by Ione Dellos
Band members wait in front of the bathrooms, eyes anxiously fluttering from the stage to the growing audience in the Gutswurrak Student Activities Center. After the deepest sigh one could possibly take, they make their way to the stage and prepare their set. It’s Local Band Night at the SAC. Humboldt’s local bands overcame their nerves and brought the good times to the stage.
Starting the night off, local duo Cowboy Daddy took to the stage. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Skye Freitas and drummer/keyboard maestro Conner West, the two have performed as Cowboy Daddy for a little over a year. They work well together, always looking to each other while on stage. They lock eyes to land the ending chords of a song, or to check on each other mid-set.
This was Freitas’s first live performance in over a year, but aside from temporarily losing her guitar pick, the performance went off without a hitch. She soon discovered it in the right hand pocket of her jacket.
“The right is always right,” Freitas said.
The second band to perform was Shaggy Joon, composed of local duo Lily Worthington and Grant Apicella. Worthington plays guitar and sings, and Apicella backs them up from behind the drumset.
They came up with the name for the band in Worthington’s dorm room, and they’ve been playing together for about a year. Complicated strumming patterns and rapid chord changes are handled without a sweat when Worthington is on stage, and the assured confidence with which they handle a guitar are nothing to point a finger at. Worthington dedicated one of the songs to their girlfriend.
“If you got somebody you love, pull them tight,” they said.
They encouraged the crowd to dance a little slower to the song. Concert attendees locked hands and exchanged loving stares as they swayed gently, the gentle guitar riffs and bubble lights setting a dreamy mood.
Shaggy Joon closed out the set with “2 a.m.,” one of Worthington’s favorite songs to perform live. They thanked the remaining audience for sticking around until the end of the show, and began to pack up their things. Despite the small crowd size, most attendees stuck around until the end of the night.
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