Urban Heat’s Studio Milwaukee Session was, for all intents and purposes, done. They had a show at X-Ray Arcade in a couple hours, so host Kenny Perez threw it back to Marcus in the studio, thanked the audience of Radio Milwaukee Members for creating a great atmosphere and turned to give some love to the band.
Then bassist Paxel Foley held up one finger, and frontman Jonathan Horstmann asked if it was cool for the band to do one more song — just for our Radio Milwaukee Members in the room (and a handful of lucky staff members). Obviously, all of us were just fine with that. And we were even more OK when they decided to do two.
When you hit that “Listen” button at the top of the page, you’ll hear what was already a great session. Foley powered through a small equipment hiccup to start the set, Kevin Naquin dialed up the unique sounds that give Urban Heat their darkwave flavor, and Horstmann bossed the stage with a presence as confident as his vocals and spiky guitar work.
But, going forward, when anyone asks me why it’s worth becoming a Radio Milwaukee Member — besides supporting all the hard work the good people inside our walls do every day — I’m going to mention the session after the session. When Horstmann told us this is when they get to have some fun. When he worked the stage like he was playing a 5,000-seat theater. When the band gave us a never-before-heard version of their breakout single, “Have You Ever?”
We love making those moments possible for our members because they’re the ones that make them love being members. They're experiences you can’t duplicate. We hope you’ll be at the next one.
Urban Heat play X-Ray Arcade tonight, March 27, with Vision Video and Ghost Cuts. Tickets are $20 for the all-ages show, with doors at 6 p.m. and music starting an hour later.
