Summer is quickly approaching in the Tri-Cities, which means many events will happen — graduations, festivals, flea markets, and, best of all, live band performances. These four bands in the Tri-Cities are rocking the summer of 2023!
Groove Principal
With Groove Principal’s band of educators, this ensemble is here to show you that letting your fun flag fly is more than okay. Walt Hampton is a music teacher at White Bluffs Elementary. Tony and Sean Langdon are brothers and principals, with Tony as the principal of McGee Elementary School and Sean, as the principal of Tapteal Elementary School. Despite the different schools, this groovy group has one major thing in common — their love of music.
Groove Principal was first born at Chicos Tacos by Tony Langdon and Walt Hampton around 12 years ago. Tony already had the idea in mind but didn’t think anything of it until he and Walt started discussing it further. Wanting to bring the concept to life, Tony felt his brother needed to be in the band, to be just like old times with their dad. Seeing their potential, all three thought, “Maybe we should try putting a bigger chunk of songs together.” After choosing songs, they ventured out to perform their first gig at Rock Reactor.
The songs Groove Principal plays are all covers of their nostalgic favorites. From Sublime to ZZ Top, hear many energy-boosting songs from this lively rock group to get audience members on the dance floor. See Sean in his out-of-the-box thinking costumes to bring the crowd in during their gigs. From pilot suits to wigs with cop glasses, Groove Principal knows how to get the funky energy out. Hear Groove Principal at various spots this summer, such as the Branding Iron Nightclub. Performance dates are be found on their Facebook. Go out, get funky and have fun with Groove Principal!
Bisky and the Gs
First started by Daniel Sampson’s brother, Tyler Sampson, Bisky and the Gs was a garage band for having fun playing cover songs. But after his brother went to college, Daniel felt it still would be fun to continue playing. Except this time, he wanted to play more of the songs he wrote himself. These soon-to-be graduates went through a long process of finding band members that meshed well together. Now complete with a drummer, bassist, two guitarists, and Daniel as the lead singer, Bisky and the Gs show that patience and reliability are true virtues in a band.
Bisky and the Gs perform all self-written indie songs as this group are originals from start to finish. Daniel, Maddox, Chino, and Franky first played at The Space in Richland and now have a gig at the Uptown Get Down Festival in June! You can learn more about them on their Instagram page and listen on the road with their Spotify playlist!
Operation Falkor
Operation Falkor is a band comprising two brothers who have been playing since their garage band days. Inspired by Nirvana, Small, and many others, they play all their familiar favorites with cover songs. With their first performance for coworkers and friends, from there, they got more gigs in public places, but their first-ever venue gig was the summer of last year. After that, they now play bigger gigs at Iconic Brewing and this year at Live @ 5.
This group grew quite a bit from a garage to crowds of hundreds of people in just one year. Find more information about Operation Falkor on Facebook, where their performances are shown on the event list. Operation Falkor is waiting for you to come and rock out with their alternative music covers.
Naughty Pine
Naughty Pine is a reggae band that plays their own original songs written by Barefoot Randy. A band made of solo artists and entrepreneurs, they came together with the love of reggae music. Each song composed and played has meaning. Naughty Pine sings about the stresses of life to how good it will feel to be truly free. All of this cool group’s songs are highly vibrational.
Randy also says, “We like to mix it up a bit and add Lenny Kravitz.” Not everything of theirs is entirely mellow. Sometimes they like to jam out with fast-paced songs. Their very first show was at the Emerald Siam in 2016. Playing music for a while now, this group knows how to bring relaxed vibes like any well-known reggae band or singer. Find them on May 19 at the Emerald Siam. Any future performance dates and tickets are found on their Instagram, Facebook, and website. If you have the itch to listen to reggae on the go, Spotify has all of their original music from Workin’ to Free.
As you can see, this summer of 2023 has a lot in store for the music scene in the Tri-Cities. Don’t miss your chance to hear live music from Groove Principal, Bisky and the Gs, Operation Falkor or Naughty Pine!
