EVERETT — Pickwick’s frontman Galen Disston has a day job.
It’s too bad that in America an exciting band with a national following can’t just make music. But washing windows takes Disston outside on crisp fall days, which is OK. And then he returns home to his wife (“the band would not exist without her”), their two kids and his music.
Pickwick plays Everett at 8 p.m. Oct. 16 in the ballroom at Xfinity Arena. The gala is a chance to dress up and enjoy great music in a nice venue, said Ryan Crowther of Everett Music Initiative, which has established a partnership with the events center to offer a series of similar concerts in the ballroom.
Disston and the other band members are looking forward to performing in Everett, home to one of their favorite groups, the Moon Doggies.
“Everett is going to be great,” he said. “I appreciate what Everett Music Initiative guys are doing and that it takes a certain amount of risk and adventure to get something going in a smaller city like Everett. We are happy to be included and share the stage with Bryan John Appleby.”
Singer/songwriter Appleby is about to release a new album “The Narrow Valley,” and his “distinct voice has earned him a strong brand in the Northwest,” Crowther said.
“This concert is a big deal. We expect about 500 people to attend the gala. And Pickwick has been on our (must-host) list for a long time,” added Crowther.
As well known in Philadelphia and Phoenix as they are in their home base of Seattle, Pickwick got a lot of attention during a national tour a couple of years ago following the release of their album “Can’t Talk Medicine.”
The regional response has been equally good, Disston said.
The band released a series of singles in 2011 that led to big crowds at such Seattle venues as the Neptune, the Showbox at the Market and even Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony. They also had great audiences at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon, Wild Buffalo in Bellingham and the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“It’s really cool when between Portland and Vancouver, in the same region, you can play four different shows and get a different crowd each night,” he said.
Pickwick’s music has alternately been described as indie rock, garage rock and R&B. Reviews of “Can’t Talk Medicine” compared the band to the Black Keys, Alabama Shakes and Sam Cooke.
“Soulful” is the way Crowther describes Pickwick.
“The way they engage a crowd, there’s not a person without goose bumps,” Crowther said. “It all comes back to the soulfulness of Galen’s voice. There are elements of pop, blues and gospel. It is a sound that is so accessible, it could be enjoyed by a guy in his early 20s and his grandma. It’s timeless.”
Pickwick draws its name, not from Charles Dickens’ first novel, but from the recording company where Lou Reed once worked. The group includes Disston on vocals, guitarist Michael Parker, bassist Garrett Parker (the brothers grew up in Shoreline), keyboardist Cassady Lillstrom and Alex Westcoat on drums. Kory Kruckenberg, who recently left the band, had served as a mentor, producer, engineer and percussionist.
“From an industry perspective, Pickwick has done a good job and come a long way,” Crowther said. People are waiting for Pickwick’s next record, and this concert will help tide us over until that album release.”
Established songs and new material are sure to be on the band’s play list Friday, Disston said.
Exploration into Americana roots and folk music is part of the singer’s background.
“My dad was in some bands while I was growing up in southern California,” Disston said. “He liked Neil Young, the Grateful Dead and a lot of simple songs on which he’d get me to sing harmonies with him.
“It wasn’t until I was about 13 that I got interested in guitar, and that was because I thought it would improve my chances with the girls. But then I began to develop my own musical icons and played in bands throughout high school and college before moving to Seattle about 10 years ago.”
Disston, 32, remembers Jacob Dylan once describing music by Bob Dylan as “furniture in the room.”
“For a long time, I related to that with my own dad,” Disston said. “I am intentionally exposing my kids to music, but I know they will find their own. My oldest is teaching himself to play piano and he’s very motivated.”
Pickwick has spent that past two years writing the follow-up to the first album and the members plan to start recording early in the new year, Disston said.
In an interview this past summer with Trent Moorman of The Stranger, Disston said he is writing from a more autobiographical place.
“It’s slightly uncomfortable,” he told Moorman. “It’s my wife and me lying in bed looking up at a glass light fixture that’s cracked in this house we rent, talking about how we’re stressed about money. That’s where a song will start. I love Bob Dylan as a lyricist. He has this amazing distance when he’s writing. It’s like he’s sitting above himself at a typewriter. There’s some difficulty being a musician and getting older and staying creative, while making a living. Our music has evolved a bit too … Now we’re writing the songs that actually come out of us. When we write, there’s a humanist, utilitarian groove to it, I think, where it feels good.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
Music At The Ballroom: The Gala Featuring Pickwick and Bryan John Appleby is at 8 p.m. Oct. 16 in the ballroom of the Hansen Conference Center at Xfinity Arena, Hewitt and Broadway, Everett. Adult beverages will be served, so audience members must be at least age 21. Tickets at the door are $20 or call 866-332-8499. More at xfinityarenaeverett.com.
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