A tradition of mine is to head out to Zebulon after the Super Bowl. I've always had a good time hanging out there after the big game. In 2024, I got to run into a long time favorite Sally Spitz. Last year, I saw John Errol who ended up making my list of favorite new bands / artists of the year (you can read that list of favorites here). This year, after watching the defensive dominance of the Seattle Seahawks, I came across another band that will surely make my list of favorite bands of 2026: Dreyted (the moniker for DeRon Munroe).
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| Dreyted at Zebulon |
When did I first realize that come December 2026, I'll be listing Dreyted as one of my favorite new encounters of the year? Oh, about 5 seconds into his set. Munroe started off the set playing solo guitar, striking those guitar strings with a series of violent thrusts. A few moments later his bassist (Rocco DeLeo) and drummer (Max Dawson) came out to join him in the experimental punk set.
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| Dreyted at Zebulon |
Amusement moment of the set: prior to beginning the set, floor lamps were positioned specifically in front of where each of the three members would be. When the set began with just Munroe on stage, only his floor lamp was turned on. When the other two came out, Dawson turned on his light, but DeLeo didn't bend down to turn on his light. So what happened? Munroe walked over and turned it on for him. That's attention to the small details.
Another noticed moment: to start off the set, two of the band members put on protective earmuffs. Were the earmuffs just for style or to protect from future hearing loss. Hey, I respect them if they are out there wanting to protect their hearing when they hit the age of 60-ish or whatever.
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| Dreyted at Zebulon |
The band often seamlessly transitioned from one song to the next. As the echoes faded away from one song, they would transition to the next. Their experimental sounds included snippets of blues as well as moments of just random atmospheric notes. Included in all of this was their stage show that had Munroe and DeLeo using their bodies and instruments as outlets for emotional expression.
A moment to remember: During the back half of the set, Munroe took his performance out onto the floor. He encouraged people to pluck a few haphazard chords on his guitar. Hey, even I took part in the fun. There were two people off to the side who were way too shy to play the guitar. One was encouraging the other to play the guitar. Of course, the one doing the encouraging declined the offer to play the guitar. He then took his act to the middle of the floor and began to drag his guitar back and forth across the floor before heading towards the stage and standing atop a monitor. Somehow his guitar cable stayed plugged in as he lifted it guitar towards him.
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| Dreyted at Zebulon |
Final moment of the set: of course the bassist and guitarist went off on a battle.
From what I can tell, the set was used to test new material. To get a sense of their sound, I'm featuring the sophomore album that was released in 2024.
Setlist: Ladder, Player, Growth, Bodies, Colour, Minute.
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