Bands Through Town, Issue 11 by bandsthroughtown

SLEEPY KITTY

INDIGO DE SOUZA • HIS LORDSHIP • NELS CLINE • Sinister dane CAVE RADIO • LAST DINOSAURS • ACL FEST • FORMAT FEST EVOLUTION FEST • MUSIC AT THE INTERSECTION DES7GNMGZ

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CONTENTS

48 BACK

COVER

Indigo De Souza (Photo: Angella Choe)

Photo: Cory Weaver

All of This Will End with Indie-Rock Misfit, Indigo De Souza

INAUGURAL EVOLUTION FESTIVAL IMPRESSES

MAGIC NUMBER 3: MATI INVIGORATES MIDTOWN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS: INNOVATING THE THREE-DAY FESTIVAL

ACL: THE UNDENIABLE CAN’T-MISS EXPERIENCE

Photos., Cory Weaver: (L-R) Karen O at ACL, Ice Cube at Evolution Festival, James Murphy at FORMAT Festival and Photo: Sean Rider Samantha Fish at MATI (photo: Sean Rider).

FEATURED Festival Takeover

SLEEPY KITTY: FROM BROOKLYN, WITH STL LOVE

DEEP DIVE INTO SONIC CAVERNS WITH CAVE RADIO

TALKING COUSIN WITH WILCO’S NELS CLINE

NO PRETENDING: 12 HIS LORDSHIP’S FIRST U.S. CONCERT Covers: Front Photo: Sleepy Kitty by Jen Meller Back Photo: Indigo De Souza by Angella Choe This page: His Lordship by Sean Rider

ON LOCATION AT ACL

Edi tor ial

In 20I7, I embarked on a journey to spotlight musicians in St. Louis and beyond, filling a space vacated by other media outlets that deemed this type of coverage unworthy. Now, in 2024, Bands Through Town has entered a realm that I only imagined it could. We’ve been able to keep our finger on the pulse of the music scene as documented by our interviews, features, reviews and the coverage provided for noteworthy festivals nationwide (see pages 16 to 41 in this issue for our latest festival coverage). In addition to a physical and online publication presence, we have brought musicians and audiences together via our live showcases, which also play a critical part in keeping the music landscape here relevant.

Over these past few years, we’ve watched our magazines disappear from stands at more than 40 locations in three cities in a matter of days. I believe this is a testament to not only the quality of our content but to the quality of the magazine itself; we’ve received numerous accolades from highly regarded companies and individuals who’ve been impressed with the writing and the design.

Despite the challenges that come with producing a magazine of this caliber, I remain dedicated to the belief that the music scene here in St. Louis and in other nearby cities is worthy of coverage. By supporting Bands Through Town—whether you pick up a magazine at a record store or café, support us on social media, attend one of our live shows, buy an ad, or sponsor a showcase—you are investing in the vibrancy of our shared love of music and the documentation of our ever-evolving music scene.

With sincere gratitude, Cory Weaver Founder and Publisher

Cory Weaver

Producer & Editor Brian Amick Writer

#11 Issue

Madisyn Siebert

Jennifer Rolf

Asst. Editor

Editor & Writer

Melanie Broussalian Writer

Sean Rider

Alex Bakken

Photographer

Writer

contributors Holly Kite

Thomas Crone

Lauren Textor

Liam Owen

Matthew Fernandes

Alan Sculley

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Dec/Jan 2023-24

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Writer

STAFF

Bands Through Town is a gift we create for you and provide for free. If our work is meaningful to you, we would love to have your support. It will help keep the magazine free and available to all, now and in the years to come.

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Reviewed

DECLAN MCKENNA • FLIPTURN • LAST DINOSAURS • HIS LORDSHIP

Declan McKenna: British Rock ‘n’ Roller Packs Delmar Hall Story: Madisyn Siebert Imagine someone who is almost the perfect mix of Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and even the tiniest sprinkle of Austin Powers. Now imagine this person is only 24 years old. All that in mind, you have met rising star, Declan McKenna, who played a sold-out show at Delmar Hall on Aug. 1. The English singer-songwriter is bringing back iconic sounds of 1970s rock and encouraging a younger audience to discover music beyond 2020s pop. Having gained popularity after winning the Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition in 2015, McKenna self-released his most popular song to-date, “Brazil,” later that year in December to criticize the 2014 FIFA World Cup that was being held in the country. The song gained new life and new fans via TikTok in 2022. McKenna’s much anticipated tour, dubbed “The Big Return,” which wound down in November, was a hit across North America. And that’s not just because of the hype from a revival of a song that has gone viral—it’s for very good reasons. The concert was the perfect balance of McKenna’s first two albums, What Do You Think About the Car? released in 2017 and Zeros, which was released a couple days into the global pandemic in 2020. McKenna was engaging from beginning to end during the 18-song setlist; you could clearly tell he did this tour the way he wanted to do 8

