While I was down in Austin earlier this year for SXSW, one of the struggles of the festival was knowing where to go, who to see and when. Often, the best moments and discoveries came from blind luck - simply being in the right place at the right time.

One day, I happened to find myself in the parking lot of a blue theater, away from the downtown strip constantly choked with music and people. There, I saw a band called Strange Vine.

At first glance, Strange Vine is a typical rock 'n' roll two-piece. Consisting of Ian Blesse on drums and Toby Cordova on guitar, the really intriguing aspect of the band comes when Blesse - while still manning the percussion with his right hand - begins playing organ with his left hand. It's a really neat trick that ends up resembling something like a tightrope act. That Blesse is able to create strong and inventive beats with his right hand while providing mostly rumbling bass notes with his left on the Rhodes is both impressive and, ultimately, beneficial to the sound of the band.

Even without this gimmick, though, Strange Vine thrives on sinewy songwriting and classic guitar riffs.

"[Cordova and I] were playing in a different band together for a while, and then that fell through," says Blesse. "So, we just decided to start a two-piece ... I lived with a guy who had a Hammond B3 organ. I would be alone in this house and would set up my drum kit next to it and just hold chords with my left hand while I played drums. I thought about looping parts for a while, but just the idea of having something else onstage I'd have to worry about, like making a loop that wasn't the right time or the loop pedal not working, or anything like that ... I just like the idea of doing it live. Something about that speaks to me more as a musician. But it's been a really tricky learning process."

As I've said, the trick of playing organ and drums at the same time is a neat one. But it'd get old quick if the music didn't match up to the gimmick, which Strange Vine does well. The band's song, "Ghosts," manages to convey all of the styles at which Strange Vine excels in one juicy, six-minute slice - moving from bluesy riffs, sudden tempo shifts, White Stripes-esque guitar stabs and runs, on through lurching classic rock headbanging material and even stopping for a waltzing piano solo. It‘s compelling stuff, delivered at the sure hands of very talented musicians. Live, the peaks and valleys of "Ghosts" really do heighten and dramatize the dynamic of the two-man rock band, and its capacity to move in electric unison.

Later at SXSW, I saw Strange Vine perform at midnight on the roof of a bar before the Nightgowns took the stage. Looking out over the Austin skyline as they blazed through one tune after another, I reflected on how I had found them twice in this strange city. I'll find them again on Thursday.

Strange Vine

with System and Station
Thursday, Aug. 25, 9 p.m., cover TBA
The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma
253.572.4020