Chris “Hightower” Poage describes his band’s sound as a mix between ska and classic rock.

And indeed listening to Panda Conspiracy’s second CD “Road Soda,” one quickly picks up on the ska rhythm mixed in with, well, frankly a lot of other stuff, including perhaps most notably a large horn presence.

“It’s pretty eclectic,” said Poage, who lists the band’s influences as everything from ’60s rock icons The Kinks to ’80s alternative kingpins The Pixies.

Panda Conspiracy, a.k.a. Panda Con, is the headliner for the first Homegrown Music Festival at 8 p.m. March 14 at the Northshore Performing Arts Center at Bothell High.

The all-ages concert will feature three bands with local connections, including Panda Conspiracy, with deep roots in Bothell; Trolls Cottage of Vashon Island; and the Staxx Brothers of Mill Creek.

Formed in 2004, three Panda Conspiracy members, including Poage, are graduates of Bothell High.

“It’s pretty cool,” said singer, keyboard and sax player Poage of returning to his old high-school stomping grounds. “I was pretty excited to get a call to perform at such a great venue.”

Poage’s ties to Bothell are pretty clear, his family well-known to locals as the owners and operators of the Yakima Fruit Market on Northeast Bothell Way.

“My dad bought it from his dad and I worked there for 10 years,” Poage said. Other family members still are directly connected with the market.

These days, Poage said he would love to say he earns his living as a musician, but that hasn’t happened, at least not yet. He does a little carpentry work and actually belongs to two bands.

“I just like to get out there as much as possible,” Poage said. But he adds Panda Conspiracy is undoubtedly his focus.

The band’s two CDs — the first being 2006’s “Lunar Migration” — were both recorded at the home of guitarist T.J. Saxx. The band did all its own production work

“Considering that it was all done in-house, I think it sounds pretty good,” Poage said, referring to both CDs, but especially last year’s “Road Soda.”

“I would put it up against anything that’s out there,” he said, in terms of technology and sound.

Poage also likes to talk about the history of the Seattle music scene, though he doesn’t mention the city’s most obvious musical export, Nirvana. Instead, Poage talks about groups such as the Sonics, the Kingsmen and the Wailers.

As for Panda Con, the band regularly plays at such spots as Nectar and Neumos in Seattle. They’ve played the annual Folklife festival, as well as the Halloween-themed Zombie Prom. To help advertise the Homegrown show, Poage will play a couple of one-man acoustic sets at Bothell High March 11.

Regularly paired with Panda Conspiracy, Trolls Cottage is described by the Northshore Performing Arts Center as semi-acoustic rock with conscious lyrics and danceable beats. They were a semifinalist for a Grammy Award for best reggae album in 2002.

The Staxx Brothers mix blues, country, soul and classic rock then filter it through hip-hop rhymes and vocals.