Sincere Engineer at Rumba Cafe’s sauna room

In November, Michigan ska punk legends Mustard Plug played at Rumba Cafe. I was at that show and boy was it toasty. The HVAC system in my favorite Columbus music venue was on the fritz. I know this for two reasons. First, Mustard Plug frontman Dave Kirchgessner told us. Second, it dripped on my head when I returned from a brief stint in the pit.

What does any of this have to do with seeing Sincere Engineer, Forever Strange and Made of the Mist? Thank you for asking. It has everything to do with it.

Thursday night, 200 ticket-purchasing concertgoers crammed into the Summit St. venue for rock band Sincere Engineer. The sold out show was what I affectionately call “guts to butts,” which was great because all three bands gave the audience something different, and great.

I know that concerts are not supposed to be comfortable experiences. Especially when it reaches “guts to butts.” However, it becomes a problem when it impacts both the audience and the band.

Sincere Engineer used Columbus as a warm-up for their opening gig for Bayside. That meant no touring opener for the band from Chicago. Made of the Mist stepped up first and kicked off the night in grand fashion.

Made of the Mist is a three-person band that is now a four-person band. They are led by sister and brother pair Ophie and Roscoe Banks, who took turns in their 30-minute or so set in the lead vocals department. Roscoe Banks introduced Ophie, “bad ass bitch on the bass” Euzhan and Emily, their new guitarist.

The drummerless quartet did not need a drummer with Euzhan’s bass lines leading each track, which mostly came from their 2024 “Cement Shoes” EP. Including my favorites “Impasta” and “Dam2c4u” which means don’t ask me to change for you. The second song included Ophie playing “angsty” ukulele music, which is not an adjective attributed to the small instrument nearly enough.

Ophie handled a majority of the lead vocals, but warned the crowd when Roscoe stepped up to the lead singer duties, but for just how good he sounds. There was no sibling rivalry in her words and Roscoe hit all the levels of emotion. I spent most of the set with my eyes closed to let the music do its thing. Even adding a new guitarist was mostly free of hiccups, with a left hand slightly too low on the guitar’s neck at the start of a song that she corrected quickly.

Now, if you are a purveyor of fine music writing and read my review of Bella White’s concert exactly 24 hours before this one, you know that my wife graced Rumba Cafe with her presence. She now needs 12 months to recover from the non-arena concert. With that said, I instead went with a great friend who loves Sincere Engineer. Let’s call him Brian. What I did not mention in the Bella White concert “review” (if that is what you want to call these) is I received a “do not touch me” embargo from my wife late into Wednesday’s show because of the raising temperature. No hand holding. No putting my hand on her knee while she sat down. Nothing.

At the Bella White country concert, I stood a couple feet under the A/C and felt the smallest breeze you can imagine. Thursday night, Brian, who never has a “do not touch me” embargo, and I stood possibly a foot back and felt nothing. So, after Made of the Mist, I was already nearing the definition of the term “flop sweat.”

If you are still reading, it did not improve as the night progressed.

Up next was Forever Strange, another Central Ohio band but of the rock/post rock variety. The four-member band consisted of two guitarists, one who doubled as lead singer, a bassist and drummer. Your normal rock band setup. Forever Strange played driving guitars and created a wall of sound. Maybe it was the heat setting in, but I do not remember a ton of lyrics from the group. Instead, the loud rock music that I know and love filled the space.

Brian described them as “if The Beach Boys played punk,” which I understand completely. Four cleaned up guys, playing brightly colored guitars. I do not know which one was Brian Wilson, the music was simple in form but played expertly. Made of the Mist gave Forever Strange high praise when they put the crowd on notice for what was to follow the first set.

The band was light on the between song chatter, but that was ok. The sound teetered near ambient hard rock in my head and late in the set, when I swear I heard the lead singer say “we have two songs left,” there were actually five. That is not a complaint because the more I think about it, he could have said “we have a few songs left,” but I was ready to sit down at this point of the night, and before the headliner, I did just that.

Sincere Engineer sounds what you would expect from a Chicago-area rock band with influences like The Lawrence Arms and Alkaline Trio, even if they came out to a song from Ke$ha. Lead singer Deanna Belos sang with her calling card gravely punk rock voice in a 17-song set that the band breezed through, even if there was no breeze.

Belos stopped to ask the crowd to ask them questions when she tuned. That revealed the reason behind the name, inspired by the lead singer of the Lawrence Arms Brendan Kelly. Bands always tune, to make the pretty music sound better for us, but the heat needed more. The lead guitarist commented how his telecaster sharply lost tuning halfway through a song. The bassist commented on the heat, as sweat developed early in the set.

The headliners played songs from throughout their eight years of releases. They inlaced four from their debut Rhombithian LP, a handful from “Bless My Psyche” but mainly stuck with their 2023 LP “Cheap Grills.” My favorite off it, and the second to last track of the night, was “Library of Broken Bindings.” It explores deep feelings, which is not always synonymous with punk music, but portrayed perfectly by Sincere Engineer

“Sometimes it comes in waves
Sometimes it goes away
Sometimes it over takes me
Sometimes I don’t feel anything
Sometimes I contemplate
The thought of a crash landing
I’m a castaway who needs a break
I’m the last misunderstanding”

The song also included a mention of seagulls, which Belos said is her favorite bird during the tuning Q&A.

I lasted closer to the stage for roughly 75% of the way through their 17-song set. Eventually I went to the back of the venue, near the front door. I am weak. I wanted cold air.

I propped the door open with my arm and other folks standing at the back looked at me with sweet relief on their faces. One even thanked me. Then a kind worker at the venue told me I could not keep the door open. It was not due to noise issues, since the back door of the venue is always open. Maybe it was for security? I was not trying to argue with the people who put their blood and sweat (probably a lot of it) into keeping the independent venue going.

Before the final song, Belos told everyone they were just going to do the encore song now. They removed the flair of the peek-a-boo show bands love and I do not blame them. The lead singer who once aspired to be a dental hygienist seemed to want the set to end, and that says a lot. Coincidentally enough, it ended with “Overbite,” the song attributed to that past dream.

My assumption of the lead singer’s thoughts aside, when the set ended we headed for one of my favorite parts of a concert. It’s when you walk outside for the first time. That rush of air on my face, which felt 10 times better than normal on Thursday.

For all the complaining and gripes I had for how I felt inside Rumba Cafe, the music was not one of them. HVAC or not, I can’t wait for the next time I walk into its doors.

With that said, I will pay a few more dollars a show if you can lower the temperature a degree or two.