Rock group Floater will return to its old stomping grounds this weekend.
The band, which consists of lead singer and bassist Robert Wynia, drummer Peter Cornett, and guitarist Dave Amador, will perform an acoustic show at the WOW Hall on Friday.
“The history we have (at the WOW Hall) is long and intense, and it’s hard not to associate Eugene almost entirely with playing at the WOW Hall,” Wynia wrote in an e-mail. “Many highs and lows have happened within those hallowed walls.”
The members of Floater met in the early ’90s when they started playing together at garage parties and at the University.
Wynia explained the group’s beginnings: “I put up some posters at local haunts saying that I was looking for people to play some songs.”
Floater released its first album in 1994, and now has eight albums in its catalogue. In 1998, the band moved to Portland, where the members currently reside.
“We just had so much more going on up here (in Portland). We were mixing our records here, and we hung out with a number of musicians in this area,” Wynia said.
Floater will be playing two sets of acoustic music – its first all-acoustic show in Eugene in more than a year.
Wynia describes the acoustic shows as “much more low key, in some ways more intimate and personal and a lot less exhausting” than the electric shows.
The band started performing acoustic shows after a manager’s encouragement. “She would overhear us playing songs acoustically and she kept saying, ‘You guys have gotta record that,’ and finally we just put our energy into the acoustic music for a while,” Wynia said.
Fans have displayed positive reactions to the shows.
“(Fans reacted) much better than we expected – very alarmingly well,” Wynia said.
The band is finding new artistic inspirations as it grows. Once influenced by other bands and sounds, members of Floater are now trying to find inspiration within themselves.
“We’re primarily influenced by life itself, and we’ve found a mechanism for using each other to produce music that we all enjoy and are fulfilled by,” Wynia said.
The band is playing with loud, fierce energy because of its focus on playing acoustically, Wynia said.
Meanwhile, the band is brainstorming and writing for its next electric record, set to come out in spring 2006.
“We just can’t sit together in a room and not start writing material,” Wynia said.
Tickets for the upcoming acoustic show are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Ticket outlets include CD World at 3215 W. 11th, House of Records at 258 E. 13th Ave., Taco Loco at 900 W. Seventh Ave., the University ticket office on campus and the WOW Hall, all in Eugene.
Doors for the show open at 8 p.m., and the show starts at 9 p.m. on Friday.
The WOW Hall is located at 291 W. Eighth Ave. and is open for all ages. Ages 6 to 11 are half price at the door when accompanied by a parent, ages 5 and under get in free. Those interested can call the WOW Hall at (541) 687-2746.

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