Above image via Instagram: millvalemusic
Giovanni Mori | Posted May 29th, 2025
Are you a musician or avid music listener living in or around the city of Pittsburgh? If so, it’s likely you’re familiar with the highly anticipated Millvale Music Festival, where every year, local musicians come together for two days of celebrating many genres of music with over 300 acts across 30 stages. This year, I had the pleasure of spending the whole day on Saturday, May 17th, watching and listening to live performances from personal favorite bands and artists, as well as finding some new favorites to add to my playlists for later, here are a few that stuck out to me!
seeking therapy
What better way to start the afternoon than being awestruck by post rock from Seeking Therapy? The band played at the outdoor VFW Post 118 stage and ignited their explosive set with a mix of rock music subgenres like shoegaze, stoner metal, and alternative rock. The combination of their fuzzy tone, moody chord progressions, low melodies, and almost barbaric chants should be enough to gracefully lift you in the air before suddenly throwing you off the side of a mountain, especially when listening through their 2024 EP, Daze before dawn. Below is the band’s music video for their debut single, “Come with Fire.”
YouTube: Seeking Therapy
Dikblud
Photo by Giovanni Mori
Taking over the outdoor stage at Strange Roots Experimental Ales was DiKBLud. This ferocious hardcore punk band was full of just the right amount of angst the festival needed, and successfully captured all the essential characteristics of the genre: three chords on the guitar, fast drums, and all attitude. Listeners may appreciate the band’s aggressive sound as it calls back to hardcore punk’s more notable household names like Black Flag and Minor Threat, the band even played a ripping cover of Circle Jerks’ “Live Fast Die Young” as an added bonus for the genre’s old school fans. Listen to DiKBLud’s self titled EP on all streaming services starting with “Drive.”
YouTube: DiKBLuD
almost exactly like julia
By the middle of the afternoon, the Harold’s Haunt stage was taken over by indie artist Almost Exactly Like Julia, which unlike for the previously mentioned bands, her music is much more calming will lull you to sink into your couch cushions with just her voice and an acoustic guitar. The artist expands herself as far as the singer-songwriter genre’s boundaries can take her, with intriguing chord changes and melodies found in her song “Worn Out,” but can also become real energetic and momentous with the more pop driven “What If.” Her latest upbeat single, “A New Kind of Love,” is more on the alternative rock side with the inclusion of a full band sound, listen below!
YouTube: Release – Topic
king catfish
Photo by Giovanni Mori
Up next was King Catfish dominating the indoor stage at the Poetry Lounge. With one album and a couple singles in their discography from mid 2020, the energetic three piece captures the spirit of the 90s to a T, with a grungy and unconventional songwriting style reminiscent of Bleach from Nirvana, a twist of tasty funk licks borrowed from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and all while each chord effortlessly pops out at you the same way as a classic Green Day song. Their nostalgic live sound was dynamic as ever and will leave you craving for more, which is why that same day, the band released a demo of one of their newest songs from their set, “Too Much Too Soon,” check it out.
YouTube: King Catfish
elliot pullen and the pearl snaps
Photo by Giovanni Mori
Later in the evening, the Maple Leaf’s indoor stage made way for folk and country artist Elliot Pullen and his band, the Pearl Snaps. Even though there were many other bands and artists performing after, Pullen’s set was an enjoyable close to the evening with a relatively softer sound full of Bob Dylan-esque imagery and storytelling of relatable themes to any listener. Pullen’s studio work is mainly comprised of himself and his acoustic guitar, but the fascinating live sound with the Pearl Snaps is powerful enough to put you in a daze before the band’s set ends in the blink of an eye. Here’s Pullen’s most popular single to date at nearly 150,000 streams on Spotify, “The Most Stereotypical Folk Punk Song of All Time.”
YouTube: Elliot Pullen – Topic
Needless to say it was another fun weekend full of music for the city of Pittsburgh. With so many bands and artists to see and unfortunately not enough time to see every single one, it’s clear why the Millvale Music Festival is one of Pittsburgh’s most exciting music events of the year. While you’re counting down the days to the next one, listen to the aforementioned bands and artists above, and always support local music!
Sources
“A New King of Love” YouTube, uploaded by Release – Topic, 28 Feb. 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k104F3OZt8
“**DEBUT SINGLE** Seeking Therapy – Come with Fire – Official Music Video” YouTube, uploaded by Seeking Therapy, 14 Jun. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhu8UqS2yWc
“Drive” YouTube, uploaded by DiKBLud – Topic, 24 Jan. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAoa42z-p9U
“King Catfish – Too Much Too Soon (Shellshock Multimedia Demo)” YouTube, uploaded by King Catfish, 17 May 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8zEpMxeTmQ
Millvale Music Festival [@millvalemusic]. Festival Promo. Instagram, 4 Nov. 2024, https://www.instagram.com/millvalemusic/
“The Most Stereotypical Folk Punk Song of All Time” YouTube, uploaded by Elliot Pullen – Topic, 20 Mar. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i1RIhP_Dag
