County Conservation District w/ Jeremy Drake & Billy Kautz + koby.
Wednesday, August 9 // Door at 8 PM // Show at 8:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket County Conservation District is an experimental noise pop act hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. CCD’s music comes from influences that at first arose from rural environments and vintage halloween ephemera. Using synth noise, tapes machines, pedals, and samplers he crafts environments that range from serene to dancey. Koby is a heart-song sorcerer, delivering story through the tender simplicity of guitar and voice. His music ferries listeners down a slow river where each song is a dream materialized through melody, magic made manifest for the enjoyment of forever. Sometimes, he does other things too. Jeremy Drake and Billy Kautz create improvised sonic encounters exploring texture, rhythm, melody, noise and space. Through the use of acoustic and electric instruments augmented by effects, an intricate and multi-layered web of improvised music is created for the listener. Guitarist Jeremy Drake was deep in the Los Angeles experimental music scene from the late 90’s to the late 00’s playing with the likes of Nels Cline, Vinny Golia, Jessica Catron and countless other visionary sound artists and improvisers. Then he started composting. Now as a dad, partner, and Zero Waste consultant, he lives in Missoula and occasionally freaks out his kids with the sounds coming from the basement. Trumpet/cornet player and composer Bill Kautz has worked in a variety of creative music projects in Missoula including work with Cole Bronson, Justin Matousek, Michael Musick, Naomi Siegel, Tricia Opstad, and as a leader/composer for his ensemble crosstalk. He is a co-founder of The FreeSessions with Naomi Siegel, a DJ and producer of KBGA’s Something Else!, a music educator and a proud stay at home dad and husband. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Ocean Lee w/ Gabrielle Tusberg + Jolene Green
Sunday, August 6 // Door at 8 PM // Show at 8:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket Ocean Lee is an indie-jazz trio from Bozeman, MT. Guitar and vocalist Kailee Failla has been performing her original music as a singer/songwriter in Bozeman since 2021. She is now playing with the accompaniment of Isaac Winemiller (bass), and Josh Poole (drums), together creating a smooth, groovy vibe that’ll keep you on your toes. Gabrielle Tusberg is a singer songwriter from Portland, OR. Her inspiration comes from female songwriters like Lucinda Williams, Fiona Apple, and Sara Jarosz. Listening to Gabrielle’s songs tells a story about her life experiences, relationships, love lost, love gained, a changed perspective, with wit and charm. Her songs will make you cry and laugh with her deepest thoughts and secrets. Jolene Green, and her neo soul/fusion band Order of the Sunshine Deity, are based out of Missoula, MT. The band has Connor Racicot on keys, Llwyn Clark-Gaynor on drums, Evan Nesbitt on bass, Cameron Kinney on guitar, Cade Chastain on alto sax, Sean Stineford on trombone and Jolene Green on vocals/tenor sax. The band was started by its frontwoman, Jolene, and plays her original music which is a blend of jazz, low-fi, soul, hip hop, and metal. The band members are all former or current top music students at the University of Montana and use their formal training to create a sound that is new, unique, and informed. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Just 4 Frillz ‘Public Display of Affection’ Album Release Party
w/ Kapture, Enzymes, & Mission FallsFriday, August 11 // Door at 7 PM (Music starts immediately) // $15 Just 4 Frillz is a dynamic musical group consisting of talented and happily married Ryan & Kelsi Staninger. After 13 years of playing music together, they focused their efforts into creating a truly special concept album titled Public Display of Affection, that recounts their journey through life and love. The band is beyond excited to share their art with you at the upcoming album release party on August 11th at The ZACC. They will showcase their unique sound and express their passion for music and for each other. With a perfect blend of soulful vocals and catchy beats, Just 4 Frillz is a band that is sure to leave a lasting impression on any audience. Listen to more Just 4 Frillz and stay up to date @ www.just4frillz.com SPOTIFY:https://spoti.fi/3pO7iwj YOUTUBE:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2s1_bVHRNpp0y-SY7CJUlw/videos INSTA:https://www.instagram.com/just4frillz/ FACEBOOK:https://www.facebook.com/Just4Frillz For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
How Strange It Is w/ Babytooth & Les Duck
