Eastside Bowl, DRKMTTR and 615 Indie Live

Kanude, JJ Niceley, Ol Blue, Hussy Fit, Total Wife and Venus & The Flytraps were just some of the highlights of the independent music festival in Nashville

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February 7^th, 2026 marked the second installation of 615 Indie Live in Nashville, Tennessee. There were nearly 70 collective musical acts performing at 15 venues across the city. The purpose is to promote within.  The nonprofit organization of Music Venue Alliance Nashville (MVAN) works hard to make sure that independent venues and artists of the area are represented and able to perform during a typically slow time for live music. This is a celebration of new artists, singers, songwriters and original music that you may not get your ear to through any other channel.  The whole experience was just $20 to get into every spot and see every band possible.  Although that task was impossible.

The festivities kicked off at Eastside Bowl with a performance by Kanude. Kanude was Texas born, but calls Nashville his home. His style of play, his look and his sound are deeply rooted in an Americana genre of musicality. However, one can hear a lot of different artists influence the singer/songwriter.  In talking with him after the show he mentioned a love of KISS and that the guy he “normally played with is in a KISS cover band”. He is rooted in place of passion to be sure.  He picks and sings with a smile on his face and his light flows out into the crowd.   

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Kanude photos by Jason Shrum

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He was strumming and crooning in The Low Volume Lounge adjacent to the bowling lanes and between songs you could hear the crack of the pins or the thud of a gutter ball which made all of this very much real.  The whole experience of 615 Indie Live was curated to get the music heard in places that were deeply connected to the community.  Kanude played a stunning rendition of the 1979 track ‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding’ by Elvis Costello that sounded just as relevant today as it ever was in human history. His pacing is light and his tone steady which makes him really easy to listen to.  He is not rushed or anxious but rather comfortable and joyous.  He was a great pick to start off the day. 

Next up was Jennifer Jane Niceley; or JJ Niceley as she performs under.  She released her last album, Not Lost, (the single that closed her set) in July 2024, and since then she has been focusing on performing live around Nashville.  She matched the vibe of Kanude and engaged the audience with deep eye contact as she played.  She is inviting. Her songwriting is gorgeous and brings life to her words with powerful imagery.  JJ Niceley calls her music “mystical country.” “It describes the sound, the frequency and the mythopoetic place I am always in search of, within my work and on my life journey itself,” she explained in a post on her Substack of the same name. When you hear the language in which she uses over the soft tonality of her strings one can fully understand that moniker. The crowd pooled in during her set, and there was something about her music that made you feel like things were going to be okay in the world. Both artists were able to lift us away for a while with that beautiful gift they were comprised of.  

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Photos of JJ Niceley by Jason Shrum

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After the two openers played the bowling alley/music venue that was once a KMART, I headed over to DRKMTTR to check out what was going on over there.  Things were about to get a little louder as the line-up included a mix of shoegaze, noisecore, and eclectic DIY with Ol Blue, Hussy Fit, Total Wife and Venus & the Flytraps. 

DRKMTTR has a message.  Their Mission Statement reads as such “Music serves as a universal connector, bridging gaps and fostering unity, inspiration, and transformation inpeople’s lives. Drkmttr Collective, Nashville’s enduring all-ages space, thrives as a hub for connectivity and creative collaboration. Beyond being a music venue, Drkmttr stands as a nexus of resilience, cultivating a dynamic community where the DIY ethos transforms into collective action. Through cross-pollination initiatives, we aim to highlight the profound role Drkmttr plays in linking artists, organizing communities, and the under-21 crowd, seeking the backing necessary to perpetuate its pivotal role and create a lasting influence”. [Read more]. The line-up was built by WNXP, who we were also helping raise money for with the purchase of tickets. All monies collected went to the artists, the venues, and those in need.  This was not one of those grossly profiteering festivals.  It was, in fact, quite the opposite. 

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Ol Blue photos courtesy of Jason Shrum

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Ol Blue front-loaded the billing at DRKMTTR.  The band features two leads that harmonize wonderfully.  They have a tone that feels like post punk and dark funk met in an alley and decided to make music.  The cool groove of the bassline was at one moment in time met by a slide whistle that worked with the keys and drums.  No notes. The crowd swayed and nodded in agreement with the works of this tandem. 

