By Melanie Calkins

The ultimate surf-rock band Sun Room returned back home to San Diego to entertain their friends, family, and eager fans in attendance at SOMA. The band of San Diego locals played an exciting show on March 13, 2025 as one of their last stops on their West Coast tour. Their openers, Mexican Slum Rats, set the perfect tone for the night, creating an incredible energy that Sun Room followed up on flawlessly.

Kevin Villalba of Mexican Slum Rats performs at SOMA on March 13, 2025. (Melanie Calkins)

I was honestly blown away by the Mexican Slum Rats’ performance. Let me introduce this upcoming band to you. With around 200k monthly listeners on Spotify, they’re far from newcomers to the music scene. Their mix of punk and rock with personal spins on each song had the crowd going crazy. Fans were moshing, crowd surfing, and head banging to their tunes.

Songs like “Sunday” and “Away” were some of the crowd favorites and absolutely blew the audience away. When their set ended, everyone was sad to see them go, but San Diego will get another visit from them shortly at the much anticipated WonderFront festival in May.

The long-awaited local act Sun Room took the stage next, greeting the eager crowd with their hit songs. Luke Asigan sang and played guitar with Max Pinamonti on bass to his left, Ashton Minnich on guitar to his right, and Thomas Rhodes on drums. Throughout the whole night, they would constantly turn to one another jamming out to their songs, seeming happy to be home.

Luke Asigan, lead vocalist and guitarist of San Diego band Sun Room, performs at SOMA on March 13, 2025. (Melanie Calkins)

The crowd loved hearing fan favorites like “Sol Del Sur,” featured in Outer Banks, and “Fun.” These songs truly capture the laid-back California mindset with a rock twist to them. The lyrics have a way of making you dream of summer, painting the perfect sunny, warm day at the beach. 

Sun Room also surprised the crowd with a cover of “Fade Into You,” by Mazzy Star, that they also released on their YouTube channel. Some of my personal favorites of the night were “Get Me Outta New York City” and “Sunset Garage.” Both songs tell stories of relationships and about women powerful enough to inspire whole tracks. The crowd ate up every note, with more crowd surfing and head banging filling the room.

It was clear that Sun Room thrived on this energy, with San Diego once again showing their unwavering support as a fan base. I was personally thrilled to see them back in town for the weekend and they had me anxiously waiting for summer to arrive. Overall, it was an amazing night for fans to catch Mexican Slum Rats and Sun Room in an energetic San Diego show.