The Okmoniks at Cloudland, Minneapolis (August 3, 2025)

Sometimes it’s fun to see the high gloss and polish of larger rock bands. But sometimes it’s refreshing to see the imperfections and bands going to work with no net. An evening of lo-fi rock & roll at Cloudland Theater was being headlined by Bay Area garage rockers The Okmoniks.

Getting things going was High Tiny Hairs, a local dream/psychedelic rock group, who released Robot Parade, Vol. 1 in 2024. Lead singer Ben Bachman started the band in the Twin Cities, moved to Spain for six years where, for a while, there were actually two versions of the band. With Bachman back in Minnesota, he’s leading the one and only American version. And seeing Monet Wong (drums) and Joe Hammond (bass) who would be part of the next band, I got the feeling that this was a group of musicians who have played with or in parallel to each other for years.

The quartet (vocals/guitar, keyboards/vocals, bass, and drums) opened fast and hard, with Bachman and keyboardist Katie Drahos steering things vocally. Ghost Shadow was brief but perfectly in line with the psych rock feel. Up front, there was no room for banter, as the band moved directly from one song to the next. Bachman was a pretty compelling front man, as he drove both vocals and a solid guitar solo on Heartache. These were fast numbers, but felt exactly right for the moment. A water break completed, “Topo Chico!”, was a pretty perfect intro to First World Problems, with great keys playing underneath Bachman’s vocals and Wong’s strong drums. Upside Down was an excellent rock song with dual harmonies on the back end, and High Tiny Hairs was flying through their set. Closing out on Rolling Smoke, it was a fast and exciting sound from the band, and I look forward to hearing more of their staccato burst psych rock in the future.

Up next was Mad Mojo Jett, who we just saw last week opening for Daisychain. The opener, I Don’t Want to Live Like That, was strong, with their signature-controlled chaos. That dual vocals and drums that Mad Mojo Jett sports was a pretty effective way of creating a larger wall of sound, and on this watch, I was hugely impressed by Levy’s ability to drive drums, guitar and lyrics simultaneously. I also noticed that Rowell was a machine on her drum set. The band was pure energy and Pity Like was scorching and had the audience fully engaged. After a shout out to the headliner, Levy told the audience that they will be playing the Minnesota State Fair at the end of August saying, “I manifested this sh*t”, as they went into Ok Ok (see last week’s review for a fuller explanation).

Rowell growled her way through Missing Stairs and it was an excellent guitar solo from Levy. Watching the back and forth from Rowell and Levy on the end of that song was a good highlight of the band’s chemistry. That continued on as Levy and Wong played off each other on the guitars for Angel Boy. Rose Garden, a short but rocking number, may be my favorite Mad Mojo Jett song. One of the things I like about bands like this is their performance chops; there’s no shyness here. Hammond and Wong drove I Cannot Quit, with high flying riffs. An extended outro on Tarzan was the high sign that things were almost done, and finishing on Tori was pure rock. Mad Mojo Jett led their lo-fi sound to a pretty fantastic conclusion.

San Francisco based The Okmoniks is a garage rock band fronted by Helene 33 (full name: Helene Grotans). With two albums, Party Fever! (2007), and the appropriately titled follow-up Afterparty Fever! released in 2024, The Okmoniks arrived on stage as a quartet (vocals/organ, guitar/vocals, bass, and drum). Right before they started, Helene 33 said “we do our own light show” and was then handing out balloons with blinking lights in them. That surf rock sound was helmed by Helene 33’s organ work and the songs were played at a tremendous pace. Clearly having fun, the first bit of banter for on the band “This is Minneapolis on a Sunday night? We love it!”. These were deftly done songs, quickly transitioning amid the band’s nearly dancing style. I’ll Let You In was a great example of the band’s style, with a bouncy interlude and those retro sounding keys.

Some great guitar work (and backing vocals) from Samuel Claiborn (from IGN) on I’m On My Own let the backing band shine, but this continued at an absolute breakneck speed, as we were almost ten songs in at just twenty minutes. But it also didn’t feel rushed, as the band was playing like this was the norm.
Helene 33’s style at organ was a fun performance to watch, as she crouched, jumped, and almost climbed up on the keys. She’s the center of the fun, and it was pretty infectious. Those lighted balloons kept making their way around the room, and I was impressed by the crowd’s willingness to play along. Teenage Time Bomb was a perfect fit for the vibe, with the band being let loose on a mid-song instrumental. Turning the organ set down on its side, Helene 33 sat on it for a slightly slower song, with the rest of the band taking more relaxed positions as well. With just a couple song left, the much faster tempo songs returned, starting with It Takes Two. Finishing the main set with the well-titled I’m Done, we had the briefest of pauses before the encore. The final song Rustle Up Some Action let Helene 33 go nuts on vocals and organ and was a perfect end to the evening of garage rock.