PHOTO BY KAITLYN WILKES
Aft first, when the members of Austin-based four piece Grocery Bag got an email from Billy Idol’s manager, they thought it was a scam.
“It was insane because we didn’t think it was real,” vocalist Bella Martinez told Pleaser. “But it was his manager reaching out and being like, ‘can you guys play?’ And we’re like, ‘us?’ ”
What turned out to be a very real email led to the band opening for the English rocker for two dates in Arkansas and New Mexico. Although the group has been recognized by Austin’s NPR station, invited out by soccer team Austin FC, and played Levitation fest and South by Southwest, these shows in particular took “quite a bit of prep” guitarist Dillon Aitala said.
“We had to bring all of our own equipment in terms of the soundboard, all of the cables, all of the microphones, the microphone stands,” he said. “It was a good experience. We learned a lot, and we learned, damn, we can really pack the f*ck out of our van.”
Four years ago, the band started as a joke, bassist Logan Kerman said. Now, he said, it’s not a joke given the fact that the band had a 5 p.m. set time at Weekend 1 of Austin City Limits.
“We’re making the most of it,” Aitala said.
“Doesn’t matter if it rains. Doesn’t matter if it’s wet or hot or humid or cold or stinky. We’re gonna make the best of it and have a good time.”
The band’s mission to have a good time can be seen in their most recent EP Deadvolt. Kerman and drummer Jimmy Mercado played around with 80s funk, and distortion was brought by Martinez and Aitala. The sound also has the gritty, unfinished edges of 90s alt rock.
A more unique inspiration, like the psychedelic-inspired riff in title track “Deadvolt” came from rewatching Breaking Bad. Part of the muse was seen in real life when the band performed in New Mexico with Billy Idol.
“[When] Gus poisons everybody at the pool, there’s this O.C. song that plays, and [“Deadvolt” is] like the vibe of that,” Aitala said. “The house is completely gated off. It's become such a tourist attraction, it's probably hell living there, but it was really cool to see where they filmed all that stuff. Musically being able to tie that [in] I think it's fun.”
The EP was slowly rolled out over the course of a year, and originally wasn’t even supposed to be an EP, Aitala said. Everything was recorded separately and was done one song at a time, which was different from their first album Break You, which was recorded live in a studio with a new song every day.
“It was just like a whole process of really dialing in each song, and trying to get it just down to, like, sonic perfection. That's a bunch of bullsh*t,” Aitala joked. “But it was fun.”
The band wrote as they went, Kerman said, writing a scratch guitar part and then recording it on a take.
“I think it prepared us for the next thing after that,” he said. “So it was definitely a stepping stone, knowing that we can self produce something and we can record it on our own.”
Taking those new skills and putting them to practice, the band’s sophomore record is coming out next year with the first single released on November 5.
