The summer months can be spent in a variety of ways, but for many it’s all about the music festival scene, filled with tons of EDM, pop princesses making fashion statements and corporate overlords pressing their labels in your face. The summer music festivals have grown into an unbearable giant willing to smack you around, rob you blind and walk out sometime in the morning leaving you to feel like a cheap date.
But now summer is mostly over and it’s almost time to get back to school and settle down for another school year. With that in mind, how about seeing some genre bending music in a small local venue to help you groove back into the year?
The southern California-based The Growlers, known for taking musical influences from a wide range of genres, come to Eugene on Sept. 17 to play at Cozmic Pizza. They somehow combine sounds from funk, surf, country, pop and rock into one cohesive mix of psychedelic buzzing that the group has called “beach goth.” Their live performance is known for the eccentric use of props such as wigs, make-up, dresses and more while heavily using voice effects and tons of reverb. Their show in Eugene follows two nights in Vegas and one at The Wonder Ballroom in Portland before they continue down the left coast.
Following the band’s 2013 release Hung at Heart with 2014’s Chinese Fountain was a huge step forward for the band. Both tours, following the albums’ respective releases, saw the band opening for acts such as The Black Keys, Dr. Dog, Devendra Banhart and more while also playing sets at festivals such as Lollapalooza. These shows were seen in huge venues; if you saw the band here, it would likely be nothing like the show they will play at Cozmic.
The Growlers’ music is unforgettable and not easily confused with other acts; bands that create even a similar sound rarely do so with the same edge. Their still growing discography provides plenty of room for improvisation from one night to the next, as the band is known for never playing the same set list two nights in a row and this has led to die-hard fans even going as far as touring with the group.
You can catch The Growlers on Thursday, Sept. 17 at Cozmic Pizza (199 W 8th Ave) and kick off the school year right.
Listen to “Big Toe” off The Growlers’ 2014 album Chinese Fountain below.