High Tiny Hairs Setlist

BCNA
Heartache
Rolling Smoke
Upside Down
First World Problems
Animalize
Curse of Yoko
Ants
Only Lonely
Girl Like You
Ghost Shadow
Leave Me Alone
Red Room

It was a brave set of souls who steeled themselves for the below zero temperatures. But it was worth it because over at Dusty’s Bar in northeast Minneapolis, it was a record release show for garage rockers High Tiny Hairs, with several acts in support that swapped members across the bands.

When thinking about the Twin Cities music scene, it’s easy to focus on the straight music venues, but there is also a thriving bar scene that supports local music acts. Places like White Squirrel Bar in St. Paul and 331 Club in Minneapolis are well known for their daily shows. There’s a whole additional group of bars that semi-regularly have live music, like the Midway Saloon and, new to me, Dusty’s Bar. Just a half mile from 331 Club, Dusty’s Bar is in an historic, arts heavy neighborhood, just north of Boom Island Park. It very much has a dive bar feel and the band was set up right in the middle of the large main room, opposite of the bar. And after a little time for getting set up with some very amusing volume checking banter, Mad Mojo Jett kicked things off. This is our third time seeing the band in 2025, though due to a hand injury for singer Eric Levy, we had Ben Bachman as an additional musician handling Levy’s guitar responsibilities. The rest of the band was the regular line up with Monet Wong on guitar, Madalyn Rowell on drums & vocals, and Joe Hammond on bass.

Get Your Mind Straight was a perfect opener and kudos to the band for getting the volume perfectly set to be loud, but not obnoxious. Levy may have been off his guitar, but he leaned even farther into percussion and vocals. A quick tuning for Chastised on the Spot had another round of banter and highlighting Bachman, “who you will see a-Ben and a-Ben tonight”. That song was a great one for the dual vocals of Rowell & Levy, with an excellent bass close for Hammond. Mad Mojo Jett was particularly tight on this evening and it was noted that their new LP was also wrapped up, with a yet to be announced release party somewhere in the future. Rose Garden definitely was awesome for the dual vocals, but also a great highlight for Wong’s excellent guitar work. Chicago was a tongue in cheek bit of self-deprecating humor and let all the band members go off at maximum intensity. Nearing the end of the set, Mad Mojo Jett went for loud & fast and crushed it. We look forward to the new music from the band, and really suggest you look for their work.

Up next was Temple of Ben, with Ben Bachman on guitar/vocals, Ben Crunk on drums/vocals, and Joe Hammond (he must have missed the memo) on bass. Vocals were set on full distortion and Crunk announced this was the band’s first show. This was a surf rock feel and a good complementary offering in the evening’s lineup. A song about disasters (“natural, not my life’s”) was a good combo of Hammond and Bachman’s guitar work. Crunk took lead vocals on an early number and when you have experienced musicians like this, you would never know it was a first show. Bachman got a great opening guitar riff that had a classic rock vibe to it. An as yet untitled number continued the vibe of surf rock leaning towards a bit of psychedelic rock. The occasional switch of lead singer was an effective tactic with the two Bens driving things forward in different ways. Get Dressed Up for the Party Then Don’t Go to the Party was a jangly number that had Bachman’s guitar crashing through and just like that, Temple of Ben was done.

Last up was headliner High Tiny Hairs, who we last saw in August opening for The Okmoniks. Another band with dual singers, this had Ben Bachman on guitar & vocals, Katie Drahos on keyboards & vocals, Joe Hammond for the third time in the evening on bass, and Monet Wong back on stage, but this time on drums. With a new self-titled LP, this started with the strong duo vocals, where Bachman and Drahos were each on the higher or lower notes, creating a fairly unique sound, a la The Pixies. The insertion of very synth-sounding keyboards also created a brightness for the low alto / high tenor vocals as well as Bachman’s darker guitar to bounce off of. A “song about smiling” already had the band on their fourth song with Upside Down, and it was a reminder of how quick and to the point High Tiny Hairs plays. Hammond continued to be a great foundation at bass, and he gave no signs of slowing down even as he worked through his third set. Wong had some sharp staccato drum work on First World Problems and these songs were flying by in an excellent way.

Bachman had a dry banter, with “here’s a song about Yoko Ono” getting no further explanation as the band dove right back to it. Animalize, “not the Kiss version”, had some punchy moments and was a real highlight for the set. Bachman went way up in vocal range on the next number before giving way to a keyboard instrumental and Drahos taking over vocals. Only Lonely was a head bopper with a driving thrum. The brief run times on most of these songs created distinct moments within the tapestry of their surf rock / dream pop sound. Red Room let Bachman shine with a brief straight rock guitar solo. With little fanfare, High Tiny Hairs finished Hold On and simply said, “thanks for coming out”. As they started to pack away instruments, the fans were headed towards the merch and it was great to see the new record going into multiple people’s hands and it completed a great evening of music.