TEXARKANA, Ark. - Anyone with a coming-out-of-the-pandemic itch to see live music may want to catch that Bad Rona Saturday night at Hopkins Icehouse.
Born out of the COVID-19 downtime last year, the appropriately named Bad Rona pools the talents of a trio of local musicians: Nicci McCarty on vocals and guitar, Glenn "SmittyG" Smith on bass and Joseph Moorhead on drums and vocals.
Smith and Moorhead are veterans of the local music scene, while McCarty earned her live performing chops as a member of T-Town 5. As Bad Rona, they're ready for their debut show.
McCarty said jamming on her own during last year's lockdown got old, so she reached out to find other musicians who might want to start a band. They formed last summer, so they've practiced for months.
"I wanted to be in a band with people that took the virus seriously, and were like, hey we'll practice now but it's going to be a couple months before we can actually get a gig and do it safely," McCarty said.
Initially, she wanted a quartet with another guitarist in the mix, but as it turned out the trio worked best. "I like us being a three-piece," she said. Playing as a trio pushes McCarty to grow as a guitarist, playing rhythm and lead parts.
And as a cover band trio who strive for creativity, they put their own mark on music they perform.
"We're not a note-for-note type of band. All three of us like to take songs and kind of make them our own, so if somebody is expecting to hear note-for-note solos and the perfect arrangement as you hear it on the album that's not going to come from us," McCarty said. The songs are a platform to make it their own.
Expect them to bring an upbeat mood to the music, too. It's modern blues rock, for the most part.
"We like to play stuff that basically nobody else is playing. We like to play Jack White, Black Keys. I do Elle King, we do some Beatles songs. But we like to pick stuff that's not normal stuff, I guess, you'd hear from them," McCarty said. "We do a couple songs that are popular by them, but we like to go for stuff that hasn't been run into the ground by other bands."
And they mix it up, too, including an original McCarty wrote. Then there's a cover of "Whatta Man" by Salt-N-Pepa. They want people dancing. That's the goal.
"We just make stuff our own. It's kind of groovy and got a little beat to it. It's not boring. We have a lot of upbeat, very intense songs we're going to do," McCarty said.
It's not cry-in-your beer music, but rather a good, happy time. "Which we need right now," the guitarist said.
Smith has long been a strong presence in the array of musical talents calling Texarkana home, a member of bands like Parson B and the Part Time Sinners, Ms. Mac and the Groovetones and his Narada Weeps project. Moorhead has played solo and in acts like Oh My Blue Sky.
McCarty's previous experience playing live before she performed in bands was in church more than a decade back. When she played for T-Town 5, the experience helped her break out of her shell, she says, and grow accustomed playing for an audience.
Together, Bad Rona will be ready to play loud and hit it hard on Saturday night.
"We're going to bring some noise," McCarty said, adding, "If you've come to party, then we're going to give you the music to do so."
(Show time is 9 p.m. Hopkins Icehouse is located at 301 E. 3rd St. On the Net: Facebook.com/badronatxk.)