The Third Town Band inspired local music lovers to flock to the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum on Friday night, as the Filipino group played a mix of favourites, giving each song a bit of their own reggae flair.
The band, made up of seven Filipino immigrants now residing in Estevan, Oxbow and Weyburn, played a varying collection of cover songs, as well as the rare original Leaving You. Performing at the art gallery, and later in the evening at Eddie's Neighbourhood Grill and Bar as part of the After Dark/After Hours concert series, the group had a few nerves to get over when attention was turned to them and the first notes were struck.
James Senires, the band's rhythm guitarist, spoke with the Mercury following the art gallery set. Senires said the band, which has only played before an audience a few times so far, was experiencing some stage fright early on.
"It's one of the first times, we've played a couple of gigs outside Eddie's, but this was one of the gigs that we had that was kind of a mellow thing," said Senires. "That was a big challenge for us because we're always loud because we're in the bar."
The group did relax after they got into the swing of things, but Senires said when they first started playing, "we were out of our comfort zone."
Members of the band had many friends in the attendance, as about 30 people filled the main gallery, and seeing supporters in the crowd helped to calm everyone down.
"As things went on, as soon as we saw some smiles and a familiar face, our friends from here, it kind of got us more comfortable," added Senires.
With vocalists Kim Marbella and Jelyne Eugenio, the band covered No Doubt's Underneath it All, 99 Red Balloons, the English version of German band Nena's original from 1983, as well as a reggae-infused version of Alicia Keys' Fallin'.
Kristofer Duran also provided vocals when the band performed U2's With or Without You, and Bryan Adam's Summer of '69.
Lead guitarist Edu Malangen sang Get Up, Stand Up during their peppy version of the classic written by Bob Marley for his band The Wailers.
The band even brought in a friend to play bongos when they hit their final song of the evening, Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine.
The Third Town Band plays reggae with great style, and with the addition of a brass section, would fit right into the ska genre.
Before heading over to Eddie's to play their second set of the night, Senires commented on the differences between the two venues of the After Dark/After Hours series.
"There's a really big difference from the bar scene, because here it's not just about being mellow, but each sound that you make is a really big tune when it comes out there. We were looking at each other and we were all really tense. Each mistake that you make, you're thinking in the back of your head, 'Oh, they might have heard that.' In the bar area, it will be, like, whatever," said Senires said with a little laugh.
He said when they move over to the bar they would be mixing up their song list a little bit, adding some more dance songs, a little disco and lots of current Top 40 hits.
"It's going to be a good dance scene," he said.
Senires said it can be difficult to practise, particularly as a group, because of their busy work schedules. Still, they try to get together each week to jam.
The next After Dark/After Hours night is planned for March 15, when the Dustin Ritter Band will be in town.
