King Rail's first live gig came a year ago at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena's 2007-2008 New Year's Eve concert event, but the band's roots date back to a few months before that.
Jamming together since July of 2007, Brian ''Tiny B.'' Schaffer and Jamie Trusler performed as the duo Tiny & Twiz during the September 2007 Local Music Showcase event in downtown Jamestown. Schaffer admits to having been nervous about their playing live as a duo for the first time, but the experience was a positive one - and enough to convince them to continue performing together.
Building the duo into a four-piece band came just as easily for Tiny and Twiz, who recruited former Everything Ends drummer Ben Juul to handle percussion.
"It's worth noting that the band came together at Mojo's one member at a time with no rehearsals whatsoever,'' Trusler said in a recent e-mail interview. ''Sort of like a bar band Chia Pet. Just add beer and watch it grow."
According to Schaffer, jam sessions as a trio in the basement of Mojo's yielded the realization that the three had a lot in common.
"After that, we were in pursuit of a bass player that would understand the idea of melding classic blues roots with the swagger and dynamics of classic rock 'n' roll and country music."
No stranger to the local music scene, Matt Baxter, who plays guitar in Smackdab and Thee Audience, had long been jamming with Schaffer after hours and, as King Rail legend goes, hopped over the bar while working at Mojo's one night to sit in with the trio during an open mic set. Shortly thereafter, Baxter became a permanent part of the band.
Looking back on its first year and a half, Schaffer says King Rail has evolved more than he initially thought it would.
"It seems that every time we practice and play out, new and different dimensions come to the forefront," Schaffer explained. "We played a show in Frewsburg in the springtime, and some cat walking into the bar on that afternoon asked Matt what we sounded like. He responded by saying that we were on the bluesier side of blues. Which was basically correct at the gig. Sometimes we sound heavier, and other times we have a more classic country sound going. And part of the reason why it can change over the period of a gig is because we all love those different genres.