Mothership Show lands in San Martian, Texas

Marie Rios Ayala

Graphics Assistant

Mothership Studios. More often than not, this building is used as a workspace for artists by day, but if you’re extra lucky, it also doubles as a venue for musicians by night. Saturday, September 6th, 2025, was one of those fateful nights. So many incredible music groups performed for those of us in the audience, and three of those groups really stood out to me as their performances were simply out-of-this-world good. 

The Opener: Almost Heaven

Hailing from Austin, this musical duo can be described simply with just one word—electric. Typically, I would argue that the opening spot of any live show is the most daunting and intimidating role to fill, but if these two were at all nervous, I could not tell from where I stood in the front row.

Especially impressive was frontman/lead singer Stefan Barraza’s stage presence, as you get the sense that he would perform for a crowd of 10 as if it were a crowd of 10,000 any day of the week. On drums was Jaelyn Valero, the steady heartbeat of the band. Her quiet confidence really lent itself to the music as her rhythm never faltered throughout their entire set, and when you consider how upbeat all of their songs were, you begin to understand how remarkable her talent is.

These two are true rock stars, and if you enjoy music that mixes electronic-pop, dance, and punk, I highly recommend listening to Almost Heaven.

The Headliner: Hysteria

Los Angeles-based emo band consisting of Jaelyn (yes, the same Jaelyn from Almost Heaven), Nick, and Dakota came down to San Marcos as one of the stops in their Texas tour.

The fact that they came from the City of Angels actually makes a lot of sense when you consider how angelic their set was to experience live. They weren’t like your normal type of angels, though. Hysteria is like a band of dark, romantic, alluring angels that also like to jam out.

The beauty of their sound was evident in each and every song they performed. It’s no wonder that they had the opportunity to headline, as their authentic passion for their art effortlessly shines through in their lyrics and in their instrumentation. I especially found it interesting in their music when the meter would change, keeping you on your toes as you found yourself almost trying to predict the rhythm.

The choice to take the listener out of the “normal” 4/4 time signature is, in my opinion, an underutilized tool to subvert any audience’s expectations, and it can be a risky one at that, but when this band does it, it pays off. I think the balance of a very steady, powerful, dependable vocal line was also a wise choice to give the music a sense of equilibrium. Hysteria, please return to San Marcos soon!

The Party: iHorse 

A lot of DJs are entertaining, sure, but not many DJs are as genuinely smart with their musical decision-making skills as iHorse members Nick Bookout and Mason Jones are.

Where most may naively think that it’s good enough to just play the catchy club classics, these two know that it’s best to understand the crowd in front of you. Great DJs listen and respond to their audience, and that’s exactly what Nick and Mason did at this show. Even with their late-night timeslot, they made sure to keep everyone’s energy alive and well, even deep into the evening.

Definitely a switch of pace compared to the bands that performed before them, but these guys are well accustomed to that at this point. After all, they’ve been collaborating for a long time now. Bookout had this to say about the group’s conception: “We started DJ’ing together because we’re best buds and also we needed an excuse to name something iHorse. If I’m being real, we’ve always been a duo.”

If you ever have the opportunity to see these two live, don’t walk, but run.