Bands Gone Wild

I showed up to the Wild Oak Records production of Bands Gone Wild early (read: right on time but it would still be 20 minutes before the first band played), and met up with a friend of mine who was doing sound for the main stage that night. He informed me that instead of "Bands Gone Wild," the bands were just “gone” — three of them hadn't shown up yet.
That notwithstanding, the evening's hosts, Dain and Randall from Z-Rock, took the stage and introduced the first band, Thirst, a local group fronted by singer / songwriter Mike Comfort. With smooth vocal harmonies, tight rhythms and creative hooks, they were easily one of the night’s very best. Every song they played was an A-side — it never felt like I was listening to filler or something that they had just slapped together the night before. Their performance that night put them on my list of "Chico Bands That I Might Actually Pay Money to See."
Next up was 40 Watt Hype, a hip-hop group with a Latin feel. They were one of the groups that was missing when I got there and had to load all of their stuff onto the main stage in what must have been an obscenely short period of time (especially considering that they had a conga player and a horn section to deal with). Regardless, their catchy choruses and up-tempo beats kept a few of the people up front dancing through their entire set. Then came Pyre, a pop / rock group from Sacramento with a female vocalist. They performed a good set and the music fit well with the talented singer. After Pyre came Simplistic, a rock band along the lines of Linkin Park and Papa Roach, who also did a good job. By about this time, all of the bands had shown up and things were going smoothly.
Next to take the stage were local punk rockers, Indecisive Youth. If you live here and you still haven't seen these guys live, you’re lame. They easily got the best response from the crowd that night, with their surprisingly well-written songs, animated live show (I swear they feed their guitarist crack) and hilarious between-song commentary. I'm not kidding — if you haven't seen them, fix that problem.
After IY, it was getting late and the crowd began to disperse, but Nomy 5 (think Hoobastank) still took the stage and ran through their songs with a good deal of energy. Last up was Silence — probably the best of the heavy bands that were there to play. Crushing guitars and inventive breaks accented their set, which ended sometime around 12:20 AM — almost exactly four hours after the show started.
Overall, I must say that I was impressed with the quality of bands that had gone wild. Congrats go out to all of the people at Wild Oak Records for their excellent taste in music.
– Dana Hocking
– Photo by Matt Beier

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