Local record store Oz Music will feature sets from local groups The Brooms, Callooh! Callay! and several others when it hosts the kickoff party for the upcoming free concert series “Oz Live” on Friday.
The show will run from 4 to 9 p.m. and will feature a variety of local groups.
Oz Music store manager Jason Patton, an organizer of the event, said the concerts are designed for those who are unable to see live music at bars or clubs.
“We’re trying to give another outlet for people to hear live music,” Patton said. “There’s a lot of people who are either grown with a family and aren’t going to go out to a bar at 10:30 or 11 o’clock at night, or are young high school or young college kids that can’t get into a bar or a club yet to hear live music. We’re going to give them an outlet to be able to hear live music.”
The party will feature sets from local acts Heathens & Belles, The Brooms, Callooh! Callay!, Sparrow + The Ghost and Blaine Duncan and the Lookers, as well as sets from members of Baak Gwai and The Motions.
Reed Watson, owner and founder of Hackberry Records, said in an e-mailed statement that “Oz Live” is a culmination of about a year of planning.
“We’re excited to get it done,” Watson stated. “Hackberry is sponsoring Oz Live and I’m helping book the acts for it. It’s an all-ages venue that opens our music community up to a completely new demographic.”
“Right now I know for a fact that two of the artists who will be playing this week, the two guys from Baak Gwai and then the three guys from The Motions, they are both going to be playing acoustic sets, and that is not something they would normally do,” Patton said. “So, you would get a different feel from a bar or club gig, but some of the other bands will be doing the same material, the same show as they would at a normal bar gig.”
Patton also said the mix of acoustic and electric sets could continue throughout the concert series.
“It’s going to be totally up to the band,” he said. “We’re not going to require them to be acoustic. We have our own in-house PA. If they all want to come in and plug in and blow the doors out, that’s fine too. We’re not going to tell them to quiet down or anything like that.”
The “Oz Live” concerts will be for all ages, taking place about every two weeks with the musical groups playing for exposure and a chance to sell their merchandise.
“All the shows will always be free,” Patton said. “We’re never going to pay anyone to play, so we’re not going to ever charge anyone to come in and listen.”
“It gives local artists a great place to sell their music,” Watson said. “We’ll have national acts stop in for intimate performances as well.”
John Vallas, a sophomore majoring in microbiology, is excited about the opportunity to see local music.
“The way music is today is really hurting local music,” Vallas said. “Those who don’t steal it are forced to pay way too much. On top of that, concert prices are through the roof and even covers at bars start adding up after a while. I love the fact that an actual music store like Oz is organizing a way for local music to be heard for free.”
The kickoff concert begins at 4 p.m. on Friday at Oz Music’s location on 14th Street, and will run to 9 p.m. More information can be found at ozmusiconline.com.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled that Tuscaloosa finally has this option — especially inside one of the state’s last independent record stores,” Watson stated.
