Article and Photos By: Joshua Guerra

It’s only right to have an EP release show in your hometown, and that is what Austin soul band The Nightowls did for the release of their EP Royal Sessions. The 12-piece band brought their soul, jazz, blues, and pop musical style to The Historic Scoot Inn to celebrate the release, and brought along Austin based artists Magna Carda and Cari Q.

Cari Q began the night off performing a short set with her band. Although the venue had roughly 20-30 people, she surely did not disappoint the intimate crowd. Her voice is very unique, which can remind of certain artists at times, but then you hear her performing other songs that separates that similar sound to something that separates her from those artists.

Rap and hip-hop group Magna Carda took the stage next and they got a bigger crowd than Cari Q as more people began to walk in the venue. Their musical style can be seen as mostly hip-hop, but they have their own style that fuses hip-hop with a little bit of jazz and blues, which you can hear through their songs. Their musical style also reminds you of old school hip-hop mixed with the new age of hip-hop.

The Nightowls took the stage to a packed venue. Fans eagerly waited for them to take the stage, and what an amazing performance they put on. The stage was not as big as you would think it would be, but they somehow managed to fit all members onto the stage with enough room for lead singer Ryan Harkrider to dance around. Their EP Royal Sessions includes 5 songs, “Right Around The Corner,” “Can’t Bring Me Down,” “Clean It Up (Play By The Rules),” “Gotta Keep Movin’ On,” and “Don’t Wanna Leave You Lonely.” Each song has a similar sound, yet different vibe to it. “Right Around The Corner,” has a higher tempo than some of the songs on the EP, and it also reminds me a lot of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” by WHAM! because of the tambourine, trumpet and saxophone instruments in both songs.

Other songs off the EP have a lower tempo and a sway kind of mood to it, but all stand out by itself, which expresses their sound as a band. You don’t really see many soul bands anymore, but The Nightowls are definitely a rising soul band that have so much potential to go on to do even bigger things as a band. Their live performance was spectacular, getting the crowd involved, teaching them dance moves, and getting them to sing along. This is truly a must see act. All their songs have one thing in common, and that is they make you want to get up and dance the night away.

With a new EP out, and having already played a few shows since the release, I’m sure we can expect a tour coming soon to support their EP in many different cities and states around the region.