Daisychain at Zhora Darling, Minneapolis (July 25, 2025)

After a stretch of national touring acts, it was great to get back to some local and regional bands. A full stack of rock at Zhora Darling was mostly local groups with the headliner Daisychain looking to wow the local crowd.

Absolutely Yours was up first and is a Minneapolis band helmed by vocalist and guitarist Bridget Collins. With several albums, including 2024’s Mirror Maze, there has been a steady release of music since 2017. The quintet (vocals/guitar, bass/vocals, guitar/vocals, keyboards/vocals, and drums) started with a dreamy sound on R U Listening? Dual backing harmonies to Collins’ lead vocals on the next song were well matched for a song called Bright Side. Good drum work on Let It Die also highlighted Collins’ sometimes nearly British sounding vocal style on her vowels. A live debut of Desire Path followed and was a lot of fun.

We also got a cover of Wavves’ King of the Beach, and they nailed the feel while still making it their own. Having different backing vocalists (it was the lead guitarist for a late number, Sweet Surprise) made for various tones to the songs, which provided some depth for the band. Collins had a bit of late banter about how much of the set was brand new music before closing on a pair of songs from the recent album. With the last song Diagonal Lines, Absolutely Yours had a solid dream rock sound and was a perfect opener for the evening.

Up next was Mad Mojo Jett, a rock quartet featuring Eric Levy (vocals, guitar, drums), Madalyn Rowell (drums, vocals), Joe Holland (bass), and Monet Wong (guitar). Their stellar 2022 EP Get Your Mind Straight is high energy fun and the band’s warm up / final sound check was a blast to listen to. That dual vocals sound was a rush out of the gate with Don’t Want to Live Like That. Levy is a powerhouse with a screamed, but always vocalized singing. Chastised On the Spot was brilliantly chaotic with Levy and Rowell’s singing and the heavy mix of guitars. The opening songs were fierce and brief, and by the time we got to “a song about a terrible date at the State Fair”, Ok Ok was flying. Rowell took over on lead vocals with her nearly growl alto on Missing Stairs, and it was true thrash. A quick tuning, “it’s very hot up here”, led into the slightly slower Angel Boy with its great guitar riff. With good lyrics, “I won’t play the stooge or the heel”, Mad Mojo Jett continued to simply be fire through their set.

A bit of a change on Chicago was a funky feel and yet right in line for the band, which included Holland playing his bass while it was hung up on the wall. Wong took control of a late song with excellent guitar work, and the band was clearly winding towards the end. Finishing up on Tarzan (though calling back to an earlier song as the actual close), Mad Mojo Jett had powered through with a blistering set of highly enjoyable rock songs.

Up next was the headliner, Chicago based band Daisychain. The band, with Nickole Regala (vocals, bass), Frankie Sripada (guitar), and Sophia Williams (guitar, backing vocals), was touring in support of their debut full length album, All in a Name, released in June 2025. With a drummer in tow, the quartet went to work with their psych rock sound. Motel was a strong opener, with Regala’s vocals a silky smooth intro for the band. But we also quickly got dual vocals with Williams regularly joining in on fantastic harmonies or dual leads. G String had excellent harmonies both vocally and musically on guitar. I also really dug the band’s stage presence, with a slightly more hard core take. With Williams taking lead vocals, it was a slight change, but also allowed Regala to own the lower end on bass and Sripada to shred on a mid-song solo. Waste Your Time was an absolute head banger, with a bit of retro rock feel.

The band was fully getting into it and it showed. The smallest bit of banter and tuning led to a slower ballad, How Can I Love You, again with dual vocals and even changing who had lead within the song. Another Sripada solo finished with Regala smoking her vocals before pitching it back for a closing guitar solo. The ease with which Williams and Regala shared the lead singing was impressive and something you don’t often see done as effectively. Playing some songs off the recent album, Get High With Me had a more blues rock feel that reached back to a 70’s sound. Eve was both the loudest and most punk song of the set. Closing on Rivers, Daisychain went out with a bang, with Williams crushing a very low range of vocals and the band driving the heavy guitars to a head banging finale.

The evening ended with a final local band, Muun Bato, taking the stage. We’ve seen and reviewed the band twice here in 2025, most recently in May at Cloudland, with La Cerca. Opening with a dry, “there’s not supposed to be a band playing after 11” (Daisychain had been told to close up one song early by someone from the venue), Muun Bato went right into it with their psych rock, reverb heavy songs.

They were on stage as a quartet (vocals/guitar, guitar/keyboards, bass, and drums) rather than the quintet we’ve seen before. To my mind, Blue Lines is a pretty excellent encapsulation of their sound: reverb heavy vocals, excellent guitar solos, and a dream-like feel. The band was keeping the songs on the shorter side this evening, likely due to whatever confusion or message had been delivered about time earlier. Singer and guitarist Joe Werner was efficient, but still was laying down complicated guitar solos and those distorted vocals. I appreciated the balance they struck between being mindful of the time and still giving a good performance. Muun Bato completed a very full evening of rock and gave great support to Daisychain’s night in Minneapolis.