Words by Justin Hurty//Illustration by Abby Rodriguez
Jackpot Saloon & Music Hall
Lawrence, Kansas
August 25

As I walked into the Jackpot Saloon & Music Hall, I knew that tonight there would be something happening here. It was hot. An hour before the first set—from Hunters and Gatherers—the place was full. Western decor, whiskey, hipsters, mods, hippies, beatniks, socialites, the distinct odor of perspiration, and Drakkar Sauna sauntering around in outfits that pronounced their status as real western minstrels of the night. It was the release party for this duo’s third studio album “Jabraham Lincoln” (out last week on the magnificent Marriage Records) and everyone knew it. Outside was lightning, thunder and a torrential downpour. This seemingly dissuaded no one from showing up, nor did it help cool the hot Kansas evening. In fact, the rain bolstered the humidity and hotness.

Hunters and Gatherers opened with a tinny, Casio keyboard organ sound of the everyone-had-one-of-those-in-the-80s-variety, although his had a few more knobs than mine had, maybe this being the deluxe version. It fell quickly into a laid-back set. Chord changes with meandering melodics from the guitar, and the singer’s understated vocal defined their idea of indie. By now, the heat of the evening was becoming a true factor, and as the mercury rose, the crowd found itself in what could easily be likened to an actual sauna.

In their old styled poker outfits, or perhaps the garb of a Wells Fargo banker, Jeff Stolz and Wallace Cochran settled the harmophone, guitar, bass drum, and tambourine shoe into another set of the strange breed of sound they like to make. The music has been called deconstructed folk, and murder balladesqe, but the definition they give denies those titles in favor of a little ambiguity. They create tight vocal harmonies, with lyrics that can make you feel they are just a touch insane. The guitar and harmophone and an air-powered organ in a suitcase, serve as the basis for the vocals, the rhythm section being only two feet of Stolz makes for a simplicity that a regular drummer would find impossible, and keeps their sound full of space such that all the elements of each song are apparent. On a couple tunes, they were joined by a stand-up bass player, and two of them found the Sauna playing as a quartet with a trumpet added into the equation. As they played I produced enough sweat to keep me damp the rest of the night. My shirt was also used as a sweat depository for a pretty young woman who thought I was someone else and found herself wearing an embarrassed look when she realized who exactly I was not. I could also see Stolz and Cochran sweating in their costumes. They were probably hotter than I was, with the red lights shining down on them. Maybe this was a night currated by an Old West pimp, and the sounds were made to induce brothel goers to leave their wives and families for real this time and go out on the road with a circus act that could easily attain psychedelic uncertainty, tragic happenings, comic blunders, and a caravan of followers from all walks of life. Who knows for certain.

Drakkar Sauna
Drakkar Sauna’s Daytrotter Session—so great you won’t think you deserve it
Marriage Records