Expo, Gugon (Gloorp)
Solar Myth
1131 S Broad St.
South Philly
May 18, 2026
Expo and Gugon took to Solar Myth this week — and put on a show ruled by drummers.
Gugon is a project put together by Garrett Burke, who goes by the stage moniker "Gloorp." Gloorp typically consists of Garrett, sticks in hand at an electronic drum pad, with a co-conspirator live mixing the electronics next to him on stage. The set-up really emphasizes Burke's virtuosic, improvisational drumming skills. This time around, Gugon added acoustic drums in addition to electronic pads — plus a full stage of musicians who riffed alongside him.
Garrett set the speed and pace, and the band swirled around his lead. He was tapping out intricate, tight phrases, but the main beat had a looser, plodding feel. Garrett had pads and all manner of blocks and other devices placed on the drum skins such that everything felt muffled and taught with very little reverberation. The bassist faced Garrett and was locked in groove with him, riffing subtle variations off the main beat. Up front and center of the stage was a guy improvising on a French horn. The player had his horn run through a few effects, most noticeably a wah-wah pedal; it created a kind of Miles Davis On the Corner vibe, offering a dirty, mystical-sounding funk groove. Further emphasizing this was the guitarist on the far side of the stage, who in addition to his guitar, had a talk box in the form of a plastic tube running out of his mouth like he was sucking on a hookah. It allowed him to manipulate his guitar tone through his mouth, making movements with a wild sound similar to the warbling effect of a child's Moo box. The rhythm-led ensemble, along with the combined effects of wah-wah French Horn, talk-box guitar and everything else going on onstage made for a compelling, experimental stage presence, with lots of enwrapped anticipation from the audience. There were big claps all around.
Expo is headed by Dave Mcgrory, who makes a forceful and unique front-man perched at his drum throne like a dark-horse Phil Collins doing vocals, drumming, and displaying head-bobbing energy and sweaty intensity. He exerted tight control over a disciplined crew, and his vocals were sometimes pelted out, making him come across like the coxswain for a row team. Introductions to songs often held an almost monosyllabic chanting quality. Additionally, his band provided some unique contrast for his stage attack. The keys were played by a very skilled electric KORG player whose tone carried a classic '70s vibe; he doubled that effect with some great, syncopated comping. The keys also set the foundation for some melodic and bright major-key feeling that provided surprising contrast to McGrory's intense delivery, weaving songs in directions unexpected. The effort of the band communicated a sophisticated quality that paralleled darkness and edge with bright, simple melodic structures and sharp cutting drums all delivered very bold and loud at once. It was like something in the hemisphere of "Neu" or other Kraut-rock outings. The masculine, vibrato vocals were reminiscent of early Birthday Party Nick Cave (think Mr. Clarinet).
Looking back on the night, Gugon's performance seemed to be driven by an improvisational ethos, whereas Expo's act was defined by dutiful practice. There was a difference of genre and style, with Gugon following a jazz/fusion/funk thing primarily communicated through instrumentals, and Expo focusing on melodic vocals. Still, these two bands fit the bill so well together because at the creators behind both projects are percussionists. The seat that usually situates itself back behind a singer in a more trad-rock idea of what makes a band was flipped; tonight the executive function came from the rhythm section.
