Eight Gigs: Grex

Grex claims influences as seemingly normal yet disparate as Jimi Hendrix, Sonic Youth and John Coltrane. Yet, the Bay Area band doesn’t sound like any of them. At all. Deliberately unpretty and wonderfully strange, Grex’s brand of art rock strongly veers into free-form jazz and gritty noise. But just when you think you’ve got Grex pegged down, its style warps into sweet, melodic almost-pop. Catch what used to be a duo as a trio, with guitar, keys, drums and mayhem. Two Davis acts open up: dream-pop band Pastel Dream and one-man band the Lurk. 129 E Street, Suite E, in Davis; www.grexsounds.com.