In San Antonio, the nation’s seventh-largest city, band Pop Pistol has not misfired on the local music scene, having been voted the 2012 Best Indie Rock Band by readers of the San Antonio Current, the city’s entertainment weekly.
The band also has found a fan base in Hot Springs.
“We’ve played at Maxine’s in Hot Springs six or seven times,” says Pop Pistol bassist George Garza, as the band relaxes in Chicago after a 12-hour drive from Columbia, Mo., during a snowstorm earlier this week. “They treat us well there, very professional and all. We book our own shows and we have not yet approached any Little Rock clubs, although we’re friends with some Little Rock musicians, including Brother Andy, Adam Faucett and Booyah Dad.”
Garza says Pop Pistol’s sound is described as “loungerock.”
“We’re probably the loudest ‘lounge rock’ band in town, but we’ve worked our way into clubs in different parts of town, some are all-ages, plus even a tapas restaurant that features jazz and world music,” he says.
Besides Garza, Pop Pistol members, who all met as students at Highland High School in San Antonio, are Alex Scheel on guitar and vocals and Jorge Gonzalez on drums. With a sound more complex than most rock trios, Garza explains that theband uses more technology than trios such as Cream or the Jimi Hendrix Experience ever had available.
“We incorporate a lot of electronics,” Garza says, “such as a sample pad with nine different triggers that our drummer uses, and a laptop. Our influences date from the early MTV days, when they actually played music videos and we saw a lot of world music, dance and electronic bands, such as Radiohead. When the Internet came along, we saw lots more things that made an impression on us.”
Pop Pistol has released two full-length albums since forming in 2005, with two extended-play discs in between the two albums.
Animal Prisms, the latest album, came out at the end of 2012. The group records original songs, but sometimes slips a cover song into its sets, depending on audiences.
“For our own fun, if we see that the crowd is made up of college folks, we might do a Radiohead song,” Garza says, “and if it’s an older crowd, maybe we’d do something by Pink Floyd.”
Opening act The Sound of the Mountain, based in Russellville, won this year’s Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase earlier this month. Formed in November 2008, the band released its debut album, The Child of Stereo in Mono, in 2010.
Pop Pistol Opening act: The Sound of the Mountain 8 p.m. Friday, Maxine’s, 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs Admission: $5 advance;
$7 at the door (501) 321-0909 maxineslive.com
Weekend, Pages 34 on 03/28/2013