“We just try and create an extravagant party atmosphere where you can’t take our eyes off except to dance,” said Eric Groseclose, the bassist and self-described ladies man of the future-pop band Digisaurus.
Digisaurus is a Columbus, Ohio, band touring across the west coast. They recently made a stop in Moscow, playing at local coffee shop One World Cafe.
Packing their vast collection of various instruments and lighting equipment into the small stage inside the popular Moscow spot, they played a two-hour show while costumers sipped their coffee and listened attentively.
Although playing at a coffee shop in a small college town is a different experience than playing in more crowded music venues, Jeff Martin, the drummer of the band, said he enjoyed the experience.
“At the end of the day, if we had an official statistician who kept track of this stuff, I would guess that we sell more merchandise and make more fans in a small setting like this than at a bigger venue,” he said. “Small towns like this is what we thrive on.”
This small town feel is what helps drive Groseclose to continue to work hard at perfecting his craft.
“I will take two people clapping and having fun over 40 people not listening any given day,” he said.
Lead singer and producer James Allison said that he too enjoyed the more intimate setting that One World provided compared to busier venues.
“Opportunities like this are really good, we get to interact with the audience more. We have to be more open and honest about who we are and what we are doing, where as in a bigger setting we can be more mysterious and let the music speak for itself,” he said.
Although the group is far from home, they have enjoyed their time spent in the Pacific Northwest, which to them is a far different environment than their home.
“I think people on the West Coast are more free spirited,” Martin said. “They are more willing to listen to new music which is great. It is a lot easier out here.”
For their part, One World is more than happy to host great bands willing to play on their small stage, said Kendra Allgier, the music coordinator for One World.
Allgier said having bands play in One World allows them to appeal to a wider array of costumers.
“We like to be as diverse as we can. You can get your work done here during the day, but you can also have fun here at night. We like to be as versatile as possible,” she said
Although the band hasn’t achieved the notoriety they may like, Allison said he is just happy to be on the road playing music.
“You get to see everything. As a musician and an artist it is really important to experience the world around you in order to actually be creative,” he said. “This is what kind of opens up the world for us in terms of songwriting and this is fodder for us to work with.”
Not only does touring allow the band to perfect their craft on an individual basis, it also allows them to better as a unified band, Martin said.
“You get really tight as a band when you play live,” he said. “We want to keep playing live, build up a fan base and keep making art.
Although Martin said he hopes the band is successful enough to sustain their art, Martin said that he ultimately wants to see the band stay true to itself, and not sell out.
“We want to connect with people, we don’t want to be the social media stars,” he said. “I think our goal is to be able to do this professionally to the best of our ability. We want to do our music, we don’t want to be a fake band.”
Sam Balas can be reached at [email protected]