Music / Nightlife

A blog for Seattle music lovers of all stripes, from hip-hop and indie rock to jazz and world music.

Waxwing’s show Saturday is its first since 2005. Photo by Peren Votolato.

With the grunge era in its rear-view, early-2000s Seattle quietly fostered a close-knit community of hard-working, über-sincere indie-rock outfits like The Murder City Devils, Juno, a then-fledgling band called Death Cab for Cutie — and the recently-reformed Waxwing, who play Saturday at the Vera Project.

From 1996 to 2005, the quartet — led by two brothers, frontman Rocky and guitarist Cody Votolato — made waves locally and nationally with its majestic, metallic style, following in the footsteps of Northwest post-hardcore icons Sunny Day Real Estate.

Today, Rocky, 36, is an accomplished singer-songwriter with eight LPs under his belt, but in a 2012 Times interview, mentioned he missed “the experience of just how loud Waxwing was, and the chemistry of playing off each other” — hence him, Cody, bassist Andrew Hartley and drummer Rudy Gajadhar going electric for their first headlining gig in eight years.

Waxwing “broke up on good terms, definitely,” Votolato said, “and while we probably won’t be making a new record, I wouldn’t completely rule it out. It’s great being able to create music with other people — Waxwing was always really democratic — and I still feel a kinship with those guys.”