Fans of local alt-country were in for a treat last weekend when The Fremonts, one of the city’s oldest such groups, re-formed for a pair of rare shows.
The band, comprising members of longtime local bands The Las Vegas Nines and The Vermin, performed for the first time in around a year and a half, according to bassist Rev. Rob Ruckus, playing Thursday at the Double Down and Friday at the Bunkhouse.
The Fremonts’ extended hiatus began when lead vocalist/guitarist Willy “Curtis Streamliner” Faris relocated from Vegas to Wyoming in 2001. Ruckus says that Faris moved to take care of a bar located on a highway in that barren state after members of his family became too old to care for it.
Faris had been making occasional trips back to Vegas to hang out with friends and take care of business back home, but his return this time had a much more somber purpose—depositing his recently deceased mother’s ashes into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
As for The Fremonts’ future, Faris plans to move back to Vegas as soon as the sale of the Wyoming bar is complete, and the band is planning another show, July 21, to celebrate Ruckus’ 37th birthday. –Aaron Thompson