Mensa Deathsquad, the darkwave/electro punk vehicle of songwriter and producer Brandon Phillips (The Architects, Other Americans, Brandon Phillips and The Condition), has announced a brief run of California dates with Mars Rodriguez and Belted Sweater.

All dates below:

Mensa Deathsquad has released three full lengths since 2019 as well as a handful of singles.
 
“A thousand years ago when I stepped into a real studio for the very first time to make a record, Brett Gurewitz told me to make the record that was missing from my record collection,” says Phillips.
 
That is precisely what’s happening on You Will Hear Thunder, the latest MDS full-length.  
 
“All my favorite playlists tend to play Lady Gaga go right into Jesus And Mary Chain, right into Peaches, right into Depeche Mode. It‘s like I dumped crates of new wave and post-punk and electroclash singles into a hole in the ground and covered them with dirt and this is the weird tree that grew.” 
 
Mars Rodriguez is a Nicaraguan – American DIY artist, producer and a one-person band: vocals, electric guitar, keyboard and digital drums/ drum machines. Her music incorporates elements of varied styles from post punk, blues, indie rock, noise pop and electronic music. Rodriguez’s project transcends cultural and language barriers. In fact, her lyrics are written in Spanish, English and French.
 
In 2020, she released her debut EP, Don’t Wait For Nothing. All songs were written, recorded, engineered and produced by MARS. She is currently working on her debut album that will be released at the end of 2022.
 
Finally, Belted Sweater is a one-man synth punk band — like if Henry Rollins was in Boy Harsher, but with live drums and the lyrics are all about awkward Grindr hookups.
 
“I’ve played drums in a bunch of LA punk/math/synth/metal bands and finally decided to make a super gay solo record after a melodramatic breakup,” says Belted Sweater. “I tracked everything myself, synths, shouting and live drums, like a moderately chubby version of late period, leather daddy Trent Reznor, channelling gay heartbreak into sweet synth riffs and shreddy drum fills.