Mad Mojo Jett at Dusty’s Bar (November 7, 2026)
A full evening of lo-fi rock of Milwaukee and Minneapolis bands was a treat with Mad Mojo Jett headlining at Dusty’s Bar in Northeast Minneapolis.
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Mad Mojo Jett Setlist
| Daniel James Gang Setlist
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Sex Scenes Setlist
| H.E.A.T. Setlist
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I somehow found myself available to see a show on a Saturday night, but hadn’t given myself much time to figure out what to go see. I needn’t have worried, as the choices were deep across the Twin Cities. On a bit of a whim, I decided to head to Dusty’s Bar to catch a very full, four band line up with Mad Mojo Jett headlining the evening. (Side note: The venue only takes cash for the cover? Join the freaking 21st century already.) Joe Hammond, bassist for the headliner, was also playing the role of sound tech for the evening and did a pretty fabulous job, making minor adjustments throughout sets and keeping things sounding great all along.
H.E.A.T. (acronym for Hell Exists, Already There) got the night kicked off and boy, it was something to behold in the very confined space between the stage and the bar. With various costumes, and the vocalist on full reverb / futuristic robot voice, this was a hard edged rock that had punk tendencies. It looks like they have a full length album in the books and ready for release in early 2027. Yahoo Boys was intense, but also had a good musicality underneath all of that reverb and volume. Our lead singer wanted to move, but he was fairly hemmed in by the narrow arrangement, but he still gave it the good old college try, first going to get in a bar stool, but quickly finding a chair that didn’t rotate on him. The rest of the band was working as hard as he was, as guitar, keys with a lot of electronica, and drums were hammering out hard. It too me a while to realize the lead singer (definitely with a Jack Black intensity) was Dan Hoffstrom, formerly of the band Murf, but suddenly a lot of the showmanship made more sense. Hoffstrom took a second to catch his breath, but then threw completely in on Payday, but also used the close spacing to order a Hamm’s mid-song, as if it was the normal lyrics. If it wasn’t abundantly clear, these were mostly fast paced, very loud numbers and it really worked. I have no idea how the drummer kept up the pace, but like the entire band, he was game, and that earnestness counts for a lot in my book. Space Age Love was a late set song that cranked the energy up a whole other level, and H.E.A.T. had hit hard and gotten things off with a bang.
Sex Scenes had come over from Milwaukee and the hard core punk rockers were ready to keep the high energy vibe going. The band’s 2025 album Everything Makes Me Sick says a lot, and with the opening track Fed Up, I had a hopeful idea of where they were headed. The quartet (vocals, guitar, bass/vocals, and drums) was all that and more, and Fed Up was the second song, simply scorching on all fronts. The evening’s theme also seemed to be punishing drums, as they seared throughout the set. The band seemed to have no time for banter, and I’ll Play Along had the yelled reverb vocals, with some excellent bass work. (Side note: There’s a certain way a bass player can lean backwards that just exudes a cool rock attitude, and we had that in spades here.) Disconnect had the dual vocals and the straight punk instrumentation. We again had a lead singer catching breath, and that certainly seemed to be an ongoing theme. Nothing was a punisher and had the full screamo mode unlocked. Ending on Hand to Mouth, Sex Scenes had come over to Minneapolis and crushed.
The Daniel James Gang continued the Milwaukee connection and the power pop band also carried over the bass player from Sex Scenes. They have a variety of musical releases, including 2026’s EP Ghosts of the Past. The quartet (vocals/guitar, guitar, bass, and drums) came with a different sound, but similar intensity, and City Lights was an ode to Milwaukee that had our front three guitars rocking. James did well as the front man, with a good vocalism and harder edged guitar solos, as on Misery, but he also made sure that the rest of the band got their moments. In fact, guitarist Jeff Palmer got to take over for one he had written and Many More Drugs was a bit more punk pop. Artificial Romance was one from the new EP, and the instrumentation was a full pell mell pace, with great closing guitar. The bassist took over for a pure shred vocal from a previous band of hers in It Hurts and those various vocal changes made for a nice range by the band, letting them loose in different genres. We got a game time audible on the order of a couple of late songs, as Darkness had a Replacements style vibe. Perhaps the band’s night could be summed up by the intro to Animal Eyes, “this is a song about having sex with werewolves” and that it didn’t seem all that strange. Finishing on Crimes, The Daniel James Gang had continued to feed the high energy of the night.
Mad Mojo Jett was up to finish things, and the lo-fi, garage rock band is a one that we’ve seen multiple times, most recently here at Dusty’s opening for High Tiny Hairs on a blisteringly cold evening in December 2025. The quartet (vocals/guitar/drums, guitar, bass, and drums/vocals) noted “we have to be louder than the openers” and hit super hard on Don’t Want to Live Like That, with a great interplay of guitars between Eric Levy and Monet Wong. They were not messing around on this evening and perhaps the previous bands had moved them to higher places. Pity Like crushed as Madalyn Rowell drove drums and secondary vocals hard, with Joe Hammond’s bass the rush underneath. Missing Stairs is one of my favorites from the band and Rowell nearly purred some of the opening lyrics as the band was on fire midway through their set. Do It to Me was an audible added to the set that had Levy rolling on lyrics and Wong’s guitar flying along with an up click of tempo late in the song. A smooth transition to the bass intro for Chicago continued to have Mad Mojo Jett rocking and there was no let up to be had. The roller coaster was in the final down hill slope and Tori was the inevitable closer, with its fairly long instrumental noisy finish. A fabulously chaotic evening had come to an end, and it reminded me that taking a chance on live music rarely disappoints.