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it and not the way a manager told him to. It felt like a breath of fresh air. We had traditional pump-up songs, where he encouraged the crowd to move their hands up and down in unison, to times where McKenna took dramatic moments by himself under the spotlight playing the piano to slowly be joined by his other bandmates. McKenna almost felt like the high school theatre kid turned “cool”— apologies to all high school theatre enthusiasts. He had the fun quirks, unique outfits and style, was unapologetically himself, and slightly sassy at times, but in the midst of it all you could still see how McKenna is growing into himself and learning what is and isn’t working for him on stage. One of the best moments of the night was when McKenna veered away from the setlist and addressed the crowd directly. “I’ll [make] you a deal. It’s not a shady under-the-table deal,” he stressed. “If we do no phones or cameras we will play a song we have never played live before. This is rock ‘n’ roll baby.” He smirked before going into the now-released latest single, “Nothing Works.” With other fun quips like, “Thank you for bringing us so much energy. Energy is a finite resource ya know,” and “Thank you guys so much for making us feel 1,000 feet tall up here—and we’re only getting huger baby,” while wearing a stolen cowboy hat from the crowd, McKenna’s Gen Z energy was clear. But his unique sound of inspired classic rock makes him an artist that anyone would enjoy seeing. McKenna even shared more of this love for classic rock icons by performing a cover of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” as a part of his two-song encore, which showcased a beautiful song to an audience of people who may not have had the chance to listen to it before.

McKenna can connect generations with his music and bring a Beatlesloving father into the 21st century with a new take on these classic sounds, while reminding Gen Z of why good music will stand the test of time.

Summertime High: Flipturn, Openers for Mt. Joy Story: Alex Bakken Summer 2023 ushered in a new era of live music, and Flipturn’s midAugust concert at St. Louis Music Park was no exception. Let’s be honest, post-pandemic concerts were hit-or-miss for a long while. Venues had no idea how they used to operate, many attendees lost all sense of concert etiquette, and some bands simply did not return to the stage with the same energy they used to have. But things seem to be changing, perhaps most noticeably with this incredible opening performance put on by indie-rock quintet Flipturn. Many opening acts, especially in recent years, have accepted their spot as second best. It’s hard not to. When a majority of the crowd hasn’t even arrived yet and a good portion of those present have never heard your music, you’re going to be in for an uphill battle. So why go all in? Well, if you’re Flipturn, that question isn’t even on the table.

I felt myself pulled in every direction throughout their set. Whether it was Fountain’s dreamy synths, Jarman’s driving bass lines or VonBalson’s dominating presence on the drums, I could never keep my attention on one member for more than a second before getting whisked away by the talents of another. Recognizable tunes like “August” and “Whales” seemed entirely brand new when presented with the in-person capabilities of each band member. At one point during “Halfway,” I was so captivated by Basse’s singing that I almost missed VonBalson stand on top of his drum set, jump off, and on-beat smash a cymbal with his fist on the way down (seriously, I have never seen anyone drum like he did). Toward the end of the show, all five members went all out during the transition between the eerie timbre of “Burn” into the relentless blast of “Weepy Woman”—it was a sight to behold. So, let’s get back to our burning question for this opening act: Why go all in? Because in this new era of live music, that is how you stand out. The bare minimum will no longer do the trick. We’ve all had plenty of time getting back into the real world, and music lovers are asking for more. Flipturn delivers. It was not until the act’s final song, “Space Cowboy,” that I took my eyes off the stage, looked around the amphitheater, and realized that more than two-thirds of the audience was dancing along, captivated and drawn to their seats by the music. For a second, I almost applauded the group for understanding the formula to attract new fans, but it really felt like more than that. Flipturn wasn’t putting on some act because they know that’s what works these days—they were just playing their music the only way they know how. And it was just that damn good.

Photos: Cory Weaver

Flipturn took the stage in an unassuming manner. The group greeted the crowd with smiles, waves, and a very quick hello before grabbing their instruments and assuming their positions. Before anyone had a second to wait, drummer Devon VonBalson hit the opening riff to “Sad Disco” and the show was off. One by one, the rest of the band joined in on the song. Guitarist Tristan Duncan and bassist Madeline Jarman quickly layered a hypnotic melody, paving the way for Mitch Fountain to introduce the tune’s iconic synths. Last and certainly not least, Flipturn’s front man, Dillon Basse, entered in with the emotionally charged, provocatively poetic lyricism he’s displayed since their debut in 2017.

