In the Music City when it comes to music nearly anything is possible. This city keeps us all guessing as to who will show up, sit in, or come out to watch a wide array of shows. It is easy to brush shoulders with a variety of different musicians, actors, and other varying people of interest on an almost daily basis. In essence a lot of very talented people reside in Nashville. With that being said it’s easy to see how the super-group Salvador Dali Parton was formed with such ease. What’s that? You have never heard of this band? Well that is probably based on the fact that this Sludge-metal super group has come and gone maybe not for good but certainly for now. The Band formed on Thursday of last week and featured Winston Marshall of Mumford and Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show’s Gil Landry on guitar, Nashville folk rockers’ the Apache Relay’s Mike Harris on bass and JEFF the Brotherhood guitarist Jake Orrall on drums, and the band was fronted by Vaccines’ singer Justin Hayward-Young. The band spent Thursday and Friday writing and rehearsing songs for their six stop Nashville tour happening Saturday. That’s right six shows in one evening starting at the Hi-Watt, continuing on to The Exit/In where I first came in contact with the band, up next was The Stone Fox followed by Springwater, then headed over to a house party at the residence of Nashville’s own Diarrhea Planet, and finally wrapping up the night at FooBar.
When I ran into the members of Salvador Dali Parton at The Exit/In they had just finished their 30-minute set and were exiting the venue back stage to begin one of the fastest and slightly unorganized load out I had ever seen. Winston Marshall remarked, “They loved us” as he walked past me towards the band’s van. He returned moments later with half a bottle of whiskey and joined his band-mates in the ferocious load-out quickly realizing that the bottle of whiskey was more of a hindrance than anything. He quickly passed it off to me asking, “Hold this for me won’t you lad?” Before I knew it I had the bottle of whiskey in one hand while I was heaving microphone stands into the back of the band’s van. It was quite a scene to see the band members as they zipped past me Winston in drag, Hayward-Young a monk, Orral a ninja, Landry a priest, bassist Mike Harris sporting the face paint as a tribute to KISS. They tossed the last of the equipment into the van and were just about ready to be on their way. I called out to Winston to return his whiskey. With gratitude he came over to take back what was his and asked, “You coming to the other shows?” Before I could open my mouth he answered for me with a strike to my shoulder he stated, “Yes! All of them! See you there.” Into the van they hopped and drove off. My car brought up the rear of their caravan crisscrossing through Nashville throughout the night helping with the load-in or load-out when I could, and staying out of the way and observing when I was unnecessary. The Stone Fox, Springwater, and the house party were nearly impossible to get into because of the sheer amount of fans. The band’s onstage presence and energy was undeniable and electrified the crowd. I was honored to have tagged along with the band that will go down in history, Salvador Dali Parton.
Moral of the story: If Winston Marshall asks you to hold the whiskey, do not hesitate to say, “Yes.”
Written by: Jesse Nordstrom