Drive By Cinema played a killer show at Transplants Brewing in Palmdale, California to celebrate their first album, Over It. The setting was special, as the band originally formed in Palmdale; this venue also makes specialty brews for their headlining acts. The drink of the night for DBC was the 'Drive Brew Cinema', an orange-creamsicle flavored hard seltzer that seemed to be a fan favorite amongst the crowd. This is probably one of the most unique and genius integrations I’ve seen yet. To be honest, I’m mad that I didn’t open up a brewery and do it first. Hats off.

All of the openers – Beachsmoke, Ex-girlfriend, and Cold Weather Kids – are all friends of Drive By Cinema. Some of them even have features on the debut album. Beachsmoke had a similar 2000's pop-punk sound with mellow vocals. They played a mix of his solo endeavors as well as some tracks from Ronx, which is a band that Beachsmoke founded. Near the end of the set, they brought out Jesse Alezano from Drive By Cinema for a feature, and congratulated them on their album. Ex-Girlfriend brought explosive energy to the stage. Her sound is a mix of pop-punk and classic-rock sensibilities, and her live performance was incredibly dynamic. The last opener was Cold Weather Kids, a group I’ve seen DBC open for at La Santa. They are another classic pop-punk act, the vocalist added that he is "MGK from Wish" – which I have to blatantly disagree with, as MGK is already the Wish version of any genre he’s failed upward into. Cold Weather Kids, however, brought the fireworks with their performance, jumping into the audience and performing songs that got the crowd moving. They even threw in 2 covers; “Dear Maria Count Me In” as a gift to Jesse, and “Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued”.

The main event was Drive By Cinema, who played through all of the tracks on their new album and added in a “thx fr th mmrs” cover. I’ve seen DBC a few times, and when I say I’m incredibly proud of this band I mean it. Not only is their album incredibly well written, they’ve grown as performers tremendously since the first time I shot them in 2023. They’ve always performed well on a technical level, but their stage presence during this set was something special. They brought out Beachsmoke and Ex-Girlfriend again, both of whom are featured on the album. The crowd was incredibly hyped to hear Over It in it's entirety. This show was a definitive success; DBC was surrounded by friends, and the community they grew up around, with 'Drive Brew Cinemas' being poured and pounded left and right. This was clearly a very special night for the band.

Keep up with Drive By Cinema and future shows here.

PHOTOS BY ANASTASIA WHITE