Enjoy & Puzzle (with friends) show how we do it in Southern California for Peachy San Diego 2025 at SOMA

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in February, hundreds of positively buzzing freaks and fans flocked together at SOMA San Diego to witness some of the absolute best bands and artists making noise in Southern California right now for the annual Peachy Fest. With thirteen performances spread across two stages, and more genres and subgenres on display than you might imagine, it was truly a celebration of everything our corner of the Golden State has to offer (particularly for the music fan who likes to take a tiptoe into the underground).

And kicking off the whole affair from the SOMA Sidestage (dubbed the Soda Stage for today’s festivities) was country rock supergroup Braxton Hicks. Formed by Mikey Carnevale of Poway surf punk legends The Frights, and featuring members of fellow garage rock greats Mrs. Magician and Hey Chels, you might first be surprised at the pronounced honky tonk twang erupting out of the speakers here given the decidedly left-field genre swerve these folks are committing. But punk rock has a long history of being a sort of kissing cousin with shit-kickin’ outlaw country, and within mere moments of Braxton Hicks’ opening song you were instantly reminded why. Energetic and sincere, raucuous and almost effortlessly loose while also being tight as a fiddle bow (particularly in the rhythm section), it was a thoroughly excellent set of throwback country rock of the 1970s variety (think The Flying Burrito Brothers, or The Byrds circa-“Sweetheart Of The Rodeo“).

Immediately afterwards, we head on over to the SOMA Mainstage (the Peachy Stage) for the bedroom pop of Gibby. With a gorgeous understated croon, this San Diego native crafts immaculate little earworm nuggets of slyly sophisticated perfection. And his intimate, largely acoustic-led songs translated surprisingly well to a more fleshed-out full band experience here. Especially once the uptempo set reached its penultimate performance, a jumped-up rendition of last year’s wonderful standalone single “Rain“, a truly blissful bit of sunshine indie pop for when the storm starts to roll in. And roll in it did, along with the booming rolling thunder and lightning crashes of an out-of-control Pacific squall, as The Mainliners careened headfirst into a blistering 30-minute set of decidedly Southern California-inspired skate thrash back over at the Soda Stage. Coming straight from the scum-ridden streets of Hollywood (said with full love and affection, of course), this four-piece makes the kind of power pop-indebted punk rock that makes my Stiff Little Fingers and NOFX loving heart positively jump with joy. And that was even before they brought in the horn section!

Saint Luna (also from San Diego proper) are a psychedelic indie rock band that would have fit in perfectly next to such mid-90s alternative rock radio stalwarts as Stone Temple Pilots and The Flaming Lips. With a remarkable, constantly pulsating rhythm section and an abundance of face-melting guitar solos that eagerly stretched out their electric fingers towards the heavens, it was definitely the setlist of the night that most cried out for you to throw up the old devil horns. And by the time The Happy Return entered the fray with their own fuzzy take on carefree Beach Boys-inspired psychedelic pop (complete with crystalline four-part harmonies and plenty of lyrics about “wasting the days away”), the positive vibes emanating off of the entire crowd was downright palpable. Which means it was high-time to crank up the distortion and get LOUD, as Quannnic hit the stage with a decidedly moody take on the post-emo and shoegaze subgenres. His hushed and nearly-whispered vocals (equal parts Chino Moreno and Zachary Cole Smith of DIIV) submerged in an endless churning sea of crunchy compressed guitar and splashing cymbal crashes, like static waves exploding against a digital beach. Sublime.

George Clanton is an electronic musician and pioneer of the deeply beloved (if nonetheless niche) vaporwave subgenre who makes lush and swirling hypnagogic pop-meets-trip hop music that pounds at the heart as much as it makes the feet want to move in reckless, ecstatic abandon. And although he was the only artist of the entire festival that performed completely solo with no accompaniment beyond a guitar and a backing track, he gave what was arguably one of the most compelling performances I’ve seen in years. Leaping into the crowd on multiple occasions for impromptu raves, smashing a water bottle against his face while belting out lyrics at the top of his lungs, tossing off slick guitar licks while framed against a wall of constantly flickering bulbs that turned his leather-jacket clad frame into an indescribable blur of color and light. It was a truly unforgettable performance from a one-of-a-kind artist.

Finally, we close out the evening with a real treat: back-to-back sets from both of the respective side projects of Fletcher and Wyatt Shears, the brothers that make up beloved Orange County art punks The Garden. Puzzle was up first, Fletcher’s almost indescribable genre-leaping group that throws everything from synth-pop to nu-metal to hip-hop into a blender and churns it together into a delicious and constantly surprising aural smoothie. And the crowd was fully held within his hand from moment one, alternating between energetically moshing without abandon and vibing to the lush, chiptune-inspired beats during spacey cooldown moments. But the chilled respite was short-lived, as Wyatt Shears’ high-tempo garage punk side project Enjoy came roaring out of the gates to send the entire crowd out on an almost transcendent high. Positively rocketing through nearly twenty songs in just under an hour, his bouncy and endlessly hummable Peter Hook-inspired bass playing being the constant throughline carrying you across over a dozen immaculately constructed goth-pop tunes.