Traveling bands come together at Casa Nueva for a night of folk music
Columbus-based folk band The Devil Doves will be joining Ann Arbor-based Dragon Wagon for the first time this Friday at Casa Nueva.
Eric Nassau, the bassist of The Devil Doves, described the sound as an “up-tempo, insightful, slightly offensive brand of folk music,” and stressed the importance of the relationship between the band and the audience.
“It’s an experience that everyone is sharing whether you’re on or off stage,” Nassau said. “We just try to keep the crowd interested and involved, and for us that means just playing hard, playing fast, and having a good time on stage.”
Originally, The Devil Doves was only a two-man group consisting of Junior Kauffman, the guitarist and singer, and Kyle Davis, the percussionist. However, after attending one of the group’s Columbus shows, Nassau believed he had something to offer.
“I came up to them and told them, ‘You guys need a bass player, I think that would sound great; having that low end that would sound really fantastic,’” he said. “They gave me a CD, a little demo that they had, and I went home and I just learned all the tunes. I came back to the gig with all my gear and said, ‘Hey, I learned your tunes, can I play with you?’ They gave it a shot, and ever since then I’m part of the band.”
Dragon Wagon is “folk rock with a shot of Irish whiskey,” according to frontman Don Sicheneder, who said the band traces its roots to a wide variety of influences.
“We have a guy with jazz background playing drums and a guy with a punk-metal background playing bass … One guy is a big bluegrass guy,” Sicheneder said. “We just put together traditional American instruments and make real fun music out of it.”
Like The Devil Doves, Dragon Wagon places an emphasis on performer-crowd interaction.
“Generally when the crowd is really with us, it makes us even better and makes things a lot easier,” Sicheneder said. “For me it doesn’t matter the amount of people we’re playing in front of. We’ve done shows in front of 30 people and it was one of my favorite shows we’ve ever done.”
Though The Devil Doves and Dragon Wagon have never played a show together, they are excited to return to Athens.
“We love the city, and we really want to work in that area because we think college towns and that type of environment really vibe well with what we do,” Sicheneder said.
The bands are in the process of recording new music and albums can be expected from both in the spring of 2015. In the meantime, The Devil Doves’ YouTube page contains live videos of its music, and Dragon Wagon has digital music for sale on its webpage.
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