The local event spawned by The Vault, Jack White’s Third Man Records’ official site, in conjunction with Will Floyd, lead singer of The One Through Tens and event planner Heather Spencer, went for year number two with both Third Man Recording artists and Nashville-area bands popular with The Vault message board.

Spanning the weekend of May 28-29, this year featured everything from straight up Stooges-garage infected vibes to retro 1969-era Mick Taylor-driven Stones. Saturday night kicked off with White Buffalo Woman, part of the New Freshmen class with a nerdy edgy delivery; this was definitely not your dad’s classic rock collection.

The Turncoats followed, somewhere between early Kinks and Big Star with a raw, two guitar trade off – very ’60s British or post-New York Pixies that would fit well in Little Steven’s Underground Garage.

The Ettes then took the stage, with three recognizable local musicians including Jeremy “Jem” Cohen on bass, Poni (the first of three female drummers at the event) and the vocals of Lindsay “Coco” Hames. Almost like a Cali Hot Rod Poster Girl singing for The Von Bondies. The Ettes have recently toured with The Dead Weather, one of Jack White’s numerous side projects.

Miami’s Jacuzzi Boys, known to be one of Iggy Pop’s favorite bands and fresh from their “Live at Third Man” record release earlier this year, kept it solid and very Detroit – tight punk with a sense of humor. 

Dex Romweber, who as part of The Flat Duo Jets, influenced the whole White Stripes thing, finished off night one with a superb set with girl drummer number two, his sister Sara. The Dex Romweber Duo rocked a live version of their Third Man Records release “The Wind Did Move” as well as last year’s Bloodshot Records’ Ruins of Berlin.

Sunday night kicked off with one of the most fantastic non sub-genre sets by The Grayces, with Iz Stone rocking almost Swedish pop/punk material, performing a tight set featuring their latest YouTube video hit, “Just Another Thing.”

D. Watusi brought on a more pop version of early four piece Modern Lovers, with Wurlitzer organ-sounding keyboards driving the arrangements.  They had plenty of jangle on “Summer Nights.” Joey Ramone would be proud.

The One Through Tens (1-10’s) featured female drummer number three, Abby Hairston, with a heady brew of Seattle flavor added to the mostly garage flavored event. The guitar pyro techniques of Adam Louis effortlessly ran the gamut from jazz to punk to blues as they proceeded to perform most of the Fighting For A Golden Age album in its entirety. Their vocalist, Will, also helped to put the event together this year.

It was PUJOL who really started to pack the place. PUJOL performed as a duo with Adam Tanaka on piano and Pujol standing on a Rick Nielson (Cheap Trick) style box, putting him another six inches above the audience.

The crowd started to grow as the event’s closer featured Third Man Records’ Ben Swank and a 15-year reunion of Toledo’s Henry and June. More Third Man Records staffers showed with a late ’60s/early ’70s Rolling Stones inspired set that actually featured two Stones covers and their own “Goin’ Back to Memphis.”