Exploring the Clear Lake music scene: Something for everybody

The Clear Lake music scene is expanding with different genres emerging and gaining a following. Diverse music from Trop-rock to punk rock to reggae are finding an audience at venues such as Scout Bar.

Scout Bar, located at 18307 South Egret Bay Blvd. has played host to local and nationally recognized bands for almost a decade.

Headliner bands such as Fit for Rivals, P.O.D., 10 Years and Dead Sara have all played there, but so has Cassette Tape, The Last Place You Look and the band Hennessey.

Other venues that support local music include Sherlock’s on Bay Area Boulevard, Old Quarter Acoustic Café in Galveston and Last Concert Café in Houston.

Ben Reyna, former guitar player for Andy and the Dreamcicles, is still profoundly involved with the local music scene. He still plays around the Clear Lake area and is heavily involved with booking local music acts. He has upcoming performances scheduled at the Boat Show in South Shore Harbor and Aspen’s Bar and Grill in Clear Lake.

“For the last two or three years, I have been actively involved in booking for the Galveston Bay Parrothead Club and have a list of 17 local acts that I bring in,” Reyna said. “We have happy hour every night, and I am responsible for bringing the live music for that. I have a real good network of local musicians. I always enjoy seeing other people play.”

Cassette Tape, a band that has been together for four years, has gained a following with their reggae rock fueled sound.

UHCL alumnus Cameron Rowe plays bass for Cassette tape, which has gained a strong following around the Clear Lake area. He appreciates the way local musicians support and help each other.

“It’s a really good network of artists here in the area,” Rowe said. “I had to call on people to borrow stuff when my stuff breaks. I’ve sat in [played] for friends; people sat in for me. We have a good core group of musicians in the area.”

Matt Cash, lead guitarist and front man for the reggae rock band Cassette Tape, believes the fans are the best reason why local bands have such a good following around the Clear Lake area.

“Our fans are extremely loyal and very supportive: it’s a growing army and it is really awesome,” Cash said. “It’s giving me goose bumps just thinking about it.”

Mona Lawrence, music teacher and drummer, says her band Atomic Nightingales, has found a following for its folk rock sound when they play around the Houston area.

“We play the Cock and Bull Pub & Restaurant May 1^st,” Lawrence said. “We play for charity and raise money; we just play all over the Houston-Clear Lake area.”

A skate punk band from La Porte, Shut Out, is made up of some former and current military members. They played Scout Bar on March 19 with a show that commenced a zealous mosh pit.

Ben Andrews, who recently served in the Air Force for four years, is the front man for the band Shut Out. He would like to see more punk rock bands form in the area to share a stage and revisit the genre’s heyday.

“I want to see more local acts come out of nowhere, especially punk rock bands, bands that we can share shows with,” Andrews said. “Promote each other and keep that sort of 80’s hardcore punk scene, bring that back.”

One way to check out the local music buzz surrounding Clear Lake is Scout Bar on Sundays.

Scout Bar has a local show called “The Texas Buzz” showcasing popular local Texas artists.

“We try to create a hype and a scene; Clear Lake’s scene is up there,” said Jeremy, radio D.J. for Houston’s 94.5 the Buzz and host of “The Texas Buzz.”