By Barry Ramirez

Last Saturday in downtown Bakersfield, The Gate hosted five underground rock bands and musicians from across the valley. The styles ranged from thrash punk and funky rock to acoustic performances. While attendance was sparse, the audience members present were likely to exit into the foggy night thrilled and invigorated. Perhaps some were ready to break something.

The Grand Social was the local, headlining band. They had nearly every head compulsively rocking in the building during their set. Their sound can best be described as a make-up, ménage a trois between Underoath, Paramore, and Evanescence. This isn’t to say that they’re unoriginal, quite the opposite. No great art goes without sex and inspirations. Merged between the soft keyed, lulling preludes that leave the listener in ignorant suspension, the crashing riffs, the group and sharp feminine vocals is a new sound that isn’t difficult to imagine being played on popular radio.

Mike Jameson is the guitarist and leader of the band. He is joined by vocalist Melissa Lucas, bassist Brock Beeny, and drummer Diego Barrientos.

Jameson said that the roots of The Grand Social sink down into his childhood friendship with Beeny. “Me and Brock have known each other since elementary school,” he said, “and actually I had taught him how to play guitar back in high-school…then we kind of pieced together a band. Back then we had gone through a bunch of member changes but it has always been me and Brock, like the same two members that survived.”

Lucas and Barrientos were corralled into the band—then called Cidona—when the former lead vocalist and drummer dropped out. The band had met Lucas after posting an ad on Craigslist calling for a pianist. She tried out, and when it came time to begin recording in the studio, they needed a vocalist and contacted Lucas. Barrientos was a mutual friend and was the first person the band contacted when their drummer defected.

While The Grand Social hasn’t done any touring, it has played shows outside of Bakersfield in Los Angeles and at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Beeny, however, spoke sanguinely about the predicament of the band and about regenerating the music scene in Bakersfield.

“That’s the big thing that we want to establish here,” Beeny said, “is like let alone playing our own shows and growing, whatever, we want to grow a community…it died…when I was in high-school there were shows every week every place you could go….now, I feel like we need to reestablish some oomph into it and get people jazzed.”

Ryan Sanders, a 26-year-old audience member at The Gate spoke highly of The Grand Social. “I thought it was insane. I thought it was great. They were very loud, and they played very tight and personally my favorite part is how they all sing together. That’s what I like because not that many bands do that anymore…It’s cool because it brings more energy…it brings more of a sense of community to their band,” he said.

He wasn’t alone in this assessment.

Marcia Martinez, a 29-year-old, said she thought the show as a whole was “awesome.” She said that The Grand Social was her favorite performance. “They’re amazing,” she said curtly.

It usually a litmus test of a bands stature, that if they play live as well as they record, they’re a good band. The Grand Social sounded good recorded, and were incredible live; giving a performance that was worthy of a much larger venue.

If you wish to see The Grand Social, they will be playing again at The Gate, 2010 O Street, this Friday. The show begins at 7:00 p.m.