The alternative-electronic music group Shiny Toy Guns will make its first appearance in San Luis Obispo with a live DJ set at SLO Brewing Co. (SLO Brew) Nov. 6 at 8 p.m.
“We love playing small towns and new territories,” synthesizer and bass player Jeremy Dawson said.
Dawson will perform at SLO Brew along with vocalist Carah Faye Charnow.
Dawson said he and Charnow do this kind of performance frequently — he does a DJ mix with the band’s songs, and Charnow accompanies on vocals. The band’s manager Ari Martin said these sets are “another creative outlet” for the band and appropriately suited for certain venues.
Since the band is working on its next album, it doesn’t have time to go on a full-fledged tour right now, Dawson said. So it goes out and does other projects for two or three days on the weekends. It keeps the momentum up for the next record and “keeps our chops up,” Dawson said.
The band formed in 2002 with Dawson and vocalist/guitarist Chad Petree, and the remaining members joined when Dawson and Petree moved to Los Angeles. They all came together by chance, through meeting people and being “out in the scene” at electronic dance clubs and shows in Los Angeles, according to Dawson.
Their music is “very hybrid,” Dawson said, and includes both rock and electronic elements. They could listen to both genres all night long, he said.
“It’s kind of like we’re ‘bi,'” Dawson said. “It’s not easier to make our music both, but it’s fun for us and natural for us to do both.”
To find inspiration for their music Dawson said they look to people, events and new music in their lives. He said he personally listens to at least 300 to 400 songs per week.
“I love to hear where people are going, so I can get a vibe off it and get excited about it,” Dawson said. “Progression is what we’re all about.”
And the pair’s music has evolved throughout the years, he said.
When they first started, the music was more raw, and they weren’t really about having the “most powerful production,” he said. Since then, they’ve become more focused on that aspect.
“There are a lot of elements and artifacts and frequencies we’re screwing around with,” Dawson said. “Now we’ve matured into being better producers and engineers.”
At this point they’re used to their fame, Dawson said — but, he added, they take pride in making time to talk to fans who want to meet them, even if the group is tired or cranky.
SLO Brew general manager Monte Schaller said they were “definitely excited” to get the offer from the band’s agent.
How they get artists to the venue is different for every show, Schaller said, but added that it’s getting more common for bigger bands to want to perform there.
“We hear time and time again how much the band enjoyed coming to the Brew,” Schaller said.
While bigger names, such as Shiny Toy Guns, are more expensive to get, SLO Brew wouldn’t book them unless the management thought it could get enough people to break even, Schaller said.
This isn’t the first time a band of this genre has performed at the SLO Brewing Company — Schaller said they’ve hosted some “edgy electronic” artists in the past, but “don’t get too hard into dubstep or DJs.”
Shiny Toy Guns fits SLO Brew “a little better,” Schaller said, because it has more of a “melodic concert vibe.”
Schaller said he’s a fan of the group himself, and he thinks the concert will be a “high-energy type show.”
“I’m very much looking forward to seeing them,” Schaller said.
Another fan is biochemistry sophomore Alexandra Morales, who said she listened to Shiny Toy Guns before it got famous.
She said it’s cool the band is coming to a place like San Luis Obispo.
“There are not a lot of groups or artists that come up here that I’ve heard of before,” Morales said. “It’s a different taste of music for here.”