Sunday, July 30 // Doors at 7:30 PM // Show at 8 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket How Strange It Is organizes collaborative chaos into tight, structured songs indebted to early-aughts classic synth-heavy indie rock along with 2010s bedroom pop and contemporary slowcore. The Portland band released their self-titled EP (bud030) in early 2022. While born from the songs of Jordan Krinsky, each track is embellished and morphed by a variety of collaborators. With a new 4-piece line up, their debut full length album In the Light of the Blistering Moon is out July 14 as a co-release between Bud Tapes and Candlepin Records. The record is highly collaborative and finds Krinsky’s precise, introspective writing intersecting with improvisations and experiments. Babytooth is the full band project of Portland-based singer/songwriter Isabel Zacharias. Annie Fifer (Yellow Room) lends guitar leads by turns distorted and crystal-clear, with Hugh Jepson (Soft Cheese, Moon Shy) behind the drums and Benson Chong (Honeydiu, How Strange It Is) splitting time between bass & keyboards. Fitting into and elaborating on the lineage of Pacific Northwest indie, the songs move between noisy melodic rock & twinkly folk experiments, recalling the scrappy ’90s/early-aughts rock of the region as much as the incisive lyrical focus of acts like Smog and Silver Jews. Les Duck, fka Dint 2, is all about fast cars, slow guitars, Avatar 2 the Way of Water, family, and friendship. Lukas Phelan and Sanders Smith trade songs exploring those very themes, while Nate Biehl rips the pedal steel, and James Rogers tickles the drums. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Jessie Thoreson & The Crown Fire w/ Cory Fay
Thursday, July 27 // Door at 7:30 PM // Show at 8 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket Jessie Thoreson & The Crown Fire is an upbeat folk-rock band based in Seattle that is driven by compelling lyrics and harmonies, soaring fiddle, and engaging percussion. Cory Fay is dirt pop/evil western/glam folk. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Bonny Doon / Summer Tour 2023
Monday, July 10 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter TicketTouring with Anna St. Lousw/ support from ESP Throughout the ten tracks in their new album ‘Let There Be Music’, you can hear the spaciousness Bonny Doon allowed themselves since their 2018 sleeper cult-classic ‘Longwave’. Their latest musical journey is one that has big payoffs for devoted followers and undeniable rewards for anyone just stumbling across the band for the first time. After extensively touring ‘Longwave’ by supporting Band of Horses, Snail Mail and Waxahatchee, Lennox and Colombo were invited by Katie Crutchfield to collaborate on Waxahatchee’s critically acclaimed album ‘Saint Cloud’. “The experience raised the ceiling on our imagination,” Colombo said. Soon after, Colombo and Kmiecik, whose steady percussion and devotion to the songs creates a container for the indelible guitar lines, both entered a time of serious healing, Jake tending to complications of his Crohn’s disease and Bobby to a brain injury and undiagnosed Lyme disease. While these detours of doctors’ appointments and experimental care were taking place, the members of Bonny Doon were also playing on Waxahatachee’s ‘Saint Cloud’ tour. These obstacles and commitments drew out the making of ‘Let There Be Music’ for several additional years, and in the process, redefined the record as an achievement in perseverance for the band. Over time Bonny Doon has shifted from being a Detroit band to an outfit spread between California and Michigan, and now Michigan and New York. Despite the new challenge of distance, members Bill Lennox (guitar and vocals), Bobby Colombo (guitar and vocals), and Jake Kmiecik (drums) leaned on their friendship to sustain the collaboration, which has blossomed more than ever on their third album. While many songwriters work in solitude, the back and forth magic of Colombo and Lennox’s process is what gives Bonny Doon their unique voice. The two write and compose each song together, planning writing retreats throughout the year – to gather ideas, edit songs, and give each other feedback, continuing to dedicate themselves to the collaborative effort of being a songwriting team. On this album we get a glimpse into the pure joy of Bonny Doon. ‘Let There Be Music’ serves as less of one conceptual story, and each song as their own individual offerings of putting words to the ordinary experience of being alive. The band is at their most dynamic and the songwriting deftly explores new terrain. The album is brimming with small truths – both profound and mundane, comforting and difficult – and we are invited to revel in them all. https://bonnydoontheband.com/ ESP is an indie-rock band from Missoula, MT. ESP released their debut album “Backyard” in December 2020. Erin Szalda-Petree’s songs are a collection of personal moments from her life, exploring themes of embarrassment, everyday life, and familial relationships. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Bluest ‘Cold Sweat’ Album Release ft. Les Duck and Tiny Iota
