Drummer Garrett Gross returns to Sol Kitchen

by Josh Hogan of My Denton Music

Denton's favorite side project, the now venerable and always entertaining Sol Kitchen, welcomed back one of its founding and most popular members on Wednesday. And what better way to do so, than on the guy's birthday. Mr. Garrett Gross, the band's once longtime drummer, was reintroduced as such during Sol Kitchen's latest stint at Riprocks, the club off Fry Street where the band has been performing on a (more or less) weekly basis for over four years now in what has become a Denton tradition.

"I'm back baby, 100 percent!" Gross proclaimed during a respite in the band's show. "It has been a great reception, a bunch of people that I have not seen in a long time came out, it has been excellent."

The packed porch at Riprocks enjoyed Garrett's return in fashion as the who's who of Denton musicians took stage for yet another improvised jam. In the six and a half years since the formation of Sol Kitchen, the band has never rehearsed, yet never failed to entertain. Gross has his own theory about why that is: "We get to try out stuff that you could not get away with in your normal gigs with this band." For each member, Sol Kitchen is a way to just blow off steam and have a great time playing alongside an all-star cast for a few hours every week. The energy is always great, and the mood sublime for a Sol Kitchen show.

They will be holding down their normal spot at Riprocks the rest of the summer at least every other week, and hopefully into perpetuity. Sol Kitchen puts on a hell of a show for its fans as well as passersby on the streets and sidewalks adjacent to Riprocks. I think Garrett said it best: "It is unadulterated, unscripted fun. It's a fucking party and that's how we want to keep it."