This group is lightning in a bottle. Bands naturally thrive off a fun group dynamic, but Flipturn has made their chemistry palpable. Every single instrument, every hook, every beat has an undeniable purpose in each song performed. The band effortlessly layers their talents as they play, somehow surpassing the “umph” felt in their already jampacked records. For lack of a better phrase—the energy was unmatched.

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Last Dinosaurs: Evolving Soundscape and Unleashing Indie Brilliance from Down Under Story: Alex Bakken “I feel like we’ve got our own thing going on. Always have,” Sean Caskey, co-lead vocals and co-lead guitar of Last Dinosaurs, said as I sat down with him at Delmar Hall ahead of the second show of their North American tour, “Tourzilla.” The band was co-headlining the tour with their Australian counterparts, Vacations. Even though they may have been having fun with another band, Caskey had more on his mind, like the new single he wrote. “It is hard because at the time you’re like, okay, this is good, this is good, this is good,” he said. “Then it comes out and it’s like, fuck, is it even good enough?” Aside from the new single, Last Dinosaurs was still finding their footing on the new tour and getting ready to drop their next album. Last Dinosaurs, as a collective, were clearly keeping themselves busy, the four members filling their free time with record signing, writing, recording and producing their own album, while still finding out what worked best for this tour. The band, composed of brothers Sean and Lachlan Caskey, Michael Sloane and Dan Koyama, has mostly left the songwriting to Sean and Lachlan. Their latest release, From Mexico with Love, was all written by Lachlan; for their next EP, RYU, the pressure is on Sean. Despite the pressure, Sean also has a newfound eagerness and excitement for RYU as he explained the whole concept behind it to me. “The year is 3023, and there’s a thing called Kessler Syndrome where all the satellites…crash and it becomes like a perpetual disaster around the earth,” he started off. “The idea is that the previous civilization, which is us, caused that disaster. And, this kid, Eric, lives in the year 3023, and he’s a satellite spotter. And people, as a hobby, they’re like digital archaeologists that track down satellites that are still running and extract data from them. And one of them he tracks onto is this AI satellite, and it’s a super intelligent one, which is running out of battery. And in it’s like drunken low battery state, it’s reprogrammed itself to be a radio station broadcasting music, which is our new album.” Sean clearly put his whole heart into the EP, even stating one of his favorite songs he has ever written will appear on the album. What is also interesting, Sean explained, is how there is a mixture of new songs he has written for the album and even some songs he wrote earlier and held on to for the right moment; this moment being now. The band has clearly put a lot of thought and intention into every album they craft and create. Looking back to Yumeno Garden, their 2018 release, the album artwork was explained to me as how the band felt culturally lost. “Yumeno Garden was about feeling like we’re not from anywhere. Like in between Japan and America. In an imaginary space,” Sean described. “That’s what the album cover was about. Japanese house, like ourselves dressed in normal clothes with an American horizon, cactuses and stuff.”

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This sense of not belonging has helped carry them outside of Australia and has them constantly feeling more at peace and relatable here in America. “The thing is, we feel culturally, we’re more related to people here. I don’t know what it is. Maybe because Australia’s fairly monotone and especially with music,” Sean laughed. Granted, they got their big break in Australia thanks to the major radio station there. But, a majority of music is dictated by this radio station, according to Sean. If the station plays your music, you are set, but the catch is just as much as they may play you, they may eventually ghost you and not play you again. And with radio still being such a popular medium in Australia—80% of the population still regularly listens to it—it really dictates your career there, more than it does here in the States. Even though the band experienced and continues to experience these challenges, it only makes them more determined to continue to explore new creative avenues. One of the ways they have done this is by taking their production work in-house and doing it all themselves. Instead of traditionally sitting down together and producing the song as one singular unit, the band each takes turns putting their own flair to each song. Sean describes this as, “Playing a little game of tennis with the song.” When they are not writing and composing concept albums or self-producing albums, you can find the band touring, or at least prepping for tour. “We rehearse very hard to make sure that we’re the best that we could possibly be,” Sean stated. And that was proven true later that evening when we saw the band bring everything together live on stage. They played a mix of all their albums since forming in 2007, plus a mashup of late 1990s and early 2000s songs for the crowd, featuring “Breathe,” “Da Funk,” Move Your Feet” and others. Early on in the tour, it was evident that Last Dinosaurs was still adjusting to the new setlist and finding their groove with what worked with the audience. “It’s ‘cause there’s a whole psychology between you and the crowd and just the flow of emotion in the set and knowing what to say and when. We were still working that out,” Sean explained. But with how down to earth this band appeared to be, I had no doubt in my mind that they would find their stride and knock it out of the park. Last Dinosaurs, like Sean mentioned above, are completely doing their own thing and are unapologetically themselves. If you get a chance to catch them live, I would highly encourage you to do so. And in the meantime, sit back and listen to songs from their latest EP and be transported to Sean’s imaginary world.

