Cheap beer, cheap pizza, and free tunes

Student shredders take first flight at Jam’s Pint Night

Icarus & Suns, a three piece band featuring Miles Oliart on drums, Nick Redfern on bass and Rahkiv “Rah” Lewis on guitar, played their first show at the Jam in Arcata last night.

“We’re progressing and going somewhere now,” Oliart said. “I’m super stoked about the situation.”

The group takes influence from a number of genres; citing musicians like Jaco Pastorius, Jimi Hendrix and Django Reinhardt as some of their favorite artists.

“I honestly get my rhythm from Gabriela Quintero,” Lewis said. “She came to campus this semester, but I missed it and was bummed!”

The Jam has been holding shows in Arcata for more than 30 years, claiming that the Foo Fighters played their first show at the bar on Feb. 23, 1995.

The Foo Fighters actually played their first show days before on Feb. 19, 1995 in Seattle, Washington, but you can see how the legend would help shape the Jam’s persona for eager young musicians like Icarus & Suns.

Icarus & Suns has only been practicing for a month or so, but the trio already seems to have found their rhythm, playing nearly 40 minutes of downtempo Latin-influenced songs to a packed house on Thursday night.

“We have three hours [of songs] or something ridiculous like that,” Redfern said.

Although the band was limited to a 30 minute set, it didn’t take long for the crowd to get in groove with them.

“Cheap beer, cheap pizza, and free tunes,” said crowd member Connor West. “People are out here having a good time.”

The name for Icarus & Suns comes from the myth of Icarus and Daedalus attempting to escape Minos maze in Greece with wings made of wax and feathers. Icarus gets carried away with his ability to fly and goes too close to the sun, melting away his wings and sending him to his death below.

“I wanted to remind myself not to fly too close to the sun,” Redfern said. “Hopefully we don’t melt away.”