Nestled on the southwest corner of Dixie Gammage Hall, the Secret Garden is exactly what it sounds like. Following a descending ramp and a short, LED-lit tunnel, showgoers found themselves in an intimate courtyard surrounded by lush greenery.

AMP is a student-led club focused on event planning. While the club had temporarily dissolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, it made a strong comeback in November 2024 with a fall concert and an open mic night that attracted over 90 attendees, club Vice President Michael Delano said.

“This is our first time having a show here at Secret Garden since we restarted, so you guys are really a part of something special here,” club President Finn Howe said to the audience.

Analog Monsters

Experimental Phoenix band, Analog Monsters, set a high bar for the night, a momentum that carried throughout the show.

On a regular staffed night, Analog Monsters typically perform with six members, but on Friday the stage was packed with nine members, lead vocalist Phillip Holton said.

With foot tapping rhythms, driving synths and saxophones, Analog Monsters is a testament to the creativity and genre subversion within Arizona’s DIY scene.

“People are kind of moving beyond the typical guitar-bass-drum sort of thing,” Holton said. “I personally just want to continue embracing that and I think everyone around me also does.”

Local events like AMP help build connection, bringing together artists and audiences in a shared appreciation for the local scene.

“It [AMP] seemed like the thing that a lot of people are looking for,” Holton said. “I think like local music events in general there’s just a great sense of community.”

When asked about how each band got involved with the AMP’s spring showcase, proceeding acts Bummer Girl and Snailmate both mentioned Holton had brought the opportunity forth.

Bummer Girl

Bummer Girl, a five piece rock band, brought a contagious, feel-good energy to the stage with fast guitars one moment and harmonica riffs the next. Showgoers’ feet were moving and their heads were bouncing as the lead vocalist commanded the audience to “dance, dance, dance!”

The band played its newest single “Seventh Seal” in anticipation for its  next album to be released later this year. The album will be completely produced by Bummer Girl, lead vocalist Walter Wilson said.

“We need to finish it [the album] all ourselves, which is going to be like the first time we've done that with an album,” Wilson said. “So I’d like to make a shout out to Mr. Devin Dorough of Bummer Girl who has been incredible in his recording process and figuring everything out. It’s gonna be pretty awesome.”

Bummer Girl continued to list off shoutouts to each other and just about every artist in Arizona.

The love and appreciation Bummer Girl had for each other was apparent on and off the stage.

“Bummer Girl is a great project started by me and Dev and Joe, and we've all known each other since we were like 5-year-old little monkeys pretty much,” Wilson said. “We love making music together and Jeremy and Caleb have been like the most amazing addition to this group.”

By the end of their set, Bummer Girl had the crowd chanting “one more song!”

Snailmate

“High energy, silly faces, and dance moves. I think you’ll feel comfortable," Kalen Lander of  synthpunk, grindcore pop duo Snailmate said in regards to what people should expect at a Snailmate show.

“Our whole thing is you should be able to be yourself and be safe at our shows, so yeah, it's a big deal, not that that's what we sound like, but like it's a feeling,” Lander said.

“We sound like anxiety and everyone has a lot of anxiety, and it gets worse every day, but we want to celebrate that shared, you know, feeling that we all have and so that's what you can expect,” Bentley Monet, the other half of Snailmate said. “A lot of screaming too.”

The hot sauce guzzling duo delivered nothing less.

A tapestry with gnarly artwork sat front and center of the stage as neon lights flooded the crowd. With Lander on synth and lead vocals and Monet on drums and back up vocals, the two brought an electric, genre-bending performance to the garden.

Throughout the performance Lander would walk around in the crowd and interact with fans. The lyrics might have conveyed anxiety, but audience members were far from anxious. Pure joy radiated from fans. Based on their performance, it is not hard to believe that some fans would drive over two hours to attend the intimate concert, according to Lander.

Snailmate will be on tour in Brazil starting Feb. 14 and the U.S. later this year. Try to catch a show if you want to let out some energy or grab a bottle of hot sauce.

Animal Shin

To wind down the night, Animal Shin enveloped the courtyard in a wall of noise and sludgy guitars.

Best known as the drummer in modern shoegaze band, Glixen, Keire Johnson took a step back from drums to play guitar in Animal Shin.

Johnson’s precision with guitar pedals made for a hypnotic performance. Aided by bandmates Christian and Mayra, the clashing of drums and soft, eerie vocals, make Animal Shin a dream for shoegaze lovers.

Animal Shin only has one single released on streaming platforms, but Johnson announced the trio would be hitting the studio the next day to work on new music.

Wrapping up

AMP’s spring concert drew an estimated 150 people to the Secret Garden and raised $650 in donations for No Más Muertes, a local organization dedicated to advocating for immigration reform and providing humanitarian aid, president Howe said.

Though AMP is a student-oriented club, community building and collaboration with local creatives is a key part of the experience and one of the highlights of the process.

“I think it's very important to kind of like bridge a gap between ASU's community and the local music scene because there really hasn't been a bridge between those two since like before COVID, right?” club Vice President Delano said. “This is kind of the first time I would say that there has been more of a connection, and I think that's really important that people become kind of inspired.”

To keep up the momentum, AMP is exploring the possibility of hosting a jazz show and other poetry and art galleries events in the near future, Delano said.