Shiner Rising Star, KHYI, 2011, Rd 1 Wk 2, 8/4, Love & War Grapevine

Mary Jane Farmer | August 7, 2011

Brett Dillon

It’s a trio of sponsors who bring together a trio of bands each week, and it’s the bands who are vying win more than a trio of prizes. Shiner Records, Shiner Beer, and KHYI, 95.3 FM Americana radio are in their 8th year of holding Shiner Rising Star, and this year the stakes are higher than ever before.

Thursday night’s (Aug. 4) competition at Love & War in Texas, Grapevine, brought The Twisted Pistols, Southland Drifters, and Davis Lane to the stage, each have 30 minutes to show the panel of judges their best. Judges were KHYI radio personalities Brett Dillon and Chuck Taylor, and Dave Perez of Tejas Brothers fame. Big Gus (Swampadelic) Samuelson and his crew handled the stage, including putting up some lights on the otherwise light-naked indoor stage.

Twisted Pistols will be moving on into Round 2, as announced on KHYI at 9 a.m. the following Friday morning.

The Collinsville/Sadler/Grayson County based Twisted Pistols took the stage first, opening with “Fair Weather Friend,” a new song of their own creation. Lucas Lewter provided a heavy bass beat, constant, solid rhythms easily follow-able by the others. On drums, Justin Boren followed suit, in a less-flashy manner than the drummers with the two following bands. Johnny Wilson on lead guitar also provided some back-up vocals to those lead from Zach Hendricks. Johnny even did some homework on the backgrounds of Shiner Beer and KHYI, bringing them together in a quick history lesson, not lost on the judges.

The first portion of the set was plagued by some sound issues, and the Twisted Pistols played right through those like pros, and then kept it going when the sound men fixed the flaws.

Each band is allowed — nay, required — a cover song, and for this the Twisted Pistols covered a Warren Zevon tune, “Lawyers, Guns, and Money,” something that pleased the judges come critique time. It seems that a primary factor in successfully covering a song is to make it unique to the band.

Brett led the critique, talking first about Johnny’s history. “It added a lot to the competition.” Zach later said that Johnny was so nervous about this that he left a lot of it out, but that didn’t seem to hurt the situation. “You guys are coming togethe as a really cool band,” Dillon said. He said he was impressed with Wilson’s lead guitar, which he called ‘Grunge Country Texas guitar.” He also complimented the songwriting coming out through the band’s music.

Taylor commented on what could have been a bad break — the sound issues. “You guys didn’t let it stop you.” Taylor added that KHYI is looking for a radio-friendly band, and stated that the Pistols “set a high bar” for the following to bands to reach. Taylor pulled a little history out of his hat, as well, saying about the cover songwriter, Zevon, “His father was a professional gambler and they kept moving to keep ahead of the law.”

Perez asked who gave the band it’s great name, and all on stage looked back at Justin on the drums. “Ha, the most quiet guy in the band,” Perez laughed, as the good-natured singe usually does. Incidentally, the band had entered the Shiner Rising Star a few years earlier while using their previous name, Those Guys.

“I expect a lot from you, and your energy level was great,” Perez said, adding that he was especially impressed with “On The Highway,” calling it a great song with killer lyrics. “You guys handled the room well, and cut the professional level very high.”

Twisted Pistols pix

The Southland Drifters, with members from Waxahachie, Texas, chose a Bob Dylan song for their cover. Jimmy Nash on vocals, brothers Chris Styles on lead guitar and Clinton Styles on bass, and Alex Majors on drums, complemented that choice with a spicy mix of their own songs. Listening to this group, a good ear can hear not only the Texas country influence, but that of a little soul, a little rock, and more than a little originality.

Taylor led off the critique, starting with having loved the Dylan cover.”It’s amazing how he still influences artists after so many generations.” Taylor called the last song the band did, name of which slips me now, “just a little pitchy.”
“I like the chemistry between lead singer and bass player,” Perez commented. “There was a lot of magic there, cool.” Perez went on to say to the second of the two red-headed brothers, “Absolutely great picking (lead guitar). It’s almost scary watching you playing, sort of like a hurricane.” Perez said he was also impressed with the great rhythm also coming off the stage, and with the honesty in the lyrics, specifically mentioning “Crazy.” “It’s like you are opening up. The first band set the bar up and you guys reached it.”

Dillon, for some reason being dubbed the male hippie Paula Abdul of the group (I’ll research that out), said, “Great job, guys. What Dave was seeing, I saw, too.”

Southland Drifters pix

Davis Lane, and lead singer Josh Hamman was emphatic to point out that it’s not “The Davis Lane Band” because there is no Davis Lane person, perhaps had the most energetic of cover songs. They chose Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Wanna Rock and Roll,” well delivered, especially considering that two weeks ago, it was uncertain just who would be plahing bass with them. Josh led on vocals, David Frost on lead guitar, and Jake Boggess on drums. They brought with them an excellent bass player, Bryan Foster. Together, they had the room shakin’ that thing during the Hubbard song. The remainder of their tunes mixed country with rock with blues with folk, sort of a Red Dirt mixture of styles

Perez took the mic first at critique time, getting the not-so-fluff stuff out of the way first. “It seems like you could tighten it all up a bit. With that being said, just keep on doing what you are doing.” Perez commented on one of their originals as being impressive “Dave’s Darkhorse Tavern.” About the Hubbard cover, Perez said, “It was like ZZ Top covering Ray Wylie Hubbard.”

Brett asked the band about its locale, and learned that the band is from Van, Texas, and now from Dallas, via Glen Rose, Arlington, and North Richland Hills. “Sabine River Bottom” is a cool tune, and Jake, great harmonies and you drummed your ass off,” Dillon complimented.

Taylor commented on a Tweet he said he received because of the live streaming set up for the competition. “Somebody tweeted that they thought it was the final round” Taylor got into the mode the judges’ table often pix, that of “love child” descriptions, and said that Davis Lane was like a love child between Jackson Taylor and Speed Trucker.

Davis Lane pix

Prizes for this competition include a recording contract with Shiner Records, complete with professional artwork, promotion, and distribution; new equipment for the band members; and now a feature article in a music magazine. More about that as we move on with the contest.

None of the four bands which weren’t immediately selected to move on are totally eliminated yet. The first round ends as a Wildcard Week, with the sponsors choosing three of those eliminated in Round 1 to again compete, sometimes because the scores were so close, and other times because the sponsors saw something in them that maybe the judges might have missed.

Next week’s contest will be at Hat Tricks in Lewisville, and will see Jeremy Phifer, Jake Bays, and The Kerry Davis Band on stage at 8 p.m.