There’s a lot to unpack with local indie-rock band Blackstallion—and this is meant as a compliment. The band is in the midst of an interesting musical evolution that makes it one of Reno’s most distinctive groups.
That, and three-quarters of the members are trying to be in a band while working as schoolteachers. Dylan Greist (bass and saxophone) teaches fifth-grade; Nic Graver (drums and mandolin) teaches sixth-grade English; and Nathan Lachner (guitarist and singer/songwriter) teaches high school. With lead guitarist Jonathan Agnew working full-time as a maintenance man, they all acknowledged that playing out of town can be a challenge.
“Trying to get us all on the same schedule can be tough,” Agnew said. “It has to be an extended weekend or something like that.”
Blackstallion does play in Reno often, though, including at Holland Project, where they’ll open on Sunday, June 7, for legendary indie-rock band Cloud Nothings.
“I think our dream tour would be to go to beautiful places,” Greist said. “We all love a lot of outdoors stuff. Nathan loves running and hiking, and we love rock climbing and doing stuff like that. It’s like if we could build a tour where we get to experience nature and then go play a show at a bar close to there, that would be incredible.”
A blend of old and new
Day jobs aside, the biggest element of intrigue involves the group’s sound evolution. Lachner has been recording as Blackstallion since 2016. He started it as a side project from an emo-punk band he was in called Skinwalkers, and during his tenure as bassist in the indie band Pry.
“I’ve recorded songs since I was 12,” Lachner said. “I’ve always been pretty handy with a computer. So, I just recorded songs completely for fun and put them on Bandcamp.”
Lachner eventually played solo shows as Blackstallion—but he didn’t like it.
“It’s fun to make songs alone, but it’s a lot more fun to play music with friends,” he said. “So I gathered a group of people together to play with me, and it’s become a lot more fun.”
The current Blackstallion lineup has been together for two years, and two members also play in other local bands. Graver is in Night Rooms, while Greist plays for Bug Bath, Spitting Image and Cross Stitch. All agreed that a love for Lachner’s songwriting paved the way for them to play together.
“I’m the newest member, and I was always bugging Nathan: ‘I love Blackstallion so much. Let me play. I’ll play guitar; I’ll play drums, whatever you want,’” Graver said. “And then he finally needed a drummer.”
Recording as a band has led to a move away from the solo, lo-fi sounds of Blackstallion’s early work. The band’s latest album, Blackstallion 5000, mixes modern indie-rock styles with elements that harken back to late ’60s and early ’70s roots rock. Still, Lachner said it’s hard to pin the band down to a specific genre or sound.
“I’ve just tried to unconsciously make music that feels true to me,” he said. “But I’m also starting to get way into the classics as I’ve gotten older. I feel like in every genre, you’ve got to appreciate and respect the roots and the tradition of the music. It’s like folk music, bluegrass, rock ’n’ roll … there’s so much wisdom to be gained from the classics.”
Said Agnew: “Once we started playing with bands from the Northwest, they started throwing around the term ‘bootgaze.’ But I kind of consider our music neo-traditional. There’s a lot of Grateful Dead in there. There’s a lot of Eric Clapton, a lot of traditional blues. I take a personal influence from a lot of B.B. King. And then we’re finding a way to incorporate that with a modern, almost emo/shoegaze kind of vibe. That’s why the new record is called Blackstallion 5000, because it’s the culmination of all of these things.”
Lachner said he’s realized that he doesn’t have to “do everything” to create good songs.
“I’m able to write a song and compose the ideas, and then everyone around me is smarter and more talented when it comes to gear and the sound and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “So together, we’re creating something much better than we could independently. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Said Greist: “One of my favorite things that we’ve been doing lately as a band has been going through the back catalog and finding stuff that’s on Bandcamp that never even made it to Spotify, and then turning something that was just a ‘Nathan computer project’ into something for the full band, and seeing what we can do with it.”
As for the future, Lachner said he’s “slowly chipping away” at writing new material.
“We’ve been a band for 10 years, so I’m not dying to rush and put another album out,” he said. “It probably will happen, because I’m probably going to make songs until I die.”
Blackstallion will open for Cloud Nothings—along with a second Greist band, Cross Stitch—at 7 p.m., Sunday, June 7 at the Holland Project, 140 Vesta St. Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 at the door. For details, go to hollandreno.org/events/cloud-nothings.
All of Blackstallion’s albums, including Blackstallion 5000, can be found on Bandcamp. Learn more @blackstallion.nevada on Instagram.