KneeJürk! ready to rock local crowd

The Hot Buttered Holidays Stroll Tour is making its way to Whitehall with a December 9 performance by the band "KneeJürk!".

The two-piece band featuring Jock Holmes of Cardwell and Russ Nelson of Butte is scheduled to play from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Legends Bar and Grill located at 13 West Legion in downtown Whitehall.

This will be the second holiday tour for the band, who in 2016 decided to start playing at stroll like events throughout Southwest Montana.

Holmes said one of the best things about playing at a "stroll" is they play early in the evening and people who are taking part in the activities can stop by and check it out.

After a great tour in 2016, Holmes said they decided to do it again, and the tour is three times bigger than last year. KneeJürk! started the tour with a show the day before Thanksgiving in Butte and will conclude on New year's Eve.

Holmes smiled when he said they will only play one Christmas song, but said they have a large library of songs and play what the audience wants to hear, often times being asked to play longer than there scheduled time.

A few shows into the tour, Holmes is excited about the reaction they have received from audiences.

"It's been unreal," he said.

Holmes and Nelson both play in other bands, and knew each other long before joining forces. Holmes, who plays bass and sings in the band, said Nelson who is the musical director at Butte Central High School is a phenomenal musician. Nelson plays guitar and sings, and also plays a snare and kick drum with his feet, something Holmes said is very well received by the crowd.

"We sound like a full band," he said.

Holmes has been a professional musician for several decades, three of which he spent full time on the road. He said KneeJürk! is very different from his other bands and is "a real raw and bare" type of experience.

"There is no hiding, and it is a lot of fun that way," he said.

The two started KneeJürk! as a kind of experiment, and Holmes said it has exceeded their expectations.

"It has become a full time entity of its own," he said.

Playing locally is a treat for Holmes who said he not only gets to see the people who like to come out and see live music, but also as a way to bring a different type of act into town.

With a song list that "features a little bit of everything", Holmes said KneeJürk! wants to cater to the audience at each individual show and make sure that everybody is involved.

"It takes our crowd to make a crowd. There is never only one singer in the room, " he said.

Holmes said that while there is always live music in Whitehall at events like the stroll and Frontier Days, he would like to see acts come in on a more regular basis. Holmes said that recent open mic nights were a great way to get people to come out for live music, adding it was nice to see the energy they brought to the area.