The members of Spider Bags don’t always know what’s going to happen when they step on stage. From the first chord of a psychedelic rock song to the last, no matter how many times they’ve performed the piece before, the space in between is made up of exponential possibilities.

At 9 p.m. today, rock bands Spider Bags and Reigning Sound will take the stage at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St.

Spider Bags was founded in 2005, organized by Dan McGee after the collapse of his previous punk band, DC Snipers. Following that band’s demise, McGee decided to start exploring writing in other genres. What was meant to be a one-off recording in North Carolina marked the beginning of the band.

“Spider Bags became my thing over the years,” McGee said. “Our first album was very country, but at time when on I started writing songs, that had more of our sound.” 

The band members pride themselves on often improvising on stage, never quite knowing how the show will play once they hit the stage.

“Of all the hours in a day, it’s the other 23 that I’m more concerned about,” said Rock Forbes, the band’s drummer. “We have a sort of ESP on stage; we can just sort of look at each other and fall in sync.”

McGee recalled when the three-piece band added a fourth member, Clark Blomquist on rhythm guitar. Shortly after joining the band, Blomquist expressed his excitement of playing in a band in which anything could happen.

“The exciting thing about music is that possibility of chaos,” McGee said. “I think it’s more exciting to watch a band that might fall apart than to see a band that performs everything immaculately every time. Bands that do that sometimes look bored to me, and if you’re going to be bored, you might as well work a desk job.”

MUSIC

Reigning Sound and Spider Bags