Rock band wings it all over Texas

Quaker City Night Hawks frontman Sam Anderson freely admits thinking ahead isn't necessarily a strong suit.

Anderson and Amarillo native David Matsler formed the band four years ago, expecting to pull in two other buddies - though that was news to bass player Pat Adams and drummer Matt Mabe.

"We scheduled the first show before we even asked if they could do it," Anderson said. "We're not really good at backup plans. We're barely good at Plan A."

Flying by the seat of their pants seems to be working fine for Anderson and the other members of his Fort Worth-based rock band, which returns Friday for a 10 p.m. show at Golden Light Cantina, 2906 S.W. Sixth Ave.

Anderson started his music career after attending Texas Tech University for a while. Rather, while living in Lubbock for a while: "I was enrolled, but I didn't attend much."

He met Matsler and was soon impressed with the Amarillo native's songwriting skills.

"I thought if Dave could do it, anyone could," Anderson said.

After two years in Lubbock, Anderson and Matsler decided to hit the road together.

"Dave and I lived in our respective cars for a little bit, traveling around Texas," he said. "The first place that would let us play was the coffee shop circuit, but we got sick of that. We were getting paid in broccoli and cheese soup at the end of the night."

He's not joking about that, citing one specific coffee shop in Abilene.

"We didn't get paid, and neither of us had money to drive back where we were making home base at the time. ... We got paid in soup that night, two Styrofoam containers of broccoli and cheese soup," Anderson said. "I was pissed and cussing when we got back to the car, but I wasn't saying anything to the owner, of course. I sat the soup on the hood of my jeep, and it fell off.

"Our payment just splattered on the pavement there. It was insult to injury."

Finally, the duo grew tired of the acoustic shows, pulling in Adams and Mabe to develop a blue-rock sound.

"We thought we could change the world one ballad at a time, but you get to the point where you're ready to say what you want to say through a megaphone instead of whispering in someone's ear," Anderson said. "There's a lot to be said for both, but we just wanted to try all of them."

The band's most recent CD, "Honcho," was released earlier this year, but the band plans to return to the studio soon to put out another full-length album early next year.

"We're going to try to weird people out a little more," Anderson said, "keep seeing what we can get away with."