Kick Out the Jams: Silverstate at the Double Down, April 26

Silverstate at the Double Down, April 26

A promising new indie rock band out of Los Angeles called On the Speakers was in town Monday night, a good enough reason to head out on a weeknight and ignore that rule about drinking on a Monday. Or is it Tuesday?

But here's the funny thing that happened on the way to the Double Down Saloon: Why stay up real late to hear those guys when the opening band is equally new and promising? Not only that, but it hails from right here in Las Vegas. So while the retro suit jacket-wearing, shaggy-haired fellas from On the Speakers enjoyed some Ass Juice and fed their crinkled L.A. dollar bills into our bright, blinky Vegas gambling machines, local quartet Silverstate fed the easygoing audience's desire for good-time rock 'n' roll.

It took only two songs for the band to get an unusually attractive Double Down crowd out of their seats, thanks to the infectious guitar jangles of frontman Caleb Lindskoog (formerly of Expert on October) and fellow six-string slinger Taylor Milne. The band is rounded out by bassist Wesley Hines and drummer Alex Stopa. What all the players had in common was this: Every so often, maybe during a particularly catchy bridge or right before Lindskoog would break into a chorus, one or all of them would close their eyes, tilt their heads back and smile while they played. This is probably the best way to describe the sound of Silverstate: sun-on-your-face, cold-beer-in-your-hand rock.

Despite being together for about a year, Silverstate played a remarkably tight set, seamlessly playing songs into each other without letting the pace dip too far down. The band's warm tones, which range from alt.country to California fuzz-pop, are a welcome refreshment to the local music scene, and the Double Down set--which could only have improved if it went on into the night--was easily one of the best and brightest performances by a local band in recent months. If the Killers can sneak out of town and into a major-label record deal, and if this crazy city can produce a band like Silverstate, perhaps there is hope for the Vegas music scene after all.--Brock Radke