Radio420™: Dropout Kings “F*CK Lil Xan” Pop-Up Concert Review

As extremely stale as it was that Lil Xan decided to cancel the entire Summer 2022 “Born Dead” tour with no prior warning or a valid reason, right when all the direct support opening acts had already begun hitting the road to rock shows across the United States together. The Suburban Noize Records Arizona trap-metal titans, Dropout Kings, have turned a completely negative situation into a super positive outcome with having to book last minuet successful pop-up concerts around the U.S. dubbed the “Fuck LiL Xan” tour! The extraordinary Friday, June 3rd, 2022 Winter Park, Florida performances showcased at the Haven Lounge was literally booked with only two and a half days of being able to promote the event. Despite this limitation, over 50 heavy music fans around Orange County, Florida still showed up to jump in the pit and headbang for over three hours to satisfy their inner rock/metal concert cravings!

Adam Ramey

I arrived at the Haven Lounge near 6:30 pm Est with my super-talented photographer friend Paul Mike. We were both instantaneously kindly greeted by the Dropout Kings’ mad professional tour manager Larry. He awesomely allowed us to witness the Dropout Kings conduct an explosive performance preparation soundcheck a few hours before showtime. And hot damn, was their ferocious soundcheck absolutely astonishing. These young Subnoize solders were genuinely fired up and ready to give the die-hard Dropout Kings fans an unrelenting eventful night to rock out vigorously and remember the special pop-up concert for the rest of their lives as an inspiring moment to help uplift others out of the dark side of the mind. Frontman Adam Ramey was pulling off nearly thirty second screams alongside Black Cat Bill (the other Dropout Kings frontman), whom was jumping around on stage, spitting hot 16 bars, as if he were preparing to brawl the entire music industry. While Chucky Guzman (Guitar), Staig Flynn (Guitar), Rob Sebastian (Bass), and Joe Lana Jr., (Drums) displayed superb musicianship awaiting to drop an atomic bomb of metallic freshness on top of the Sunshine State! After catching their raw herculean soundcheck, Paul Mike and I conducted a twenty minute informative video interview with Adam and Eddie outside the Haven Lounge with an exclusive photoshoot too! Then afterwards, we all went to the fabulous Fratellos pizzeria right next door to get our pizza dinner on.

Black Cat Bill

Finally, it was showtime and the audience was beyond ready to get buck wild to some live heavy tunes! A few local bands around Florida stepped up during eleventh hour as direct opening support to give the concert attendees a proper full-length concert extravaganza! The first band we witnessed was the ever-so talented Orange County, Florida trio Flagman. They were incredible live! Think grindcore meets southern style rock but with an edgier experimental alternative twist. They even flawlessly covered the Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) produced Primus single “Lacquer Head” to a crowd of soaring cheers!

Next to hit the stage, were the Tampa, Florida hard rockers Level the planet. Think Heart meets Flyleaf. Their gorgeous energetic stage show had the crowd all riled up, ready to jump and scream at the top of their lungs, all evening long! With that being said, Level the Planet successfully delivered crunchy 1970’s influenced classic rock riffage on top of operatic-tinged modern rock female vocals to give the audience an epic dose of rock ‘n’ roll fever with rose petals thrown about the venue. Truly, Level the Planet are destined for greatness beyond Florida. Nuff said!

Orlando, Florida’s very own modern metalheads Fabricate completely massacred the Haven Lounge with their spine-destroying heavy hitting songs that could send ghostly chills up the spines of Exodus! The entire band are mad talented in their own unique ways. But their drummer was definitely the highlight of their break-neck stage presence with his intense speed and gut-wrenching blast beats that had the crowd clamoring for more hellish mind-bending drumming!

Last and sure as hell not least were the mighty Dropout Kings! Holy shit have these guys leveled up their live theatrics by over 8,000 since I last witnessed their awe-inspiring Gathering of the Juggalos 2019 performance! The entire band displayed so much pure raw talent that you could truly feel their own trap-metal spiritual energy emanating from their bodies to triumphantly bring forth the nu-metal revival to the hard rock/heavy metal masses! Adam Ramey channeled his own inner Chester Bennington-esque screams with lengthy 20 to 30 second screeches while the crowd were in complete utter-shock with how long Adam was able to keep his screams going without losing his voice at all! It was bloody fucking brilliant! Meanwhile, Black Cat Bill kept dropping explosive lyrical bombshell bars that could rival any emcee alive today! This man is straight up a force to be reckoned with on the mic. And the underground deserves a great emcee like Black Cat Bill to help keep hip-hop alive.

Towards the end of their set, Dropout Kings’ new drummer Joe Lana Jr. decided to dive into a spectacular drum solo that could quite possibly give bands like Nothing More and Hollywood Undead a run for their money with his charismatic zestful skills that had the crowd cheering for more! Yes, the Joe Lana Jr. drum solo was kick ass. But I must say, the best part of the night, was probably when Dropout Kings jumped into their mosh pit anthem “Pitup”. The concert goers immediately went totally apeshit and let loose in the pit harder than any song that night! It was a glorious sight to see as people’s jaws were stuck wide open long after the song had ended due to how powerful the Dropout Kings’ stage presence was presented during “Pitup”. Marvelous! Above all, the Dropout Kings have conquered the definition of how to properly turn a negative situation into a positive one because an abundant amount of Suburban Noize Records’ fans are turning up at these last minuet “Fuck Lil Xan” pop-up shows and every single person that attends are left feeling more alive than ever! That’s what being underground is all about! Beautiful indeed.