STS9 Amazes Crowd With Sound and Vision

By Jon Chown

PLACERVILLE — Santa Cruz-based Sound Tribe Sector Nine helped sell a record number of tickets to the Golden Road Gathering musical festival May 15-17, thrilling the crowd of 3,000+ music fans.

Bob Hollis, one of four partners who put Golden Road Gathering together, said with STS9 headlining the event for the first time, sales were up more than 50% this year over last.

“They had the whole audience mesmerized. You could see, just looking at people’s faces that they were totally tuned into the music,” Hollis said. “People were definitely really into it and I think they contributed a lot to our record sales this year.”

STS9 played two sets, about 2 1/2 hours of music, to headline Saturday’s musical lineup at the event that included nine other bands. For most fans, Sound Tribe Sector was the highlight of the day.

“That was amazing!” said Timothee Smith, who drove from Southern California to see the show. It was the only appearance STS9 would make this summer that was west of Texas.

Weeks before the event, bass player Alana Rocklin said the band was planning something for Placerville. “We’ve got some special things in the works for California,” Rocklin said. She was not kidding.

“I used to live in Santa Cruz and first heard them at the Quarry,” Smith said. “They’ve always been amazing, but tonight was just the best. It was more than just the music, the whole environment. Everything! The light show was off the charts!”

The laser light show that STS9 brought was impressive.

“They said they were gonna go all out for this and bring everything they had for the light show,” said Hollis. “It was fantastic. It added a lot to the whole venue. It was perfectly done to the music they were playing.”

Hollis noted that the Santa Cruz contingent of ticket buyers were stronger than ever this year.

“It’s been growing and growing. We get a lot of people from down in Santa Cruz and we’re talking about possibly doing some run-up shows in Santa Cruz in the future, possibly featuring some of the same artists that we booked for next year,” said Hollis.

Santa Cruz resident Steve Engel was at the festival with another one of his crazy hats he invented. He said he not only enjoyed the music, but spent a few days in Placerville shopping at antique stores and enjoying the town.

“I cruised through most or all of the antique and vintage stores and actually bought a pre-dial phone because it had a good magneto that I want to use for a project,” he said.