“ Photo: Sean Rider

“

There’s a whole psychology between you and the crowd and just the flow of emotion in the set and knowing what to say and when.

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Unparalleled Performance: His Lordship Reigns Supreme Story: Matthew Fernandes Onstage at St. Louis’ Red Flag venue on Sept. 8, a British trio hammered away, generating an astonishing speedball of garage rockabilly, grimy punk, fuzzed-out vocals, blurry drumsticks and cheap suits. Think of the Looney Tunes’ Tasmanian Devil spinning at breakneck speed, ready to fly off into oblivion, only to stop on a dime, poised for his next move.

during the pandemic was the most stupid thing we could almost ever do. But, you know, we pushed through, we got a couple of bits of vinyl out, which was an incredible undertaking. And then we managed to put a few gigs in, and then it just really took off.”

His Lordship’s wall of sound filled the venue, commanding total attention—and this was just the soundcheck.

“We would make demos and create ideas for songs, but it’s the kind of band that we have to be playing together, or we don’t really know what we have,” Sonne added. “So, we talked about it forever.”

Later that night, the band delivered a stunning performance in front of a packed St. Louis crowd. Those in attendance must have felt fortunate—this was His Lordship’s debut performance stateside. Of late, the band has played to sold-out venues in the U.K., generating a fair amount of buzz.

His Lordship’s sound emulates time-tested genres like rockabilly and punk, but their urgency and technical prowess elevate them onto a different level. To watch them pull off their intricate guitar, vocal and drum work, with tempos set to ludicrous speed, is to watch a rare display of raw power and talent.

The band hopes this sneak preview will be the first of many visits to St. Louis and the rest of the U.S.

“It was kind of a Covid thing where you have time to think, ‘what do I really want to do?’” Sonne said. “And what I didn’t want to do is mid-tempo singer-songwriter music or something like that. We were very bored with that.”

“Touring the U.S. is at the top of our agenda,” said guitarist and vocalist James Walbourne. “It’s the only place we want to be really.” The trio was in town for their little side gig, as members of the Pretenders alongside Chrissie Hynde. They were scheduled to open for Guns N’ Roses at Busch Stadium the next day before a cancellation occurred. Walbourne has played for the Pretenders since 2008 and co-wrote their last two albums with Hynde, including this year’s Relentless. For Walbourne, St. Louis was a logical choice to play this first U.S. show. He served as guitarist for St. Louis area-based Sun Volt for several years starting in 2005. “I have had ties (in St. Louis) for a very long time, and I’ve been here a lot,” Walbourne said, after a post-soundcheck reunion with a cluster of old friends, “which is strange for a bloke from Muswell Hill (North London), but St. Louis is a great place.” “I remember playing Mississippi Nights,” he continued. “It was the last gig that Son Volt did with the original lineup. I was like 19 years old and it was just a little too much to take because I had heard so much about this club.” His Lordship was born out of the Covid-19 pandemic. After the Pretenders and other projects were put on hold, Walbourne and Pretenders’ drummer Kris Sonne passed some time jamming as a duo at Walbourne’s longtime local pub when Sonne was in London (more on this later).

“It was a reaction, it was fun,” Walbourne said of the band’s style, which blends equal amounts of Johnny Thunders, the Cramps and the Flat Duo Jets. “I’ve had other bands where I’ve been the front man, but it has been more of a laid-back thing. It’s never been as wild as this. But for me, I feel I’ve found my natural state.” Asked for recommendations in his home environs of Highgate, London, Walbourne mentioned Sir John Soane’s Museum, a house museum with a vast collection of artifacts and antiquities that’s off the beaten tourist path. Then Sonne chimed in with the obvious attraction His Lordship fans should visit—the Boogaloo rock ‘n’ roll bar where the duo developed their new sound. “That’s my local pub and where we formed His Lordship. Everything happens to me in that pub!” Walbourne said. The Boogaloo is where he met Martin Chambers of the Pretenders, which resulted in his long and ongoing tenure as lead guitarist and songwriter. He also met Spider Stacy and Shane McGowan of the Pogues at the pub, who he would also later tour with (and spend perhaps one too many late nights with). “Boogaloo also made me quit drinking,” Walbourne said, “’cause it was too much.” Walbourne has maintained a hectic schedule most of his career, taking on projects and tours with acts as diverse as the Pernice Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and Dave Gahan, to name a few.

