Barncat Country Band + Strummingbird Vegabond + Johnny Carl
Saturday, June 3 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket Barncat Country Band formed in 2021 to explore the energy found deep in the roots of old-time country music. Roadhouse country, Texas swing, the Bakersfield sound, bluegrass, and country blues all combine and erupt on stage in a ball of fiery twang! Come dance your boots bare to the raw energy of Rocky Mountain Honky-tonk at its finest. Strummingbird Vegabond is a local trio formed around the songwriting of Rebecca Kelley. Becca has been playing acoustic guitar since 2005 and is very stoked to be joined by local musician Britt Arnesen on bass, as well as local drummer Damien Margo. Together they have been playing gigs all around town, and also recorded their first album, called Summer Triangle, in fall 2022. Find it and also Becca’s first EP on all major music platforms, and also at strummingbirdvegabond.bandcamp.com. Johnny Carl grew up in Missoula and has been homeschooled since he was 10. Johnny’s father taught him guitar, and he’s been playing and singing for the last 4 years. While he was growing up his parents listened to a wide variety of music – he was exposed to everything from the early days of country, jazz, and blues, to the rock and roll, to pop. He draws inspiration from his childhood exposure to all genres and from his huge collection of 78rpm records and LPs. 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/.
8-Ball Quintet
Wednesday, May 31 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket 8-Ball Quintet is a five-piece jazz combo that plays the music of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Joshua Redman, and many more inspiring jazz musicians. The quintet consists of five students from the University of Montana Jazz Program. The group is coached by local rhythm section musician, Connor Racicot. 8-Ball Quintet is Owen Cleary on bass, Drew Saltzman on guitar, Simon Hickey on drums, Ally Fradkin on tenor sax, and Owen Meador on alto sax. 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/.
Alien Boy & GLARE
Thursday, July 6 // Door at 8 PM // Show at 8:30 PM // $15 Advance // $20 DOS Dreams and Queer Feeling. A slogan, a mission statement; maybe a bit of “don’t say we didn’t warn you”—spray-painted in white on black canvas and hung behind the band during a memorable series of 2018 shows, those four words distill the thrill of an Alien Boy set with a directness that perfectly mirrors their fearlessly sentimental guitar music. Though Sonia Weber is often singing about the insecurities and confusion of love and heartbreak, Alien Boy songs overflow with the confidence of a band that knows exactly what they’re going for, and more importantly, know that they’re nailing it. Alien Boy is guitarist and songwriter Sonia Weber, drummer Derek McNeil, and a rotating cast of Portland, Oregon scene stalwarts. As her band’s Wipers-inspired name might imply, Weber is a PDX lifer, and anyone who’s spent time in the last decade’s DIY circuit will recognize something undeniably West Coast in Alien Boy’s sound: a sharpened, focused take on the heavy guitar pop of the 1980’s, chorus pedals and punishing drums the canvas for bold strokes of recollection and yearning. (Nathan Tucker) GLARE is “Texas Shoegaze”. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
(latent) + Witch Bitch (Bozeman) + Ryan King
Sunday, May 21 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $10 // $15 Artist Supporter Ticket (latent) is a Missoula based band composed of Zack Buchholz, Nick Togliatti, and Jake Swank. These three fellers have been playing music together for nearly a decade, and this band is a culmination of their endeavors to incorporate absurdity, sincerity, and high energy music into a single intense project. Witch Bitch is a two-piece band that leaves your skull in two pieces. Dark, tropical, and fuzzy, Witch Bitch melts tsunamis, ancient pyramids, and corpse effluvium in a sonic crucible. What remains will make your bones rattle – sludgy surf that’s sweeter than sipping a piña colada on a private beach in hell. Ryan King is an artist, mostly with music and poetry, but every once in a while he gets out the paint and makes a mess too. He loves singing a good song and manipulating effects to create improvised chaos/beauty. He just might love you, too. 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/.
ESP + Motorhome + Norwell – Benefit for Blue Mountain Clinic
Sunday, May 14 // Doors at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // Choose Your Ticket Price ($10-$30) // Proceeds Benefit Blue Mountain Clinic Locals ESP, Motorhome, and Norwell play a showcase benefit for Missoula’s Blue Mountain Clinic. Proceeds will support Blue Mountain Clinic’s mission of service to the community and access to abortion care. They describe their aims as providing “…patient-centered, family practice and primary care services to the local community through a choice based perspective…” “Blue Mountain Clinic strives to provide feminist based approaches to health care, education, and advocacy in the region… [and] on the local level to improve policies that have a negative impact on patients’ economic and political access to health care” (https://www.bluemountainclinic.org/, accessed 12/5/2022). For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
The Rocking Raccoons from Sussex School
Wednesday, May 3 // Door at 6:30 PM // Show at 7 PM // $10 The Rocking Raccoons are an ensemble from Sussex School, an independent progressive school here in Missoula. They have seven members coming from grades fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth. They play the bass, guitar, drums, vocals, and keys, and have been working together for seven months now. The Rocking Raccoons will be performing eight songs during their performance at the ZACC. The songs will vary from slow, to upbeat, to fast, and will include different arrangements of pop and rock songs. This show will be their culminating performance for all of the work we have done this year, so they really hope to see you there! Watch out, because the Rocking Raccoons are about to start rockin! For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
