It was a blast from the past as Theoretically Brewing, Friday, June 2 welcomed back reunited Taber born ’90s style rock band the Nix Dicksons to their patio.
Featuring frontman Tanner Holthe, guitarist/ vocalist Rob Wikstrom, bassist Dylan Sketing and drummer Sean Schneider, the band brought back the spirit of late ’90s/ early 2000s folk influenced alternative pop to a good sized crowd enjoying sunny weather.
I missed opener Ol Ben, but was excited to relive the a few years ago with The Nix Dicksons.
They played an assortment of original, catchy, folk rock tinged originals in the vein of bands like Hootie and the Blowfish.
They sang some solid vocals and Holthe and Wikstrom took turns playing leads and singing lead. Wikstrom was distracted by the arrival of the Vesano Pizza food truck, and ended up taking off after it at the end of the set.
They started off on a low key note, but picked up the tempo on an early highlight, the apt “ Heavy Metal Parking Lot” about growing up in Taber.
They followed it up with another song about friendship “ Blood Brothers.”
They are also working on some new material, so played a lot of new songs including a highlight “Don’t Talk About it”, though because it has been a while since they played here as the band broke up and members scattered to Kelowna, Montreal and Calgary a half dozen years ago, only to reunite last year, all of their songs were new to most of the audience.
One of the servers had a request for one of my favourites “ All Girls Want,” so she rushed out from behind the bar to hear Tanner Holthe play a solo version of his song about “what I thought girls wanted when I was in my 20s.”
Holthe switched to bass for a groovy number reminiscent of the Fine Young Cannibals’ ‘She Drives Me Crazy.”
Another highlight was about a supportive friend who liked to film zombie movies.
They picked up the tempo for a more Radiohead feel called “Working on The Weekend.”
And wound down with something that reminded me of Loverboy, before winding down their set with one more upbeat number “Old Crow Road.”
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
