Kid Mammoth makes its live debut on Friday at Westside Bowl. That doesn’t mean two-thirds of the band won’t be familiar to local listeners.

Kerry Henderson, who played in the Columbus band The Floorwalkers but now is based in California, is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter for the group, but he’s joined in Kid Mammoth by guitar player Eric Hall and drummer Dean Anshutz, both of Red Wanting Blue (Anshutz also is co-owner of the record store located inside Westside Bowl).

Hall said they’ve known Henderson for years but started working with him when he and Anshutz started a side project called tick.tick.tick. with Ross Gerren during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Kerry does video stuff and editing, and he’s great at that, so we had him edit some of our little videos,” Hall said. “He was putting a project together of his own, writing some songs, and he sent some stuff our way to play on. We recorded our stuff remotely, and then little by little, we got together and rehearsed some stuff and he put together some videos. We just kind of coalesced as a little group, the three of us.”

Kid Mammoth released a six-song EP “Past, Present, Future” digitally in late 2023, and there are performance videos on YouTube. The song “Kid Mammoth” has a Black Keys vibe while other tracks reveal a My Morning Jacket influence.

It allows Hall to scratch a different musical itch than Red Wanting Blue.

“Kerry’s a guitar player as well, and he’s very good at playing the lap steel, so to have somebody else to play off of, we do a lot of harmonized guitar parts and things like that,” he said. “It’s just a different dynamic. And overall, there’s more of an indie rock influence, that kind of riff-rock, blues kind of thing all the way to Vampire Weekend-ish stuff.”

A full-length vinyl release is planned later this year that expands the EP with a new song called “Beneath the Wheel,” a live version of EP track “Heartless” and a cover of Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over.”

“We did a Kid Mammoth version of that, which I think turned out pretty cool,” Hall said. “The original version is pretty quiet, mostly vocals and kind of creepy and eerie, and our version is more indie rock — lots of guitars, quicker tempo, and it’s a different feel with a different time signature.

“I remember when he sent the demo, I was like, ‘I know this song,’ but it sounded really different. It took a minute for me to go, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s a Billie Eilish song.’ It’s the opposite of what the original version is.”

The core trio will be joined by a bass player and a saxophone player /flutist / harmony vocalist for Friday’s show at Westside Bowl, with Papers and Interior Stations opening, and shows in Columbus on Saturday and Sunday.

Hall doesn’t see Kid Mammoth supplanting Red Wanting Blue as his and Anshutz’s primary band, but he also doesn’t believe this weekend’s live shows will be the only opportunity to see the band perform.

“For the three of us, it’s going to fit into our lives however it’s going to fit in, but we plan on writing and recording more. I think the plan is in the fall or winter to do a few West Coast shows. Kerry is based in Los Angeles now, so our next actual shows would be that. But we don’t have a master plan. We’re working to make songs that we like and that we like to play. I think we’re taking it one step at a time. Playing live for the first time is one of those steps. I think we’re just seeing where it goes.”

If you go …

WHO: Kid Mammoth, Papers and Interior Stations

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Westside Bowl, 2617 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $12 in advance through Eventbrite and $15 at the door the day of the show.