When Mesa singer-songwriter Austin Gibbs began writing songs nine months ago for his girlfriend, she didn't like them.
Turns out she was the only one.
In just a few short months, Austin Gibbs and the States have gone from tiny Valley venues to Tempe's biggest stage at the Tempe Music Festival on March 29.
The group, whose folky indie-rock is quickly earning fans online and off, is already achieving an impressive amount of success.
Its main-stage slot opening for local legends Gin Blossoms was a combination of good fortune, dumb luck and great songs.
"My mom was actually searching Craigslist, and found this garage-band competition," frontman Gibbs says.
The band had already built a decent local following, and success in the Cox-sponsored competition — complete with a giant check for $2,500 — helped things "snowball.
"We played with [headliner] Fergie, which is what it comes down to," Gibbs says.
The pop princess isn't the only big name the States have shared a bill with. The band is fresh off a set at the Bamboozle Left festival, where Jimmy Eat World, New Found Glory and fellow locals Dear and the Headlights played just days ago.
It's a big step up for the band, which formed around Gibbs' songs less than five months ago. The States, composed of Robert Ferrin (electric guitar, harmonica), Kody Herring (lead guitar), Loren Brinton (drums), Marshall Hunt (bass guitar), and Johnny Slyjax (mandolin and "good vibes"), all met through mutual friends after Gibbs decided he "needed to pump up the jams a little.
Now the band is hoping to have an official release out by the end of June. In the meantime, the members are spending most of the next month recording and setting their sights on playing some of the new songs live beginning in late April.
Not too bad for a band who's only had a name since around Christmas.
"First we were Austin Gibbs and the Snake Pit," Herring says, "but that sounded too much like a joke."
The band members list Wilco, Neil Young and Ryan Adams among their influences, which can all be heard in their fine-tuned folk-rock jams. Herring's reverb-drenched guitar is a counterpoint to earthier country sounds, supplied by the harmonica and mandolin.
Yet when Gibbs is asked to describe the band's sound, he needs only one word.
"Fun. What does that sound like? It sounds like fun," he laughs.
