Florida has no shortage of good alternative/indie music scenes. There's St. Augustine, Melbourne, Gainesville, Miami, and now a much closer locale: Sarasota.
During Creative Loafing’s 25th anniversary Warehouse Arts District party, three noteworthy Sarasota acts — Bard and the Mustache (now Teach Me Equals), Cats in the Basement and Brazos the Rat — shared a steamy, dreamy, menagerie-like “stage” at Zen Glass Studio, playing to a room full of dirty hipsters seeking out the latest aural high. Their sets provided a small peek into the intriguing variety of acts bubbling up south of Tampa Bay.
But the scene is a tough nut to crack, say the musicians. The lack of venues, the high number of quality bands competing to play those venues, and the city’s lack of support for its music scene aren't conducive to burgeoning talent and drives many musicians away.
Still, even the well-acquainted movers and shakers of the Sarasota music scene all agree: something really special is happening down there.
Bands in the Sarasota scene: Teach Me Equals, Good Graeff, Meteoreyes, (the) Umbrella Cult, TumbleWeave, Raef, Physical Plant, The Wallies, Cats in the Basement, Brazos the Rat, Hail Dale.
Venues: Growler’s Pub, Cock N Bull, Sarasota Lanes.
Upcoming shows: Heavy Pets, Hail Dale, (the) Umbrella Cult, and The Wallies at Cock n Bull, Fri., July 27; Good Graeff homecoming show at Growler’s Pub, Fri., Aug. 23.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2013.