Loud-quiet-loud

“We started out trying to be straight reggae,” says Eviction bassist Austin Bunnell.

“But the grunge keep sneaking into it,” says guitarist and vocalist Shane Heimerdinger.

The band members were inspired to start a reggae group after seeing the San Diego band Tribal Seeds.

“They showed us that white suburban kids can play reggae,” says Bunnell, with a laugh.

Many of Eviction’s songs, like “Sticks and Stones,” “Fly Away” and “Said the Shotgun” combine laidback reggae and grungy alternative rock. The combination might lead some listeners to recall ’90s-style Third Wave ska—but Heimerdinger’s guitar playing doesn’t have the frantic upstrokes that characterize that music. And the songs don’t usually combine the two styles simultaneously but rather alternate between them—usually going reggae during the verses, and kicking on the distortion pedal for the rockin’ choruses.

“We do the loud-quiet-loud Pixies dynamics,” says Bunnell.

The transitions between the two genres could be jarring, but Heimerdinger’s clear vocals and clean-headed melodies lead the music, making the transitions smooth and cohesive.

Eviction is a trio, or, as they like to call it, a “triad of death.” Drummer Jacob Fralick brings syncopated bounce, with plenty of cracking rimshots, to the reggae sections and energetic momentum to the rock parts. The band members like the trio format—in part because two of their big influences, Nirvana and Sublime, were also three-piece bands.

“Whenever I say those are our favorite bands I feel like a middle schooler,” says Heimerdinger.

Neither of those bands is obscure enough to be an impressive namedrop, and they’re both accessible enough to juvenile sensibilities that they rank among the first bands that younger listeners might get into when discovering rock music.

One of Eviction’s strengths, as it is for many rock trios, is in the bass playing. When there’s only one guitar, the job of the bass player expands, either taking on the role of rhythm guitarist, as, for example, John Entwistle would often do in The Who, or even take the lead. Bunnell’s walking bass lines often become the melodic leads of the songs, with Fralick and Heimerdinger locking into syncopated grooves.

And with his Mohawk liberty spikes and tendency to jump around, Bunnell is also the visual center of the band during live shows.

“I just really enjoy playing,” he says.

A neat effect of the quiet-loud dynamic changes is that it makes the superficially mellow reggae sections seem fraught with tension—the listener anticipates the eventual onslaught of the distorted rock choruses.

This effect is strong in songs like “Say Ah,” a song Heimerdinger says is about having bronchitis and having to take antibiotics.

“I hate doctors and I hate medicine,” he says.

The band members settled on the name when they were slated to play a house party for a friend who was getting evicted. They say they try to alternate between playing bigger shows, like their upcoming gig opening for Fishbone at The Alley, and smaller house shows. (They have a song called “Ryland St.,” named in honor of the Reno street that has hosted local house shows for the last 20 years or so.)

And they have a sense of humor about their music.

“This one is our hit from the ’90s,” says Heimerdinger, before launching into one song. “It’s called ‘Lowest Point.’ It’s about girls.”