Friday, June 2 // Door at 8 PM // Show at 8:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Bluest is an indie band out of Missoula, Montana, orchestrated by the lyrical hauntings of Noelle Huser, brought into fruition with full band instrumentation, Erin Szalda-Petree on lead guitar, back up vox, Duncan Szalda-Petree on bass, Ally Fradkin on keys and Caleb Tutty on drums. Their debut album ‘Cold Sweat’ released on May 5, 2023 through Anything Bagel. ‘Cold Sweat’ sifts through dreams and nightmares to find solace by serenading ghosts, emboldened with a hunger to return from dissociation back into the body. Huser finds her head in the clouds, heart on her sleeve, and feet on the ground running into the unknown … Come out and kick off the summer celebrating the Bluest release dressed in your bluest best. Tiny Iota writes tiny songs that scream like a dust mite into the eternal abyss. Flavored with a fondness for doo wop and punk, their debut album HUBBUB, released May 2022 is an ode to overthinking, toeing the line between anxiety and acceptance and finding solace in uncertainty. For this special evening, tiny will be even more minuscule, playing an intimate solo set. Les Duck, fka Dint 2, is all about fast cars, slow guitars, avatar 2 the way of water, family, and friendship. Lukas Phelan and Sanders Smith trade songs exploring those very themes while Nate Biehl rips the pedal steel and James Rogers tickles the drums. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
‘Doin’ It Live!’ Artshow & Concert ft. Noise Complaint + OneLeaf + Diskonnect
Sunday, May 28 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $20 Welcome Back strives to change community attitudes towards people who have a history of incarceration by working to break down barriers to safe, supportive housing, employment, and social support. Our mission is to take away the lifelong consequences of those who have made bad choices and connect them to the resources they need to move forward in the community as good citizens. Welcome Back defines “returning citizens” as any individual that has experienced incarceration, jail, or state-mandated treatment or who otherwise faces barriers to housing, employment, or other basic support due to a criminal record, legal record, or a history of arrests. Welcome Back also aims to increase access to availability of stable housing and employment, social support, treatment, and other resources essential to reducing recidivism and increasing personal and community safety. Welcome Back is an affiliate of the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative in partnership with Partners for Reintegration. This event is a fundraiser for Welcome Back and all proceeds will go to supporting their cause. Diskonnect was born in Wisconsin, but grew up in West Chicago, Illinois. He realized he had a passion for music early on in life, but it wasn’t until later on that he took that passion and started doing something serious with it. He is influenced by the likes of J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Lupe Fiasco, Royce Da 5’9″, and Vic Mensa just to name a few. He aspires to replicate their influence and do the same for those around him to inspire change and positivity in their own lives Noise Complaint is a local band that is a mix of punk, EDM, thrash and ska. Noise Complaint is known to be a complete experience as they often surprise the crowd with weird random outfits, quirky songs and high energy enthusiasm. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Kid’s Bops! A ZACC Kid’s Rock Camp Cover Show
Ft. Spaghetti Vampire, BillyWhips, Mido Skip, New Old Future, Western States, Hibernator, & ESPThursday, May 18 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $10 // $15 ZACC Supporter Ticket The Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC) will celebrate its first ever Kid’s Bops! Rock Camp Cover Benefit Show. In the style of former ZACC community rock shows such as Rocktober and Rock Lotto, Kid’s Bops! calls for local bands and musicians to sign-up and get together with their bands to cover an assigned set of ZACC rock camp classics – everything from songs about friendship and romance, to Taco Bell indigestion, to playing soccer on the moon, and shapeshifting ducks! This all-ages benefit show features local bands Spaghettti Vampire, BillyWhips, Mido Skip, New Old Future, The Western States, Hibernator, and ESP, all covering original kid’s rock camp songs and the Spring ZACC Kid’s Rock Camp performing their own original music. Proceeds from the show will benefit the ZACC’s rock camp program – from supporting the purchasing of new gear to funding scholarships. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Jolene Green Senior Recital ft. Order of the Sunshine Deity & Tech Czar
Wednesday, May 17 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket Order of the Sunshine Deity is a neo soul/ fusion band out of Missoula MT. The band has Connor Racicot on keys, Llwyn Clark-Gaynor on drums, Evan Nesbitt on bass, Cameron Kinney on guitar, Cade Chastain on alto sax, Sean Stineford on trombone and Jolene Green on vocals/tenor sax. The band was started by its frontwoman, Jolene, and plays her original music which is a blend of jazz, low-fi, soul, hip hop, and metal. The band members are all former or current top music students at the University of Montana and use their formal training to create a sound that is new, unique, and informed. This show serves as Jolene’s senior recital as she is graduating with a degree in Jazz Studies this spring. Once upon a time (actually, right now), in a small town nestled in the foothills of a great mountain range, there exists a synth band called Tech Czar. The members of Tech Czar are known throughout the town for their strange and otherworldly sound, which was created using a combination of vintage synthesizers and cutting-edge digital technology. Their music has a hypnotic quality that can transport listeners to another dimension. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
