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Local bands play at the hop (Slideshow)

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Local bands play at the hop (Slideshow)

A crowd gathered in a chilly Spokane venue to watch local bands and support boxing. Post Falls based bands Willow and The Colourflies, performed as well as Spokane band Sweet Rebel D at The Hop Feb 6.

The event was created to support the Spokane Boxing League and included a beatbox performance by one of the boxers in between bands.

Willow opened the show with what lead singer and guitar player River Ramajo describes as “a heavy punk/dirge/power pop/ whirlwind of noise.”

Willow is comprised of 3 members, including Ramajo on vocals and guitar, Kayla Romans on bass and Matthew Legard on drums.

Ramajo has a lot of energy when performing; he often jumps around and pushes his guitar into his amp to create loud feedback. Willow pulls inspiration from bands like Scratch Acid, the Raincoats, the Gang of Four, The Stooges, Black Sabbath, and The Slits.

The Colourflies also performed a set described as “New Wave Surf alterna pop” according to lead singer Matthew Legard. The crowd was energetic throughout the set and

Legard encouraged a friendly banter with the audience between songs.

The Colourflies are comprised of four members, including Legard on vocals and guitar, Scotty Hohman on guitar, Quest Johnson on bass and Paul Barbieri on drums.

Their set included a cover of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” as well as many original songs. They get much of their musical inspiration from bands such as, the Beatles, the Posies, Pixies, Talking Heads, Psychedelic Furs, the Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth and St. Vincent.

The Colourflies are currently working on recording their next album and releasing a new single “Vanilla Coke” in March. They will be playing another show on April 22 at Club 412 in Spokane.

Sweet Rebel D rounded out the show with a small acoustic set. Darren Eldridge, lead vocals, set up his microphone with “Skully,” his fake skull, attached to the end of it, and a tambourine tied to his leg with bandanas. They played a number of bluegrass tunes with their own unique flare.

Sweet Rebel D, also know as SRD, started playing over two years ago as a three piece “alt/folk/punk thang.” “SRD was an intentional ‘melting pot’ of everything we felt was cool from 100 years of American music.” Eldridge said.

Eldridge became part-owner of Germany/Seattle based independant record company, Spark and Shine, in 2010.

“This whole ‘music thang’ is the beat of heart, personally speaking,” Eldrdge said.

The managing editor of the NIC Sentinel. Tyson is on his third year at the newspaper and is skilled in different journalism subjects. He is also skilled at underwater basket weaving and juggling chainsaws.

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