Sawdust City Limits Puts 10 Wildly Different Local Bands on One Bill
Serving up a genre-bending 10-act sampler platter of local music, the inaugural Sawdust City Limits will bring the scene together for one night only at The Plus on Nov. 12.
Jon Olstadt of rock band Drunk Drivers is the mind behind the madness – and one of the performers. Along with local musician Eric Christenson, Olstadt has organized a guided tour of the Eau Claire music scene. Each stop along the way represents a different place in the genre spectrum, hitting folk, punk, electronic, metal, rock, and everything in between.
“It might take people a year to catch all of the bands we have on this one night only bill. I like that it mixes different groups and scenes and builds bonds as a result.” – Jon Olstadt, organizer
Sawdust City Limits will not only provide a diversity of genres, but also of ages and experiences. The show pairs bands who have been playing in Eau Claire for many years, such as the Jim Pullman Band and the Drunk Drivers, with relatively new acts like Sniffle Party and Idle Empress.
By providing show-goers with vast musical variety, Olstadt and Christenson want to expose them to local acts they may otherwise never see.
“Sawdust City Limits is inspired by the idea that the diversity and quality of our homegrown talent should be celebrated in a large showcase format,” Olstadt says.
The artists’ talent isn’t just talk. “They are best in class – many are current or past winners of V1’s reader poll and past Eaux Claires performers,” Olstadt notes. The bands in this lineup have made appearances at the Sounds Like Summer concert series, the House of Rock, The Mousetrap, and house show venues throughout the city. “It might take people a year to catch all of the bands we have on this one-night-only bill,” says Olstadt; Sawdust City Limits wrangles a year’s worth of music into a single night.
Bands in Eau Claire have always been friendly with one another across genres, but Olstadt hopes that the show’s diversity will draw a disparate crowd, too, fostering a sense of community that will unite music fans of all sorts.
“I like that it mixes different groups of people and scenes and builds bonds as a result,” he says.
Bringing people together to celebrate and support local artists will ideally build an even stronger backbone for the Eau Claire music scene. Shows like this are one way to sustain and improve Eau Claire’s thriving arts culture and the local businesses that support it.
Plus, the organizers are emphasizing the all-ages aspect of Sawdust City Limits as a way for Eau Claire’s active under-21 crowd of music fans to finally be able to enjoy some of the bands that they miss out on at bar shows throughout the year.
“By creating events that feature a variety of original local music, I hope to convey to our community that there is a lot of fantastic music to be discovered, and more importantly that quality live music experiences are an important part of what makes living in Eau Claire special,” Olstadt says. He aims to promote the participating artists, generating better turnouts at future shows
Sawdust City Limits will provide a perfect opportunity to get together with friends, family, and strangers for a night of camaraderie and community. To top it off, every show-goer gets a free drink as well as free music downloads featuring two songs from each band. Free beer, free songs, and an awesome show? Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.
Sawdust City Limits is Nov. 12 at The Plus, 208 S.Barstow St., Eau Claire. Music starts at 7pm.
Sawdust City Limits Performers
1. Self-defined as post-hardcore garage rock, Distant Friend’s furious riffs and grungy vocals will have you head-banging by the first song.
2. Sniffle Party’s ethereal vocals and futuristic beats encompass you in vivid dreamscapes – pure electronic bliss.
3. A true Wisconsin band, Pit Wagon’s homegrown sound and boozy, honest lyrics create a folksy bluesy experience you can only find here in Eau Claire.
4. Simultaneously intense and ecstatic, Stare Across packs a punch and does high-energy hard rock like no one else can.
5. Idle Empress is indie rock at its finest. Simple and beautiful, it’s impossible to stop swaying along.
6. The Ronald Raygun melds psych, metal, drone, electronic, and rock for an experimental sound that is ever-changing, always unexpected, and a blisteringly good time.
7. Eau Claire favorite the Jim Pullman Band are classic-rock greats. Their unique sound gives new life to the rock genre, and they’re super fun and energetic live.
8. The Drunk Drivers may not be young, but they sure can rock. Their catchy and powerful tunes will have you dancing like a maniac (don’t spill your free drink!).
9. A mix of punk, rock, and country, The Gentle Guest goes good with a Wisconsin beer, and fuses genres to create a sound – and a killer live show – you won’t find anywhere else.
10. Fresh off a set at the Eaux Claires festival, Eau Claire’s own electronic wizard sloslylove has unbeatable grooves that leave you wondering how a guy and a table of synths can sound so good.
