With a variety of genres and experience levels, the bands at First Avenue’s Rock Lottery delivered impressive and light-hearted performances.
After 25 local artists were drafted into five bands at the Depot Tavern on July 5, the newly formed groups were given 48 hours to write a set before performing on First Avenue’s mainroom stage.
The first band to perform, Andy Holmass, opened with a melodic violin tune played by Jillian Rae. Soon, however, Sam Bramble came in on the drums and the rest of the band followed for a well-received mix of small-scale orchestral rock.
Andy Holmass featured Jillian Rae, Sam Bramble (FènixDion), Kai Brewster (Lupin, Dark Bunny, General B and the Wiz), Student 1 and Nate Walker.
The crowd for the Rock Lottery grew steadily throughout the night. For band one, there was a modest but lively crowd.
“This is nuts, are you kidding me?” Kai Brewster said to the audience during their set. The audience responded with cheers.
Band number two of the night went by the name Another Language.
With only 48 hours to write their set, Another Language got topical. Their opening song featured the line, “Smoke coming down from Canada, whatcha gonna do when it comes for you?”
The crowd roared in response and by the end of their first song, people were singing along.
Mary Cutrufello’s raspy and steady voice made every lyric feel important, especially when singing about the air pollution in Minneapolis.
Featuring L.A. Buckner, Mary Cutrufello, Kevin Gamble (Goon Tribune, Ty Pow and The Holy North), Leo Lerner (Odd Prospect) and Eric Carranza (Lady Midnight, Molly Brandt, PRINTS), Another Language gave a lively and instrumentally driven performance over the course of their set, including one entirely instrumental track and several guitar solos.
Band three began their set with a theme song that went, “We’re the crew that knows just what to do, we’re the Up n’ Up band.”
Calling themselves The Up n’ Ups, band number three followed through on their name, performing an all-around entertaining and upbeat set.
In a collaboration between Landon Conrath, Kerry Alexander (Bad Bad Hats), Chelsea Oxborough (The Von Tramps, The Bloodies), Seth Duin (Too Short to be Stormtroopers, Faith Boblett, General B and the Wiz) and Beck Schacht (Room3, Rawtwhylah), The Up n’ Ups blended a harder rock beat with Kerry Alexander’s sweet and subtle vocal melodies.
Band four, Five Below FKA Wheat Trick, blended genres in a collaborative performance.
Featuring Jon Lindquist (Denim Matriarch, Palm Friends, The Happy Children), Cindy Lawson (The Clams), Julia Eubanks (Creeping Charlie), Reiki Hall and Hilary James (bathtub cig, We Are the Willows), Five Below FKA Wheat Trick debuted their original songs to a lively audience.
Jon Lindquist has played drums on the indie singer-songwriter album “Honey” by Samia, while Reiki Hall performs R&B and Punk music. Overall, band four was able to blend their styles and deliver a solid performance, meeting somewhere at the intersection of punk rock and melodic pop.
The fifth and final band of the night, Speaker, performed to an engaged late-night crowd.
Speaker’s band members included Dave Power (bathtub cig, TABAH, Cult Vibes), Molly Dean (Dusty Heart), Jake Hanson (HALEY, The Cactus Blossoms, Mason Jennings), Crystal Myslajek (IE, Brute Heart) and Cecilia Erholtz (Tabah).
“In a lot of ways I think it was freeing to jump into something fresh unhinged by expectations,” Crystal Myslajek said on social media after their performance.
All five bands at the Rock Lottery gave impressive performances given the time constraints. However, watching the collective creativity of every performer was the real draw of First Avenue’s Rock Lottery.
