With a new school year under way and campus filled with fresh faces, there’s change in the air. But sometimes it’s comforting to run into an old friend – or an old tradition like concerts in the Coffee House on campus.
Today at 7 p.m. the ASUCD Entertainment Council and Michael Leahy will give students a chance to see the year’s first Coffee House show with Seattle-based band The Cave Singers as headliners. The show is $5 and is open to all ages. Tickets can be purchased at the door or at the Freeborn Box Office. Sacramento folk-trio Silver Darling and local duo Oh Foot – which includes freshman Zachary Bauman – will provide opening tunes.
Leahy, DJ for “Cool As Folk” on KDVS 90.3 FM and concert organizer for Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, said the event balances the need to feature up-and-coming local bands along with established acts like The Cave Singers, who are currently on tour with Calexico and opened for Death Cab for Cutie last April in Freeborn Hall.
“[The Cave Singers] have a really great sound,” he said. “It’s a raw and kind of dirty rock blues sound with strong percussion. They can drive a crowd and get people singing, stomping and clapping along.“
Leahy said the show addresses – at least in part – the common complaint that concerts in Davis are too expensive and only for those 21 and over.
Entertainment Council Director Thongxy Phansopha said that working with on and off campus groups to bring shows and events to Davis is a priority for the EC this year.
“On campus events are in high demand,” he said in an e-mail. “We like to utilize the Coho when we can because it has a centralized location on campus that every student knows.“
Coming off a recent Sacramento show celebrating the release of their first full-length album, Your Ghost Fits My Skin, Silver Darling are set to perform these new songs tonight in Davis. The record was released through Leahy’s Crossbill Records and produced by local artist Christian Kiefer.
“We recorded the new album … in Sacramento on Neil Young’s old tape machine,” said Kevin Lee, the group’s lead singer, in an e-mail interview. “The songs are about the human spirit dying and coming back to life again.“
Lee said he is enthusiastic about performing with The Cave Singers.
“They are a great band,” he said. “We played with them last year at the now defunct Cool Cat Gallery in Sacramento and they ruled.“
Lee said that journalists never fail to ask him about his perspective on the Sacramento music scene.
“I think it is because people feel like the scene is terrible … or nonexistent,” he said, adding that even setting up a show in Davis for an acclaimed band like The Cave Singers proved to be a struggle.
On the other hand, Leahy noted that The Cave Singers specifically wanted to play in Davis and that the show was actually an extra concert in their schedule.
But to keep more shows coming, Leahy said that people need to come out and have a good time.
“Everyone’s in this together,” he said. “The most important part of the equation is for the fans to come out, keep things going and be the scene’s heartbeat.“
ZACK FREDERICK can be reached at arts@californiaaggie.com.
