LOCAL MUSIC
New experimental rock collective plays first San Marcos show
A symphony of sounds bounced off the walls of Alchemy Records earlier this month as music lovers crowded together to experience the experimental. It is uncommon for a band to have only one song on their set list for a live show, but when local musician Connor Gryder booked a concert for his new band Purgatory Creek at the local record store he had only one song in mind; “Mending” is an approximately 30-minute song
composed by Gryder and performed with members Kera Krause on clarinet, Ryan Masnicki on guitar, Egan Anderson on drums, Collin Swayze on drums, Miles Oshan on bass and Gryder on guitar and vocals. The band went on second during a packed concert with a stacked line up including J.Dahlia, The Holy Temple, True Summit and Arbordae.
The crowd’s excitement and curiosity grew as Gryder and his bandmates started to set up their instruments after an energetic first set by J.Dahlia. It is also uncommon for a band to have two drum sets and two drummers, but Purgatory Creek is anything but common. For the next half hour the crowd was transfixed by the melodic sounds of drums, guitars, bass and even a clarinet. The experimental rock collective communicated through their instruments, mending together melodies and keeping the heartbeat of the concert alive.
The rock collective came together naturally over time. Gryder recently joined Kera Krause’s band After Aristotle, which is a sparkly emo-grunge rock band based in Austin. After discovering Krause played the clarinet and saxophone, Gryder invited them into his new project. Krause described the process of playing the clarinet in this form as very freeing since they had been classically trained in the instrument.
“There were a lot of times when Connor specifically told me that all the things they tell you not to do, all the sounds you’re not supposed to make on the clarinet, you can do that here in this one section of the song, where we want to go really crazy,” Krause said. “So it was cool in that way for me because I got to kind of play that instrument in a way that I really never have before.”
Egan Anderson found his way to Central Texas after playing in Colorado Springs based band Super Clang! Anderson met Gryder and they started playing together and bonded over their shared love of the rock band Swans.
Miles Oshan met Gryder while working the merch booth together at the Austin- based psych festival Levitation. Oshan’s first string instrument was the bass, which he was able to return to for Purgatory Creek. Oshan’s performance was engrossing, at times he was on his knees striking a drum stick across his bass strings to create a unique sound and an engaging performance. “Part of the beauty of this kind of music, especially more long form compositions, is you can really kind of lose yourself in it and forget who and where you are,” Oshan said.
Oshan and Masnicki also play together in the rock band True Summit.
“[I’m] very fortunate and lucky to get to share a stage with half of that band every night. They’ve been a real inspiration for me,” Gryder said.
After Gryder attended a few True Summit concerts, he and Masnicki started playing music together.
“We just jammed, and there was some pretty cool chemistry. I just enjoy their company. I enjoy the music,” Masnicki said.
The beauty of music lies in its variety. From endless genres and instruments there are millions of ways to make sounds.
“Purgatory Creek has been a really great opportunity to explore more of a long form, free form kind of music thing that I’m not used to because everything I’ve been used to up until that point was in True Summit,” Masnicki said. “It’s all very composed and put together; [However with] Purgatory Creek, it’s sort of freeing and loose, and it allows for a lot of expression that would otherwise not come through.”
After the bandmates came together to form Purgatory Creek, the next step was to jam it out. For the song titled “Mending” Gryder had come up with a rough structure, which he wanted to write around. Through practice together, the composition started to evolve and change with the original main section of the song being moved to the third section.
“You learn through playing with people, and you go, ‘Man we should really do something different there,’” Gryder said. “For ‘Mending,’ I came in with a structure, and we developed it. And then we added to it, and now it’s kind of this behemoth that we have to execute and that’s fun.”
Purgatory Creek is in the process of recording the piece, “Mending” as an EP as well as writing new songs. Keep an eye out for future performances. One can follow the band’s instagram for more information at @purgatorycreekband.
Above (red), Miles Oshan plays his bass with a drum stick during Purgatory Creek’s first performance in Austin. Photo courtesy of Cody Read (red) Egan Anderson and Collin Swayze played double drums during Purgatory Creek’s first show at Empire Control Room in Austin. Photo courtesy of Cody Read
Above, Drummers Collin Swayze and Egan Anderson keep a rhythmic beat during Purgatory Creek’s second live show at Alchemy Records. Daily Record photo by Rebekah Porter
Above (red) Ryan Masnicki strums his guitar with a bow during Purgatory Creek’s first live performance. Photo courtesy of Cody Read
Above, Purgatory Creek rocks out during their show at Alchemy Records with Kera Krause on clarinet, Miles Oshan on bass and Ryan Masnicki on guitar. Daily Record photo by Rebekah Porter
