True Lions // Marmoppes // Little Systems (Nashville)

Doors 9pm ~ $10 ADV ~ $15 DOS ~ 21+

TRUE LIONS is the expansively nonconforming music project of Al Hawkins—songwriter, folk-punk fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, and music teacher in KC. The band consists of Al and whoever is playing music with them, most often Fritz Hutchison—multi-instrumentalist, producer, and bandleader of Fritz and Sons.

In 2023, Al and Fritz released a home-recorded split cassette True Lions / Fritz Hutchison, via Manor Records. When their drummer Eli Kosko moved to the desert, Al, Fritz, and bassist Carly Atwood started playing acoustic fiddle tunes, for fun and to “make a living” as gigging musicians. In 2024, Al and Fritz explored amplified fiddle distortion, heavy drums, and bass synth through Ozark old-time, releasing their album COLD GRAVY BOWL, along with a one-night-only DIY theatrical punk drag folk rock n roll experience, produced by The Emerald. Most recently, True Lions released a split tape with Einemsen from Berlin, Germany, also via Manor Records.

MARMOPPES

LITTLE SYSTEMS is confessional art pop from Nashville. Hailed as "mature, poignant and knowing...breathing contemporary urgency" (Luke Stringer), the work of this Midwest-born, Southern-bred duo is marked by lush keyboards, shimmering guitars, synthesizers, and singer Berit Goetz’s distinctive contralto delivery. With the off-kilter soulfulness of Mitski and Radiohead, Little Systems' debut LP I Was a Deer, out in fall 2025, confronts the beauty and brutality of growing up in the digital undertow.

Poster art by Avery Fowles

Host or Publisher The Ship