lokalgrown brings it home: Energy and eclectic sound dominate concert

In the land of obscure, acoustic bands, they’re making a name for themselves.

One concert at a time.

Monday night in the Kent Concert Hall, five-member lokalgrown performed their unique mix of comprimise rock for the first time at Utah State University this school year. The band filled the venue with an accoustic style and eclectic energy that many fans have come to love.

And many others are just discovering.

Opening for lokalgrown was the six-or-so member funk band, Hassenpfeffer and the Bombdiggity. With fast, indistinct lyrics that distracted rather than added to the overall groove, the band lost much of its audience appeal (except for a few groupies, most of whom I happened to be sitting next to). Their unique instrumentation which included a muted trumpet, harmonica and accordion was a bonus, but even here they needed to blend their sound.

Even a little puree wouldn’t have hurt.

Overall, its arguable that Hassenpfeffer and the Bombdiggity have potential, but the group needs to treat its shows with a little more focus on overall audience enjoyment (perhaps by cutting down on the distracting performance by their lead singer) and less on pleasing friends and groupies.

Taking the stage with their comparitively lucid sound, lokalgrown played a lively mix of songs from all three of their albums.

Their newest album, Twelve, has been almost a year in the making and represents a slightly different sound for the band, especially in the songs written by bass player Dan Callister, whose influences include Phish, Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead.

Heavy on vocals, the band switched back and forth between slower love ballads and … well … faster love ballads. Love, with a few exceptions, was a fairly common theme of the evening. Dan, Quinn Dietlein, Nate Davis and Jake Callister (Dan’s brother) switched back and forth between melody and harmony during the course of the evening.

The defined tone of their voices meshed together no matter who was singing lead and who was on back-up.

The reggae feel of “Scoop me up” and the down-on-the-farm twang of “Stinks so purdy” hit home with much of the audience, while faster paced accoustic-blends like “White Knights” and “Come Alive” got them tapping their toes and, for a few brave souls, dancing in the isles.

Covers of Coldplay’s “Clocks” and Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” were performed without inhibition which added aspects of the bands unique sound to the songs.

Special guests playing the banjo, electric violin and bongos gave the concert a more multifarious feel and added great counter-harmonies.

Beyond the music, however, lokalgrown’s showmanship and witty banter between members helped draw in the audience and gave many of the songs a more personal feel.

People buy CDs for the music.

They go to concerts for the energy and entertainment.

With all the preperation behind their CD release concert, the band couldn’t help but come out in full force. If they held anything back, they certainly didn’t let on to their secret.

Matt Wright is a music critic and assistant features editor for the Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent to him at mattgo@cc.usu.edu.

lokalgrown pianist Quinn Dietlein sings a duet called, “At the end of the day,” with his wife Dawn during the bands CD release concert Monday night in the Kent Concert Hall. (Photo by Jessica Alexander)

Matt sadowski plays the congo drums as Aaron Ashton plays the fiddle during the localgrown show. (Photo by Jessica Alexander)