Many people who live in Kansas are familiar with the alcohol-axing exploits of Carrie Nation, the woman who mercilessly attacked the booze of pre-prohibition bars with a hatchet. But this weekend, a new Carrie Nation will be visiting a Kansas bar.

Carrie Nation and the Speakeasy will be playing at 10:30 p.m. on this Friday at Beer:30.

“We always try to make the show as entertaining as possible,” said Jarrod Starling, lead singer and guitarist. “It isn’t music that is best played quietly, sit-down music. We try to bring something to the stage every time we play that is going to make you remember the music through your visual and aural memories of the night.”

The Wichita-based band has been around for about three years, but the latest incarnation has only been around for a year. The members are Zach Starling, washboard and snare; Tyler Grubb, mandolin and trombone; Matt Dreher, banjo; Brody Wellman, stand-up bass and Jarrod Starling.

“We all love what we’re doing and we’re obviously not getting rich off of it,” Starling said. “It’s just something that we love doing, we love bringing it to different people. It’s great to be able to bring a little bit of Wichita to the rest of Kansas and a little bit of Kansas to the rest of the country.”

Carrie Nation and the Speakeasy has been across the nation and, in October alone, they have tour dates set from Santa Cruz, Calif. to Osage, Ark., and several places inbetween. Although their instruments may make them seem like they are a bluegrass band, Starling referred to their music as “punk rock-circus-Americana.”

“We try to stay away from being too pigeonholed,” said Dreher, who is also an adjunct instructor of social anthropology at Wichita State. “Whether it’s the kind of music that we play or the themes or content of the music or individually, how we express ourselves, we try not to be boxed in to anything specific. We try to stay relevant to anyone, a little bit of something for people to latch on to.”

This is not their first time playing in Emporia, or even at Beer:30. They were introduced to the venue by bands they were opening for like The Deedles and Granny Tweed, but this is their first time headlining a show there.

“They put on a really good show,” said Josh Olsen, owner of Beer:30. “They get the crowd moving, they’re really energetic and they have upbeat music. It’s just a good show in general… what really caught my eye was when they covered a Wu Tang song in bluegrass.”

Carrie Nation and the Speakeasy will also be bringing a friend of theirs to open for them named Ryan Windham. Windham is a solo artist who plays several different instruments, including guitars, spoons and slide whistles, and records them onto a loop machine, creating layers upon layers of music live and by him.

“One track will be seven minutes long, but you won’t even notice that it started out with a little guitar part. Then there’s this big sound coming out at you at the end of it with 12 different tracks he’s recorded on stage live,” Starling said.

The band is releasing their first album, which is self-titled. They also have a MySpace page that can be found at www.myspace.com/carrienationband. The band also said that they are looking forward to the show and are excited to play at Beer:30 again because of all of the energetic people in the audience.

“We try to keep the energy high so there are always people having a good time, knocking things over, breaking stuff and spilling stuff, every time is its own slightly creepy affair,”Dreher said.

Alex Pedersen

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