andering the aisles of Fresh Plus, Grocery Bag ponders some produce and dry goods, gamely taking up my invitation to turn this on-the-nose photo shoot and interview location into something of a helpful errand.
Drummer Jimmy Mercado stocks up on Yellowbird’s habanero hot sauce. “I put it on my eggs in the morning, whether it be with breakfast tacos or just eggs and avocado,” he tells me.
Bandmate Dillon Aitala fills up his green basket more substantially, taking me through his haul at a neighboring picnic table after our supermarket sweep.
“I bought orange juice, and it’s medium pulp,” he begins.
In the name of hard-hitting journalism, I ask if that’s his typical pulp preference.
“Shit looked refreshing,” the bassist/guitarist says, dodging the divisive topic. “That’s all I can say.”
Aitala’s also picked up two packs of fusilli and two blocks of cheddar cheese with plans to make gourmet mac and cheese. “The roux needs sharp cheddar,” he says sagely.
Knowing the quartet has a packed schedule ahead, I get a little worried about fellow bassist/guitarist Logan Kerman’s choice to grab a bag of serrano peppers, seemingly without a plan. “They’re always good to have,” he says flippantly.
Fresh off playing Levitation, where vocalist/guitarist Isabella Martinez moonlighted as a contributing photographer for the Chronicle, the psychedelic post-punk quartet is about to embark on a couple of dates opening for Billy Idol in Arkansas and Albuquerque – with a local opening gig for Pond splashed in the middle too.
Setting the stage for Idol is something of an affirmation that their latest EP, May’s Deadvolt, and increasingly confident sound is moving the group in the right direction. Martinez recalls putting together a list of dream acts to support for their manager once upon a time, with the Seventies rock pioneer included.
“We got the email and I was like, whoa, what are the odds?” she says, as awestruck as slacker-minded Austinites get. The four devolve into early memories of encountering the “Rebel Yell” singer – largely at the hands of their parents, who will be in attendance in Arkansas. They arranged the trip in their band guardian group chat, the truest support behind any growing young act.
“‘Dancing With Myself’ was one of the first music videos I ever remember seeing because my dad had it on VHS,” Aitala recalls, reminiscing about dance parties on freshly vacuumed Sunday carpets.
“I remember seeing Billy Idol at ACL 2015,” Kerman adds. “That was a really pivotal show for me. Watching his guitarist Steve Stevens rip it – I was like, I want to do that.”
“And what did he say?” Aitala prompts, familiar with this impactful moment’s plotline.
“He said – right before ‘White Wedding’ – he said, ‘I just want to thank you, Steve Stevens, for making my life so fucking great,’ and then ripped ‘White Wedding,’” Kerman finishes dutifully, balancing an appropriate amount of coolness and starry-eyed appreciation.
A similar expression of gratitude is perhaps in order all around for Grocery Bag, as their Idol-backing dates bleed promptly into another bucket list item: playing Austin City Limits, of course, and in an evening slot no less.
“I feel pretty emotional about it,” says Kerman. “I’ve been going to ACL since I was 8, I’ve maybe skipped one year, and I walk to Zilker every day. I would always imagine us playing there and now that that’s happening – it’s pretty surreal.”
“It is probably one of the biggest stages that a band our size could play ever,” agrees Aitala. “No matter what the outcome is, the fact that we get to do it is such a privilege and already so rewarding.”
The band’s increasing comfort and experimentation is palpable on Deadvolt. Martinez’s voice saunters with rock star confidence on the burgeoning fame-reckoning track “Watching TV.” Guitar Hero riffs on “Grave” complement psychedelic reverb and a power-pop-intoned refrain, underpinned by ferociously fast drumming from Mercado. Jangly garage guitar interludes on “Stop Calling Me Out” and playful call-and-response vocals on “Reason” hint at an expanding rock palette, while a whirlwind post-punk exchange between quiet building and cathartic thrashing on “Lies” proves the quartet is stepping further into their shredding prowess.
“There’s a lot more elements added into everything,” Martinez confirms.
“We’re all putting our own piece to the puzzle now,” Kerman adds. They trace their influences through the rock spectrum – Kerman brings a little folk, Mercado prog, Aitala psych, and Martinez, well: “I’m very well-rounded, honestly,” she says, to a round of affirming nods and chuckles.
The longtime friends have shared a stage, greenroom, tour van, and more for many years now, and the experience shows. Walking through their typical process, they muse that things have grown more collaborative and less routine – a byproduct, Kerman speculates, of having created and then grown out of a sort of composition rulebook.
“Once you know the rules and how things go, you can easily break them and know where you’re stepping out and how to cleverly get back in,” says Mercado.
The band’s picked up the songwriting pace as their audience has expanded. A rollout for their sophomore album is on the horizon, with half the tracklist already comfortably in their set list rotation.
“Deadvolt took about a year and a half to finalize, and this record was like four months,” Mercado says. “It’s definitely pushed us to become better communicators and express how we feel about how things want to sound or how they shouldn’t sound.”
As Aitala’s freshly purchased cheddar grows warm in the noontime sun, the conversation moves back to food, jokes about rider-requested sandwich platters to reflect their budding rock stardom, dreams of a trailer equipped with a flattop grill – all on the growing list of achievements to come for the Austin rockers.
Grocery Bag
Friday (Weekend One only), 5:15pm, BMI stage
This article appears in October 2 • 2026.
