If your music palate calls for something deliciously indie yet amped up with savory pop tinges, then indie rock group One for the Team will ensure a musical bon appétit.
Hailing from Minneapolis, Minn., One for the Team is set to take the UC Davis Coffee House by storm tonight at 8 – and although it will be their first performance in Davis, their music is nothing new to many ears on campus. The show is free with a UC Davis student ID and $3 general admission.
“The Davis show will be fun,” said songwriter Ian Anderson, the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band. “We’ve had a lot of requests to come to play in Davis – this is our first time here and we’re really excited to play here.”
Currently on tour, One for the Team started as a side project and as an outlet for Anderson’s musical talent and songwriting that did not quite fit his former band.
“We were a much harder type of rock band,” Anderson said. “I wrote poppy songs on the side and didn’t know what to do with them.”
And from that side project came fellow band members Grace Fiddler (vocals and keyboard), Elliot Manthey (drums) and Jacob Huelster (bass), two full-length albums, a growing fan base and the name “One for the Team,” which is a reference to a song by fellow Minneapolis rock group Dillinger 4.
“In their song ‘Walk Away,’ there’s a line about a lot of name-dropping and how people like to talk a lot,” Anderson said. “The line says ‘take one for the team’ and in the music scene, sometimes you need to do just that.”
Anderson called the band a family unit and he said he enjoys touring with the people he considers his best friends. Although they all come from different places, he said, they ended up in the same spot and with the same hopes for the group.
After becoming a full band, getting older and producing “better music,” said Anderson, One for the Team has enjoyed their presence in the music scene.
“We’re not trendy, not big,” he said. “It’d be nice to be the next Lady GaGa, but we’re comfortable with what we are. We write pop songs in a catchy way with loud guitars and the way we fool around with it produces the indie rock feel. Everyone involved, including fans, is really committed.”
Anderson playfully terms the band as veterans. With over 180 tour dates last year alone, he described the band as “no longer a shiny penny” in the music scene. Armored with their growing popularity and music from their two albums, One for the Team is set to conquer the stage here in Davis tonight.
So what’s next for the group? After finishing up their current tour, Anderson will begin writing songs for their upcoming album. They are set to record in August after touring Europe.
MARIO LUGO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
