The Cedar Presents
The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis with Yr Knives
Saturday, September 6, 2025 / Doors: 7:00 PM / Show: 8:00 PM
All Ages
Standing
$20 Advance, $25 Day of Show
*For Cedar Presented shows, a $4 facility fee is included in the ticket price (Ticket fee info here).
This is a standing show with an open floor. To request seating or other access accommodations, please go to our Access Page.
For Cedar presented shows, online ticket sales typically end one hour before the door time, and then, based on availability, tickets will be available at the door. Tickets purchased at the door will include a $1 Eventbrite fee.
LISTEN
“Emergence” video courtesy of The Messthetics’s official YouTube channel.
ABOUT THIS SHOW
"the intersection of free improvisation and the spirit of punk-infused rock n’ roll" - Glide Magazine
THE MESSTHETICS & JAMES BRANDON LEWIS
The Messthetics are an instrumental trio from Washington DC featuring the rhythm section of Fugazi, Joe Lally on Bass and Brendan Canty on drums, along with the virtuosic Anthony Pirog on guitar. After forming in 2018, they toured extensively and made two albums for the legendary punk label Dischord Records. In 2023 they teamed up with one of the world’s most renowned tenor saxophonists, James Brandon Lewis, and made a record for historic jazz label Impulse Records, called simply “The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis”. They continue to tour intensely and their commitment to the live ideal results in shows that are both incendiary and spontaneous.
To learn more about THE MESSTHETICS & JAMES BRANDON LEWIS :
Yr Knives
Since the dawn of human-generated sound, a particular possibility for offensive musical language has been conspicuously unexplored. Like a monolith, Yr Knives rises from the cold ground to awaken a narrow-yet-essential part of the soul.
Take a typical American baby and raise him in Nagano, Japan. Try to drown him in Harvey Wallbangers alongside a jaded, grizzled Chicagoan who grew half-up in Alaska and liked it when David Yow threw shit at the audience. Toss in a Harlem-Renaissance-obsessed honky who might have made the engine block in your 2001 Honda Civic, writes depressing art-rock and spent years touring in a Pentangle-inflected jam band. Top it off with one of Chicago’s most active drummers who cut his jazz teeth in New Orleans and vacations in Salt Lake City, smoking dope with Dead Prez.
These four (4), white, male-presenting persons in cuffed, Japanese denim have brought their voices to bands as diverse as Tortoise, Health&Beauty, Hanami, Ryley Walker and countless others. They could be none other than your very own Yr Knives for you.
To learn more about Yr Knives :