The second annual KCSS Rocksgiving Holiday Hoedown hosted at Turlock’s Grizzly Rock Café got off to a craggy start. The plan to alternate between two stages, eliminating setup and breakdown time, fell through at the last minute. The show had already missed its start time. And, of course, a string broke right as the opening act Table for Five began their set.
However, this messy birth was not indicative of the rest of the show by any means. In fact, the rapidly increasing audience was more than happy to be crammed around the tiny stage in the Grizzly Rock’s bar, unaware of the blown-out PA system and other complications.
Table for Five provided a good opening for the night’s performance. Audience spirits remained high as Indian Runner kicked off the show’s theme, an embracing of country and folk roots that discards the genre’s sterility and form. Indian Runner mixes a country vibe into an indie-rock wrapper. It was heartening to see that members of the crowd knew the words and sang along to both bands.
The Airlings followed, and they were my my biggest surprise of the night. It is rare for music to genuinely catch you off guard, for a song to just go off the rails in a good way. What starts off as a standard folk tune flips and becomes a dusky, funky non sequitur. The bass and drums typically shine when this happens, and the guitars vie for attention with jagged solos.
After them, Adam Bishop almost turned the event into an actual hoedown (there was no real square dancing that I could discern, though). Bishop and his musicians were fast and loud, suffering only from their inaudible keys and horns because of the aforementioned PA blowout. They ended with a cover of a song from the headlining act, not An Airplane. Others joined them on the microphone, including the singers from Indian Runner and the Airlings, to commemorate singer/songwriter Nick Shattell’s second-to-last performance before moving.
Ménage brought a darker, heavier tone that felt a little out of place, but not wholly unwelcome. Their sound had a banality that was mostly leveled out by their strong performance and their busting out a great cover of the Pixies’ “Where is My Mind?”—not an easy thing to do.
This event was my introduction to not An Airplane, and I can understand Nick Shattell’s status as a local legend. They ended the night with a return to country and bluegrass. But, like the bands before, they weren’t content to leave it so simple.
Not ones to slack, not An Airplane’s three musicians pushed each other during the performance. Bassist Jared Neilson even commented on drummer Chris Haupt’s constant attempts to trip him up. At times, the musicians seemed to have different agendas, with Haupt tossing around sporadic, intense rolls while Shattell’s voice and guitar twanged away. Everything always fit together, though, and the music was enhanced by the performers’ exploration.
Shattell closed not an Airplane’s set with just him and a guitar, providing an intimate end for an intimate night. Most of the audience was still around at 1 a.m. and still singing along. I was convinced for the first time that something really special is happening in the local scene.