I don’t need to tell you that when Cask & Drum arrives this Saturday, you’ll want to catch Drive-By Truckers and Girl Talk.
They’re at the top of the bill. You’re quite familiar.
“Seeing the Truckers for the first time was definitely inspiring,” Birmingham’s Lee Bains told Weld in an interview this week. “I snuck into Five Points Music Hall with a fake I.D. to see them on the Southern Rock Opera tour and it was unlike anything that I had ever seen. They were a rock and roll band with guitar solos and songs and the whole bit, but they were ragged as hell and it felt…vital.”
They’ll go on at 7:30 p.m. And at 9:45 p.m., Girl Talk will take the stage for a late night dance party. The co-headliners of this festival’s sophomore year couldn’t be more diverse, and neither is to be missed.
But no, what I’d like to tell you about are some of the gems on this bill that you might otherwise skip. “There’s football on,” you’ll say. “I’ll get to Lakeview afterward.”
First and foremost, there’s Bains. With one of the day’s earliest sets, the Glory Fires can be easy to overlook on the Cask & Drum stage. I’m still surprised to find out how many Birmingham residents haven’t seen the band’s live performance — one of the grittiest, rawest and energetic live shows around began in your own backyard. Few times have I seen an artist leave so much of themselves on a stage, and Bains does it every single time.
Before Bains? Kansas Bible Company takes the stage from 1:30-2 p.m. A dozen members strong, Kansas Bible Company features a five-piece horn section and two percussionists that engulf their audiences in a wall of rock and roll sound. Regulars at venues around town like Good People Brewing Company, this will be the largest Birmingham stage that the Nashville-based band has taken.
Wild Cub also calls Nashville home, but their dance-rock sound doesn’t fit their hometown mold. Earlier this year, lead singer Keegan Dewitt explained the move to the Music City. “It seemed really important to be able to pursue whatever my passion was with the entirety of myself. I moved to New York when I was 17 years old; it fundamentally formed me as a person during my nine years there,” he said. “I still, in many ways, am a New Yorker before anything else. That being said, I was spending all my time trying to afford being a New Yorker. [Laughs] Moving to Nashville gave me the opportunity to make music — both songwriting and film composing — my full time job.”
Their LP Youth, released in January of last year, was one of the best debuts of 2013. Another high-energy set, you’ll see Dewitt join on percussion and there’s a chance you’ll hear a familiar cover from an EP also released this year titled Letters Home From Far Away. The band will follow the Glory Fires on the Cask & Drum stage from 4 to 5 p.m.
There are a couple of highlights on the Reg’s Coffee House Stage for me, including a third Nashville-based band. The Apache Relay began their career on a different path than the one it eventually reached when lead singer Michael Ford joined the band. “Originally, it was Mike, Brett and Kellen, and it was, like, an acoustic bluegrass trio,” Ford told me. “Basically, what happened was that I was doing some solo shows and I had heard that Mike and the guys had an acoustic trio, and I just thought it would be really interesting to combine my vocals with the elements of bluegrass that existed within their trio. I called them up and we played a few shows together and it was really good. We decided to make a record, and the first record that we made, 1988, was two months after the first show we played together. So, yeah, they were doing their thing and I was doing my thing and we felt that it was most natural and made the most sense to combine forces.”
The Apache Relay will perform from 5-5:45 p.m.
And if I may recommend one other band that may not be on your radar, it’s “Kentuckiana’s” Houndmouth. The band, which calls Louisville home but spends plenty of time on both sides of the Ohio River, is most easily blanketed under the Americana label. It’s led by Katie Toupin and it, too, is incredibly high energy. The show hedges more toward the pace of a Lee Bains and the Glory Fires show than many of its other Americana peers. They’re on from 6:45-7:30 p.m.
The day will get underway at 11 a.m. with the WJOX Kick’n Chick’n Wing Festival, while the International Wines and Craft Beer Tasting Experience will take place from 3:30-5 p.m. Backyard Birmingham Tailgate Tents will provide a space where fans can keep up with all of the day’s college football action without missing the performances. Advance general admission tickets are $30. Advance Cask Pass tickets, which allow entrance to the wine and beer tasting experience, are $100. Advance VIP tickets are $200. Those prices will increase as the week continues. For more information, visit caskanddrum.com.
