Lunar Vacation and Sour Widows at The Rickshaw Stop

by Petyr Campos

Playing Friday night to a sold out crowd at the Rickshaw Stop was Lunar Vacation and Bay Area band Sour Widows. Lunar Vacation is an indie rock band hailing from Atlanta, Georgia. The group is composed of Gep Repasky on vocals and guitar, Maggie Geeslin on guitar, Matteo DeLurgio on keyboard and various percussion, Connor Dowd on drums, and Ben Wulkan on bass.

The band was formed in 2016 after their high school teacher suggested that Gep and Maggie start a band. They quickly released two EPs, “Swell” in 2017 and “Artificial Flavors” in 2018. In 2021, Lunar Vacation released their first full-length album, “Inside Every Fig Is A Dead Wasp,” and are currently touring and promoting their second LP, “Everything Matters, Everything’s Fire.” Their music is a unique blend of shoegaze, dream pop, and indie rock, featuring catchy melodies and memorable hooks that create a distinct and captivating sound.

Lunar Vacation has quite a following with two audience members I spoke with traveling up from Santa Cruz to see them perform. Audience members were well verse in the band’s songs singing along with many of them. The band’s music and performance had a fun vibe to it which the audience fed off through out the night.

Bay Area band Sour Widows consists of Maia Sinaiko, Susanna Thomson, and drummer Max Edelman. The band was formed by Maia and Susanna when they were teenagers, seven years ago. Since then, both Sinaiko and Thomson have experienced significant loss, but they have persevered and are now releasing their powerful debut LP, ‘Revival of a Friend,’ which they have meticulously crafted over the course of several years.

It’s not often that I get to see a band perform their debut album, especially one that was seven years in the making but hearing this album live was worth it. Their performance was full of emotion with grunge guitars and rhythmic bass and drums. Maia’s was also able to get the audience to sing along with her ‘Happy Birthday’ to her older brother who was in attendance at the show that evening.

Petyr Campos I've been creating images solely with my iPhone since 2009 when my DSLR camera broke and I've never looked back. I like the advantages and challenges that are unique to photographing and creating imagery within the iPhone ecosystem. The iPhone serves as both my camera and darkroom. Many of my images leverage specific photographic apps to create a mood, emotion, or idea I want to convey. My work and photographic style is a mixture of documentary and free-form art leveraging IOS apps post process to create distinct and unique imagery. Originally from Chicago, IL, San Francisco has been my home since 1996. I currently reside in the Outer Richmond.