In an age of auto tune and empty beats, a group of men strive to create more organic music. The Dirty Guv’nahs plan to bring their rock and blues inspired sound to the Grand Stafford Theatre on Thursday.
They kind of remind me of Kings of Leon, said Emily Moore, sophomore biomedical sciences major. More rock than country.
The Dirty Guvnahs music style follows a classic southern blues tradition. Theres soul there, plenty of it, and just enough grit to enchant. And in the South, theyve got a lot of people enchanted a homegrown favorite, their newest album, SomewhereBeneath These Southern Skies, was put together from funds drawn from a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign.
After setting a goal of $20,000 the band was shocked when fans amassed the funds in just three days. . By the end of the drive, they had $37,000 for the recording, promotion, and the start of a tour.
We recently did a CD release show in Knoxville, said lead singer James Trimble. We wanted to give a free show as a big thank you to the folks who helped us create this album, because a lot of the folks on the Kickstarter campaign came from east Tennessee.
The Guvnahs began as a band over five years ago.
We had an opportunity to play a show, and a couple of us had always thought we might be in a band, but we werent really sure, Trimble said. Over that first year we only played a handful of shows, but by that third year, it really started changing from a hobby to what we did for a living. None of us had been in a band before we started this band. We were all big music appreciators, but we hadnt really played with other people. At first it was very much a hobby thing, and then as time progressed, we ended up taking it more and more seriously.
Trimble said playing at Bonnaroo, a music festival, in 2009 made everything fall into place.
By this time, wed played a lot of Southeastern cities, played a lot of good shows, had some bad shows, Trimble said. Seeing that much high quality music in one weekend was something for me. It really encouraged me to want to pursue this whole thing.
Trimble said that he would describe their live show experience with two phrases: very wild and high energy.
I can see it being a really big sound, said Brittany Moore, sophomore animal science major. I think they sound really 80s funk.
Trimble said that most of their influence is drawn from the same rock and roll vibe that is prevalent in the new album.
Weve been kind of driving our new album as a modern, southern rock album. People call it southern rock or roots rock. Were a band that loves to play live shows, Trimble said, And we love making records. We like it all. Were definitely a touring band; were not strictly a studio band.
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The Dirty Guvnahs will perform at 8 p.m. on Thursday in the Grand Stafford on. Tickets are on sale now, online and at the door. CDs and koozies are on sale for $5 at the show..
We just want people to feel the joy that we have in making music and, hopefully, Trimble said. [We want them to] be encouraged in their own lives.