Show Review: Umiris, QWAM, Substitute, Shadow Monster at Sleepwalk, NYC.
March 19th, 2026.
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“Thank’s Bob for putting this whole thing together” -Substitute
March 20th, 2026
Yesterday we caught wind of a free show at Brooklyn’s Sleepwalk, a stacked bill featuring Umiris, QWAM, Substitute, and Shadow Monster, presented by Lobster Tooth Records. Nothing is free in this city so we hightailed it down there for the 7:00 start. Once we got there we learned that it was also an open bar from 7:00-8:00. Self-extermination was not on the bingo card for the night but again, nothing is free in this city, so we took full advantage of this twilight zone moment (tip your bartenders) and soaked ourselves with tequila and the rocking sounds of the evening. Here’s what we recall:
The Sleepwalk stage could not fit the size of the vibe that the Umiris quintet brought to the party, their bassist rumbling the room from slightly off-platform. Their guitar sound was genre bending, sometimes a noisy gaze-adjacent like the new Cashier record (a must listen), sometimes an expansive verbed out mood that local slench-rockers Holiem captures well, and sometimes dirty hardcore. In a way the set reminded us of the new Kim Gordon album. It’s good, but where Kims affect can sometimes come off as too-cool-for-school, Umiris combined compelling vocal narration with a blood curdling, screaming urgency. Shouts out to the crowd for bringing the band drinks from the open bar.
QWAM proved that you can in fact fit five people onto the Sleepwalk stage, barely. They opened with Friend$$ from their 2025 album Girls Aren’t Afraid Of Blood. We sat in a back booth and enjoyed the feeling of the bass and kick drum rattling the cushions, a truly visceral experience. Our favorite song of their set was Feral Rats which they explained was about “the hotties of Bushwick”. Their fast songs sounded like a caffeinated version of Hole, and the hooks of their lyrics stuck in our heads for the rest of the night.
The power trio of Substitute blasted out of the gates like a light-speed Ramones. They announced that the setlist was mostly new material that they had been in the studio recording all week. We zoomed in on the bass player because we’d only seen such picking speed in bluegrass. They also played some tracks from their 2025 EP Grime, we think..., it was our first time hearing the group. We’re keeping tabs now though, on the lookout for what shape their new songs get released in, because they were great.
At one point during changeover, Shadow Monster started setting up a dual microphone stand, one SM58 and one telephone receiver, side by side. This triggered a memory leading us to quickly dig through our own archives and realize that we had covered them playing the OWL closing show from the summer (RIP). We remembered them as a standout performance, a feeling quickly confirmed when they opened with a massive twisted, warping, wall of sound with just two guitars. Bass wobbled with a kind of underwater flanger effect that felt like the deep ocean, and guitar employed the ace of diamonds of pedals, the Big Muff. Tone was THICK, an incredible display of heavyweight sound from a three piece.
Thanks to Lobster Tooth Records for putting together an incredible bill. Thanks to Umiris, QWAM, Substitute, and Shadow Monster for being the incredible bill. Thanks to the guy who ran sound, best we’ve seen do it in a minute. Thanks to whoever sponsored the open bar at Sleepwalk. Thank you, New York. Connect with the venue and the bands if you missed this (rumor is there’s another Sleepwalk event on Saturday...). See you around, Rrrat Pack.
| Keywords: | New York City | Sleepwalk | Umiris | QWAM | Substitute | Shadow Monster |
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