; Unbelievable Things; Low F; Bruised Lung; Stuck in a Dream; Driveway to Driveway; The First Part; Me & You & Jackie Mittoo; What a Time to Be Alive; Slack Motherfucker
Encore: Digging for Something; I Don’t Want to Get Over You (Magnetic Fields cover); Hyper Enough; Binding; Cast Iron; Throwing Things
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