Friday, March 11, 2005 | 8:36 a.m.
KC Wells works for a parking enforcement service, doling out tickets and placing boots on car tires.
He wouldn't mind earning a living doing something else.
If everything goes well for Wells and the rest of local rock band the Day After at next week's South by Southwest music festival, the 25-year-old bassist might be able to do just that.
"That's been the goal since Day One, to be able to be in this band full time," Wells said. "We've had a lot of really cool opportunities in the past, but this is definitely the biggest one so far, where we can showcase what we can do."
Mainstays on the local scene since the late 1990s, members of the Day After caught their big break last year when a manager for punk outfit Good Charlotte caught one of their shows at the Lounge at the Palms.
He encouraged the Vegas quartet -- Wells, Jenine Cali, Shaun Dougherty and Luis Cano -- to apply for a spot at South by Southwest, the prestigious annual event that draws hundreds of record executives to Austin, Texas, every spring.
In December, Cali, the band's vocalist and second guitarist, received an email invitation for the Day After to perform.
"It was kind of a shock when we got it," Cali, 26, said. "It's a huge step. Who knows what's going to happen, but there are lots of contacts to be made there."
The Day After performs one more local gig, around 11 tonight at the Cheyenne Saloon (3130 N. Rancho Drive), before driving to Phoenix for a show there on Saturday.
From there it's on to Texas, for a warmup performance in Pflugerville on Tuesday, and the main event at midnight on Wednesday at the Chuggin' Monkey on Austin's famed 6th Street.
Wells, Cali, Dougherty and Cano are planning to stay in Texas through next weekend, attending South by Southwest workshops and panels and seeing some of the other 1,000-plus acts on the massive five-day schedule.
With so many other hopefuls -- not to mention veterans such as Billy Idol, Elvis Costello and Erykah Badu -- playing the festival, how can the Day After catch the eye of the right record executives?
Wells says the band can do it with sheer energy.
"There's a passion about us that people respond to," he said. "When we're onstage playing, it's easy to tell that there's nowhere else we'd rather be. We're just real kids making real music."
The Day After also stand out physically as an unusually diverse group. Along with their female singer and black bassist -- Las Vegas natives who became friends as sixth graders at The Meadows School -- the lineup features a drummer from Mexico (Cano) and a Boston transplant on lead guitar (Dougherty).
"We have such an eclectic group," Cali said. "If you look at the picture or look at us onstage, you're gonna be like, 'What is this?' "
The Killers were Southern Nevada's lone South by Southwest participants a year ago, just as the Day After will be this year. But while the members of the Day After hope the two area bands share other similar fortunes, they are quick to point out an important difference.
"I'm happy that it's happened for the Killers because it shines a positive light on Vegas," Wells said. "But we don't sound anything like them."
Indeed, the Day After doesn't channel '80s influences, as the Killers do, nor do they use synthesizers.
If the four-song demo included in their press kit is a good indication, the Day After is grittier, and a bit heavier, though not difficult to grab hold of.
The Foo Fighters, A.F.I., At the Drive-In, the Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are just a few of the bands Wells and Cali mentioned as influences.
"To me, it's just straight rock music, man," Wells said. "We're just real kids making real music."
Music notes
Wonder jam: Music legend Stevie Wonder will headline this year's "Tiger Jam VIII" benefit concert, which will take place May 21 at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
The Counting Crows are also scheduled to perform at the event, which raises money for local youth organizations, including Child Haven and the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas.
Tickets for Tiger Jam go on sale later this month.
That's a rap: Rapper Sage Francis cancelled his scheduled show last Saturday at Jillian's, about two hours before the event was supposed to start.
According to Francis' label, the tour van broke down in San Diego, forcing the Rhode Island MC to call off his appearance. Refunds are available at original points of purchase.
Girls and gods: On Sunday, Jillian's plays host to a promising bill, teaming indie-rockers Pretty Girls Make Graves, Beach Boys-worshipping Californians Dios Malos and dance-punk outfit Kill Me Tomorrow.
Dios Malos used to go by the name Dios (Spanish for gods), until veteran metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio took legal action to force the change.
Tickets to the 7 p.m. show are $12.
Pit stops: The Cannery celebrates NASCAR weekend with a pair of shows at the Club. The Marshall Tucker Band brings southern rock to the venue at 8 p.m. tonight, while country singer David Lee Murphy stops by at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are $9.95 per show. Admission is free with a race ticket stub.
On sale
The Used play The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel on May 6. Tickets are $23 and go on sale at noon Saturday at the Hard Rock box office, at Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 and at www.ticketmaster.com.
Keane lands at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on May 3. Tickets are $22 to $30 and go on sale Saturday at the House of Blues box office and through Ticketmaster.
Edwin McCain performs at the House of Blues on May 10. Tickets are $20 to $30 and go on sale Thursday through the House of Blues box office and Ticketmaster.
Breaking Benjamin hits the House of Blues on April 10. Tickets are $17 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday through the House of Blues box office and Ticketmaster.
archive
