Group Shower makes music for all the right reasons. If they were doing it for money or other self-indulgent wants, they’d be playing something other than adult slacker rock. They do it because it’s a good time, which should be the reason behind any artful pursuit. They’ll also play music for a good cause, like Nordfest III, which will take place on Saturday at Mancos Brewing Co. in Mancos. In addition to Group Shower, the lineup will feature Bluegrouse, Dana Ariel and the Comin’ Up Roses, The Crags and Farmington Hill.
If you go
WHAT: Nordfest III featuring Bluegrouse, Group Shower, Dana Ariel and the Comin’ Up Roses, The Crags and Farmington Hill.
WHEN: 3 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Mancos Brewing Co., 484 U.S. Highway 160, E. Frontage Road, Mancos.
TICKETS: Suggested $20 donation will raise money for two regional cancer support organizations. Admission at the door.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://tinyurl.com/bdenje45.
Nordfest began in 2023 as a fundraiser for local musician Erik Nordstrom, to support the founding member of Lawn Chair Kings and Farmington Hill with bills from his battle against advanced prostate cancer. Nordstrom has continued to carry on the fundraiser as a way to give back to the cancer community, organizing the event to support local cancer organizations.
Group Shower began as a group of friends getting together for an acoustic jam that wasn’t bluegrass based. When a drummer was added, they realized a drummer playing as quietly as possible will still drown out non-amplified instruments; so they plugged in.
“We rocked it up,” said guitar player and vocalist Matt Kenna. “It’s great playing with a drummer and bass player instead of just guitars, and it really makes the sound fuller, and it’s much more fun.”
A handful of musicians came and went, with the current lineup being Kenna along with Pete Diethrich on drums; Andy Snow on bass; Ayla Moore on vocals, castanets and vibraslap; and Scott Moore on mandolin, guitar and vocals.
After years of playing backyard parties, random one-off shows and KDUR Cover Nights, it was time to get serious. Kenna had a musician friend back East who had just made a record, so he figured they should enter the studio as well, so they piled into local studio Eagle Sound.
“We have some original songs, so let’s make an album,” Kenna said. “And it was a really fun process. You know, lots of practice and practice, and then going into the studio. We had never done that before.”
Recorded mostly live with a few short, overdub sessions, the result is the Group Shower debut titled “What Could Go Wrong?”
File this release under good, old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll, as it’s a laid-back blast of left-of the dial inspired indie-rock that nods to Green on Red, NRBQ, The Jet Black Berries or even Paul Westerberg. With a subtle nod to the Paisley Underground, it’s a sound that 1980s era independent radio dubbed “progressive.”
Songwriting efforts for the band begin as individual outings, which ultimately turn into a team effort; one member has the idea, then the band hammers it out until it’s ready to play.
“They’re Group Shower songs; we all worked on them. Five of them I started off writing the basic parts. Ayla Moore wrote two, and Scott wrote one,” Kenna said. “But as a group we do a lot of changes to the chord progressions, and tempo changes here and there. So they’re Group Shower compositions.”
At Saturday’s fundraiser, the band will dig into tunes that are on the album, as well as tossing out a few obscure covers by the likes of Dan Hicks, Devil Makes Three and likely one of the more obscure Jagger/Richards cuts regularly ignored by classic rock radio.
Group Shower remains a band driven by the music, not the music business. That’s prevalent in their sound, a sound from a group of music lovers pursuing the creation of loose rock ’n’ roll.
“If we were a pro band trying to make money, we would have been more perfectionist about it,” Kenna said. “In the end, we’re a group of friends trying to have fun.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
