Vetiver @ Don Quixote's, Felton

So I moved last week. I bought a house up in the redwoods above Santa Cruz in a town called Felton. And this town has a Mexican restaurant called Don Quixote's. They have a nice dancefloor and host a lot of consistently good nights of music. In fact it is one of my favorite places to see live music. I used to drive up to this joint to see bands like Hot Buttered Rum and Zilla, and see old friends. But now it is also the place I like to stop and have a beer when I work late. And tonight there was a band called Vetiver. I had heard their name bounce around, but I had never heard their music. With that name, I thought they would be less accessible... with more of awkward indieness. But this venue doesn't really book bands that challenge listeners like that. I walked in at 10pm and caught the last four songs. And what I heard was good ol' roots rock with a young face and a young 20-30 something audience. They were hot! I bought their newest LP on vinyl, watched the whole scene, and enjoyed my beer. The young girl girl on keyboards and bassist meshed really well, with tasty moving lines that played off each other. The vocals were mixed low and didn't really grab me, but the band as a whole was gellin'. It still catches me off guard that a young-ish band can play honest straightforward music and draw an audience and be on Sub-Pop records. No crazy distortion feedback or out of tune keyboards or vocals drenched in effects? My ears aren't even ringing! They covered "Don't Ease Me In" for god sakes... and it was good. And now I have a reason to unpack my record player.