The First Avenue Mainroom on Friday will be full of brand-new bands — all less than 2 days old.
First Avenue to host a rock lottery to form Twin Cities supergroups for one night only
Randomly drafted bands will have 48 hours to come up with music, lyrics and, possibly the hardest part, a name.
July 4, 2023 at 11:30AM
The venue is holding its first Rock Lottery on Wednesday. Twenty-seven musicians will be drafted randomly into five bands. Each band gets a drummer and a bassist, but the rest is left to chance, literally drawing names out of a hat. They then will have 48 hours to come up with an original set of five songs, including one cover.
The draft takes place this Wednesday at The Depot Tavern at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The bands will be assembled and then will have two days to work on their sets and perform them Friday night for a ticketed event at the mainroom.
Some musicians up for draft include Mary Cutrufello, Christy Costello, Eric Carranza, Julia Eubanks and L.A. Buckner.
Kerry Alexander, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter with the Minneapolis band Bad Bad Hats, is one of the performers who will be drafted into a random band this weekend, and she's excited about the event.
Bad Bad Hats has a indie-rock sound and has been around the Twin Cities music scene for about 10 years now.
"I try to write catchy songs," Alexander said of the style she's bringing to the lottery.
"I feel like it's rock and roll summer camp," she said. "I went to a lot of camps as a kid and I'm excited to feel like I'm at camp again."
Similar events are held across the country, and it's a good way to get new faces onstage in the iconic mainroom, First Avenue booker James Taylor said.
He participated in rock lotteries in Austin, Texas, and liked the concept for First Avenue.
"I was like 'Yeah, I know exactly how it works, we should considering doing that at some point' and then this summer rolled around," Taylor said.
The Rock Lottery fills a hole in the First Avenue calendar for highlighting local music.
"For a while we've wanted to have a summer event that felt like Best New Bands, which is our big January event," Taylor said.
First Ave used social media to help scout potential artists to feature in the lottery. After they announced the initial lineup, he saw positive responses from artists.
"We tried to get older and younger musicians involved, as well as a diverse a group of musicians as we could find," Taylor said.
He has high hopes for the bands created this week and the future of the rock lottery.
"When I did one of these in Austin, one of the bands ended up playing other shows," Taylor said. "They actually really liked it and practiced more and became an actual band."
First Avenue Rock Lottery Draft
When: Wed., 7 p.m.
Where: The Depot Tavern, 17 N. 7th St., Mpls.
Tickets: Free
First Avenue Rock Lottery
When: Fri., 7 p.m.
Where: First Avenue Mainroom, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls.
Tickets: $15, 18+, first-avenue.com
Critics’ picks for entertainment in the week ahead.
