Photo by Dani Manley
Two former students, Jared Justice and Robert DeLozier, organized LocalFest, which took place at the Lakeside Icehouse Saturday night.
Austin may have the reputation of being the live music capital of Texas, but that doesn’t mean Bryan-College Station is devoid of homegrown talent. LocalFest, the brainchild of two former students, brought local bands together to perform at its inaugural concert Saturday.
Jared Justice, Class of 2008 and member of The Docs, and Robert DeLozier, Class of 2012 and general manager of the Lakeside Icehouse, put the concert together to showcase the local talent of artists around the Bryan-College Station area.
“Robert … and I were talking, and we played out here last summer and he was wanting to get us back out here and I was like, ‘Hey, there are some really good local bands so let’s put on like a mini, little local fest,’” Justice said. “When he had an open weekend we just put it together. It was just to kind of showcase some of the talent that’s around the area”.
The concert featured The Daniel Gonzales Band, Forever Today, Electric Astronaut and the headliner, The Docs — Justice’s own band.
The Docs have been performing together for more than five years. Justice said the band has two albums out on iTunes and a Pandora station, and are working on a third.
“We have two albums out and we’re working on the next one, starting to release singles over the fall,” Justice said.
The Docs have found success in playing in different venues in Bryan-College Station, the greater Texas area and abroad.
“[We’ve] played at Hurricane Harry’s, we played the Grand Stafford Theater, we played Revolutions, we played at The Tap, we played at the Palace,” Justice said. “We played in Austin, we played South by Southwest last year, we played in Houston, Dallas, been on a few little short tours, just regional and some out of states.”
Daniel Gonzales, the lead singer and guitarist of the Daniel Gonzales Band, said he was thrilled to be approached by Justice about performing at LocalFest.
“We’re all very passionate about music and we love making music together and I love writing and it’s just a great stress reliever,” Gonzales said. “It kind of started as a hobby and now it’s just turned into something that I love doing and have to do, like everyday.”
Drew Meredith, bass player for the Electric Astronaut, said they have recorded with The Docs previously and they are releasing their first independent album Friday at First Friday in Downtown Bryan.
Rhonda Mainard, who attended the concert with her husband, said they heard about the event through Facebook, where she is friends with The Docs.
“We used to come many, many years ago but we just started coming again because of the music,” Mainard said.
Justice said he encourages residents of the Bryan-College Station area to familiarize themselves with local music.
“I’m pretty sure most all of us will be playing at First Friday next week, and really, check out the local scene because there’s a lot of really good talent in this area that a lot of people would be surprised about,” Justice said. “Especially with school starting out, a lot of new folks here, start to check out the local music scene.”