Four lifelong friends from Northern California grew up obsessed with the sounds of AC/DC, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, The Bee Gees and Michael Jackson. At age 16, they had formed a band and were playing anywhere and everywhere from backyard barbecues to parties to supper clubs.
After their single "Make It Real" cracked 2 million Spotify streams, they made the decision to forego college and leave their Sacramento suburb for Hollywood, forming Vista Kicks in late 2015.
Vista Kicks stops at JJ's Bohemia Friday on its Booty Shakers Ball tour.Derek Thomas (vocals), Sam Plecker (guitar/vocals), Trevor Sutton (bass), and Nolan Le Vine (drums) quietly ignited a buzz throughout Los Angeles and beyond with two U.S. tours. Within a year, the band's independent 2016 "Chasing Waves" EP and some additional singles had generated more than 5 million Spotify streams and 3.2 million YouTube views.
Last September, they released the 15-track "Booty Shakers Ball."
"It certainly lives up to the promise of its title," agreed Buzzband's review.
Vista Kicks kicked off its Booty Shakers Ball tour last month. The LA-based band will bring its signature dance-inducing sound to JJ's Bohemia on Friday night, March 9. Showtime is 10 p.m.
"We're old-soul millennials," says Sutton in a news release. "We're young and wound up like everybody else our age, but our roots go deeper. We've found an audience that's just like us. It's rock music that you can shake your booty to and party."
» Less than a week before playing SXSW, indie-pop artist Zuli brings his psychedelic rock to JJ's Bohemia for a 10 p.m. show on Saturday, March 10. Tickets are $10.
The show is part of a 12-city tour in support of his debut album, "On Human Freakout Mountain."
Zuli played most of the instruments in the 10 songs on "On Human Freakout Mountain." The artist describes this album as expanding on EP "Supernatural Voodoo," but says this "goes deeper on every level. The composition on 'On Human Freakout Mountain' is more intricate, the harmonies more lush."
Zuli says he settled on the title "On Human Freakout Mountain" because he felt "the songs all connected to the period in life where everything is in limbo. You are still connected to your childhood, but you need to make decisions that will potentially affect the outcome of your entire life."
For more information on these and other shows at JJ's Bohemia: 423-362-5695.