I had a chance to talk with the band about how they evolved and they said this, “We formed how any band should. Start with guitars and drums. And then you need a bass player. And so on. Our music is honest and lowkey. We like punch too. But the kind of unspoken goal was to make something as genuine and direct as possible. Something unprocessed and unfiltered. Our lyrics come from real experiences and our instrumentation is rehearsed into the ground”. They also told me that, “Our band is a hodgepodge of various musical influences. The only prerequisite for being in the band is to have good taste. Our original plan was to have 20 members but we landed on 6. Ethan plays guitar and vocals. Macie plays bass and vocals. Darren plays guitar. Libby plays everything in the world. Sam plays keys. And Ethan plays drums.”

Finally I was told, “We record ourselves live in one room because that feels like the way that you’re supposed to do it. We’re shooting for spring on our debut album. This will be the first time that we really try to fully send a project. With singles and videos and vinyl and all that. The traditional route. We take a lot of inspiration from bands like talking heads and modest mouses early records. Minutemen and meatloaf. There are too many to name. We love any music that tries to do something different. The harder it is to listen to the better. And we hate trend followers”.

Following Ol Blue was Hussy Fit who explained while tuning up “If you don’t know what a hussy is, ask your grandmother”.  They archetype themselves as a bubblegrunge-synthpunk-riot band, and I couldn’t have said it any better.  They are endearing when playing their high energy riffs whilst the lead singer, Cordie Nicole, rips through the air with a blasting sense of fun and a pinch of animosity.  They lean into sounds and the backbone of the group is intensity.  She said at one point “The message of the next song is simple: You can’t grab pussy if you got no hands.” That same message can be seen on their merch which I implore you to seek out.  They also brandished a bubble machine that started onstage and was whipped around into the crowd. 

I received a rush of early Sonic Youth coursing through my veins at points.  ‘Over It’ is a song that causes punchy fists in the air with a drum beat that amplifies the crowd to movement. In their set they stopped to serve up communion and passed Smarties around the room as an offering.  A truly warming thank you came from their lips and landed on our hearts. 

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Hussy Fit pice by Jason Shrum

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Total Wife then stacked amps on top of amps to build an armory of battle gear.  The space was the size of a high school classroom, yet they were ready to be heard in a stadium environment.  They thrive in feedback, electronic loops, and wherever sonic embellishment can be milked. A big sound that is not for the faint of heart.  Come Back Down, the new album by the Nashville experimental-pop duo, “was born from the edge of sleep. When composer and producer Luna Kupper would begin to fall asleep during late-night mixing sessions, the songs would follow her into the halfway place between dream and lucidity.” The volume is part of the experience because you must be fully invested in the sound, and it has to grip you entirely. Your body becomes a conduit of the buzz that they envelop.   

I have seen this band described as shoegaze but they have an industrial edge too. They recognize the past and could fit in with those early 1990’s bands that I loved so much, yet they are pushing forward and creating a new theme.  Their closing song felt endless and when I thought it was coming to a close it drove past that exit and went into a different mapping system.  I honestly thought the drummer was going to pass out as his furious pace never let up for well over ten minutes. 

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Pictures of Total Wife by Jason Shrum

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Those whirring sets turned over to Venus & The Flytraps who were coming to us amid their first headlining tour.  They are also WNXP’s Nashville Artist of the Month, supporting their debut album that dropped in October. Brenna Kassis and Cecilia Tomé are the dynamic duo that make up this beautiful ensemble. Demonette is the album and if you are not listening, go do so now. The guitars are fuzzy and crunchy, and these two fairylike creatures backed by their touring band whisk the audience into a Tolkien-like mystery landscape.  They embrace the title of “glam-garage” and this Pretty Girl Tour is showcasing their many talents. 

The room was jammed with their current fans and hopefully their new ones as well.  They are fierce and fluent in their art. The music transcends the time and their words loft poetically.  They are strapped with conviction, and this indie-rock band must rise to the top.  I saw them a year ago opening for Be Your Own Pet and I had a feeling I would see them get their own billing.  I obviously wasn’t alone in those thoughts. 

There is a swirling atmosphere of love and thoughtfulness that is birthed from their mouths and fingertips when they take flight on stage.  An ambience is created within the soundscape, and everything lines up.  They were the very definition of what this gathering at 615 Indie Fest Live was all about.  Now go find the other articles that I hope are being published now about this fantastic conglomeration.  Be kind to one another and keep listening to the music around you. 

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Photos by Jason Shrum