At about 12 years old, I may have been the last person on my block to still believe in Santa Claus. I recall the tearful night when I approached my parents and said (paraphrasing), "Hey, some kids at school have been talking some bullshit about how Santa doesn't exist. What up with that?"

I suppose deep down I knew. But I didn't want it to be true. I had grown up with that magic in my life, and it hurt to know it would soon leave me. Music has a way of being similarly stubborn and nostalgic - of making us want to hold onto the magic for as long as time and age will permit.

The Shivas (Portland, Ore.) and My Friend Wallis (Vancouver, B.C.) are two bands that are evocative of a time in music that is gone forever, but is still persistently resurrected and updated for new audiences.

"When we first started, we played a lot of old blues songs," says Jared Wait-Molyneux of the Shivas. "We were just a bunch of high school kids who liked Cream and, you know, old '60s blues bands. Then we covered ‘Lucifer Sam' by Pink Floyd, off of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. ... It was a lot different from what we had played before, and at that point I realized that was the direction I wanted to go."

Meanwhile, at 15-years-old, My Friend Wallis's Crystal Dorval picked up her dad's guitar and started playing.

"I was really into classic rock," says Dorval. "Like Led Zeppelin and stuff. I started playing electric guitar first."

Dorval went on to be a member of a band called Vincat, which she says had more of a psychedelic rock vibe. As a side project, she started My Friend Wallis, which is a sideways step from psychedelia into what may be referred to in the modern vernacular as dream-pop.

These two bands had similar origins, similar connections to music that existed and died long before they were born. The Shivas transformed from a blues-rock outfit into a full-blown psychedelic rock band. Their sound is still growing and changing, even after the release of two LPs. What began with the jaunty fever dreams of Syd Barrett has become murky, driving acid rock.

My Friend Wallis, in turn, embraces the brighter side of the musically psychedelic experience, frequently featuring elements of world music and tropicalia laid beneath layers of reverb. Dorval's sweetly cooing voice is a pleasant guide throughout her EP, When the Blue Turned Yellow. "Vacation" performs the coveted trick of actually making you feel as though you‘ve finally got the nerve to take the European holiday you've always talked about. When the bass drum kicks in on the following song, it feels every bit like a stark wakeup call.

At The New Frontier, My Friend Wallis and the Shivas will share a bill and be joined by local surf-rock favorites Basemint. It will be a travelogue of approaches to the water mark that the '60s left on music. It's as if the music of the '60s was a massive earthquake, and the Shivas and My Friend Wallis are just some of the tremors that we still feel to this day.

As time goes on, the Shivas seem to be burrowing deeper into the rumbling, slash-and-tear rock of the '60s, while My Friend Wallis explores the influences of European pop like Francoise Hardy and the airy intonations of the Free Design.

Any way you slice it, it seems that this '60s magic has become a coveted commodity, even as music evolves - for better or worse. It seems inherent, this desire to hold on, just a little bit longer to what was.

Because facing a future without it is just unthinkable.

My Friend Wallis, the Shivas

w/Basemint
Friday, Dec. 17, 8 p.m., cover TBA
The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma
253.752.4020