Southern Plug Magazine: Leaders of the New School 2017 Volume 2 Issue 1 A | Page 41

While a lot of Bay Area bands tend to embrace the sunny,
psychedelic side of their city's sound, San Francisco's Weekend
have seemingly chosen to embrace their hometown's foggier
side. Formed in 2009 by Shaun Durkan (bass/vocals), Kevin
Johnson (guitar), and Abe Pedroza (drums), Weekend quickly
made a name for themselves with their post-punk-shoved-
through-a-shoegaze-filter sound. The trio's pounding
bass'n'drum rhythms lay the groundwork for Johnson's wall of
reverb-drenched guitar noise, giving the songs a dark,
subterranean feeling. The whole package is tied together by
Durkan's murky vocals, which feel both distant and warm, like
hearing a My Bloody Valentine song on a fading radio station.
After a couple of limited vinyl singles, the band signed on with
Slumberland Records and released its full-length debut, Sports,
in 2010. After a year that saw them touring and getting lots of
good press, they returned in September of 2011 with the less
noisy but still intensely poppy Red EP. The band's next album
was produced by Monte Vallier and featured a sound that split
the difference between the noise of the first album and the pop
of Red, while adding some gloomy post-punk to the mix. Jinx
was released by Slumberland in the summer of 2013.