{"id":452935,"date":"2026-10-01T07:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T07:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452935\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T07:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T07:06:13","slug":"grocery-bag-ticks-off-their-bucket-list-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452935\/","title":{"rendered":"Grocery Bag Ticks Off Their Bucket List \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"W\"<\/p>\n

andering the aisles of Fresh Plus, Grocery Bag<\/a> ponders some produce and dry goods, gamely taking up my invitation to turn this on-the-nose photo shoot and interview location into something of a helpful errand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drummer Jimmy Mercado stocks up on Yellowbird\u2019s habanero hot sauce. \u201cI put it on my eggs in the morning, whether it be with breakfast tacos or just eggs and avocado,\u201d he tells me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bandmate Dillon Aitala fills up his green basket more substantially, taking me through his haul at a neighboring picnic table after our supermarket sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought orange juice, and it\u2019s medium pulp,\u201d he begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the name of hard-hitting journalism, I ask if that\u2019s his typical pulp preference.<\/p>\n

\u201cShit looked refreshing,\u201d the bassist\/guitarist says, dodging the divisive topic. \u201cThat\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aitala\u2019s also picked up two packs of fusilli and two blocks of cheddar cheese with plans to make gourmet mac and cheese. \u201cThe roux needs sharp cheddar,\u201d he says sagely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Knowing the quartet has a packed schedule ahead, I get a little worried about fellow bassist\/guitarist Logan Kerman\u2019s choice to grab a bag of serrano peppers, seemingly without a plan. \u201cThey\u2019re always good to have,\u201d he says flippantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fresh off playing Levitation, where vocalist\/guitarist Isabella Martinez moonlighted as a contributing photographer for the Chronicle, the psychedelic post-punk quartet is about to embark on a couple of dates opening for Billy Idol in Arkansas and Albuquerque \u2013 with a local opening gig for Pond splashed in the middle too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Setting the stage for Idol is something of an affirmation that their latest EP, May\u2019s Deadvolt, and increasingly confident sound is moving the group in the right direction. Martinez recalls putting together a list of dream acts to support for their manager once upon a time, with the Seventies rock pioneer included.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got the email and I was like, whoa, what are the odds?\u201d she says, as awestruck as slacker-minded Austinites get. The four devolve into early memories of encountering the \u201cRebel Yell\u201d singer \u2013 largely at the hands of their parents, who will be in attendance in Arkansas. They arranged the trip in their band guardian group chat, the truest support behind any growing young act.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Dancing With Myself\u2019 was one of the first music videos I ever remember seeing because my dad had it on VHS,\u201d Aitala recalls, reminiscing about dance parties on freshly vacuumed Sunday carpets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\u201cI\u2019ve<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember seeing Billy Idol at ACL 2015<\/a>,\u201d Kerman adds. \u201cThat was a really pivotal show for me. Watching his guitarist Steve Stevens rip it \u2013 I was like, I want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what did he say?\u201d Aitala prompts, familiar with this impactful moment\u2019s plotline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said \u2013 right before \u2018White Wedding\u2019 \u2013 he said, \u2018I just want to thank you, Steve Stevens, for making my life so fucking great,\u2019 and then ripped \u2018White Wedding,\u2019\u201d Kerman finishes dutifully, balancing an appropriate amount of coolness and starry-eyed appreciation.<\/p>\n

A similar expression of gratitude is perhaps in order all around for Grocery Bag, as their Idol-backing dates bleed promptly into another bucket list item: playing Austin City Limits, of course, and in an evening slot no less.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pretty emotional about it,\u201d says Kerman. \u201cI\u2019ve been going to ACL since I was 8, I\u2019ve maybe skipped one year, and I walk to Zilker every day. I would always imagine us playing there and now that that\u2019s happening \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s pretty surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is probably one of the biggest stages that a band our size could play ever,\u201d agrees Aitala. \u201cNo matter what the outcome is, the fact that we get to do it is such a privilege and already so rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s increasing comfort and experimentation is palpable on Deadvolt. Martinez\u2019s voice saunters with rock star confidence on the burgeoning fame-reckoning track \u201cWatching TV.\u201d Guitar Hero riffs on \u201cGrave\u201d complement psychedelic reverb and a power-pop-intoned refrain, underpinned by ferociously fast drumming from Mercado. Jangly garage guitar interludes on \u201cStop Calling Me Out\u201d and playful call-and-response vocals on \u201cReason\u201d hint at an expanding rock palette, while a whirlwind post-punk exchange between quiet building and cathartic thrashing on \u201cLies\u201d proves the quartet is stepping further into their shredding prowess.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more elements added into everything,\u201d Martinez confirms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all putting our own piece to the puzzle now,\u201d Kerman adds. They trace their influences through the rock spectrum \u2013 Kerman brings a little folk, Mercado prog, Aitala psych, and Martinez, well: \u201cI\u2019m very well-rounded, honestly,\u201d she says, to a round of affirming nods and chuckles.<\/p>\n

The longtime friends have shared a stage, greenroom, tour van, and more for many years now, and the experience shows. Walking through their typical process, they muse that things have grown more collaborative and less routine \u2013 a byproduct, Kerman speculates, of having created and then grown out of a sort of composition rulebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you know the rules and how things go, you can easily break them and know where you\u2019re stepping out and how to cleverly get back in,\u201d says Mercado.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s picked up the songwriting pace as their audience has expanded. A rollout for their sophomore album is on the horizon, with half the tracklist already comfortably in their set list rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDeadvolt took about a year and a half to finalize, and this record was like four months,\u201d Mercado says. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely pushed us to become better communicators and express how we feel about how things want to sound or how they shouldn\u2019t sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Aitala\u2019s freshly purchased cheddar grows warm in the noontime sun, the conversation moves back to food, jokes about rider-requested sandwich platters to reflect their budding rock stardom, dreams of a trailer equipped with a flattop grill \u2013 all on the growing list of achievements to come for the Austin rockers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\nGrocery Bag<\/p>\n

Friday (Weekend One only), 5:15pm, BMI stage\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

This article appears in October 2 \u2022 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"andering the aisles of Fresh Plus, Grocery Bag ponders some produce and dry goods, gamely taking up my…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[155674,132,134,133,155675,26364,155676,155677,155678],"class_list":["post-452935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-acl-fest-2026","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-dillon-aitala","tag-grocery-bag","tag-isabella-martinez","tag-jimmy-mercado","tag-logan-kerman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}