With bigger crowds showing up at shows and interest growing after the release of their initial EP, His Lordship Plays Rock’n’Roll Vol 1, the two felt they had hit on something. Trouble was, Sonne lived in Copenhagen.

“It’s a lot of plate spinning because we do the Pretenders thing, which is liable to change at any time with tours being added,” Walbourne said. “We make plans and just stick to them. You have to be very on it.”

“There were intermittent parts of the pandemic where Kris would come over to London and we’d quickly do something before they shut it all down again,” said Walbourne. “Trying to start a band

His Lordship’s self-titled debut album will be released in January 2024. The band’s second EP, All Cranked Up, is out now via Psychonaut Sounds.

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“was the most stupid thing we could almost ever do

“

Photo: Sean Rider

Trying to start a band during the pandemic

. But, you know, we pushed through, we got a couple of bits of vinyl out, which was an incredible undertaking. -JAMES WALBOURNE

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Just a Matter of Time: Dane Claws Their Way Back

Story: Thomas Crone Photo: Cory Weaver At the time of the release of their self-titled, major-label debut in 1994, Sinister Dane had spent years woodshedding in their home city of St. Louis, creating a fervent fanbase. National bands—notably 24-7 Spyz and Living Colour—had championed their sound and ferocious live shows outside of St. Louis. And the release of their David Kahneproduced album seemed to be the proper culmination of all the work that’d come prior, the band coalescing around bassist Donald Williams, drummer Matt Martin, guitarist Jay Summers and vocalist Joe Sears. After a series of lineup changes over the years—particularly among guitarists—the future looked bright. Commercial success, though, is an elusive thing, and the album’s lead cuts—like “48 Months” and “Where’s My Parade?”—didn’t bring the radio airplay and album sales that the group and label may’ve hoped for; in time, the group dissolved. Not quite 30 years later, Sinister Dane has returned in a limited, but fan-pleasing fashion. The band’s now played its first, full live show, a double-bill with scene veterans Fragile Porcelain Mice, and preceded that with a shorter live appearance in 2022 for the long-running STL Lo-Fi Cherokee video series.

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The FPM gig at the famed Illinois roadhouse Pop’s in October 2023 was also a showcase for Dane’s 10-song release, The Claws of Time, an album recorded, engineered and mixed by a team including new and old collaborators in Jason McEntire, Paul Malinowski, Mike Nolte, Max Honsinger and Summers. The group’s members all took a songwriting role for the project to varying degrees, which finds the group mining some older material. “All of the songs are old, from back then,” Williams said. “I wrote the oldest one, ‘Die By The Blade,’ in 1990 or ’91 and ‘Swollen River’ in ’93. Most of the others were probably written between late ’93 to ’95, and would have been on the second record we didn’t make when we were signed. Songwriting has always worked the same in any of my bands. Anyone can write, the more songs the better. I’m usually the main songwriter just because that’s what I really like to do. Regardless of that, whoever writes a song, brings it in and shows the band. If it’s an incomplete idea, we jam on it, add to it, arrange it, and if we all like it, it stays. If we don’t, it doesn’t. “We vote on everything,” he added, “and if we need a tie-breaker, we all debate on why something should or shouldn’t be. It could be an entire song, a section, a melody, a lyric, whatever.

When you see a song that credits more than one writer, maybe someone brought in an idea and the others helped finish it or contributed something significant.” The rebirth of the group came about through an unexpected set of circumstances. Through the years, Williams said, various friends had been trying to pull a reunion show together, and that “over the last 12-15 years, on different occasions, either Steve Ewing or Tim O’Saben have reached out, asking me to put the band back together to play shows with The Urge or Fragile Porcelain Mice. It never happened because Matt had been living in Colorado since the late ’90s or so, and rarely came home to STL. But, in 2016, after he was found nearly frozen to death outside of his van, Matt moved back here to recover. After a year or so, I spoke to him a few times, over the phone and through texts. He mentioned how he hadn’t played his drums in six or seven years because he no longer enjoyed playing music. Eventually, he and I met up at Jay’s house.” Now getting together to socialize, musical bonds began to reform quite naturally. The instrumental trio began to knock some rust off of old songs. Tracks that’d been stuck in amber were unearthed. Conversations started turning to not only the past, but the immediate future. The band’s decision to finally reunite for a live show was given added impetus and momentum once this older, not-quite-completed material was given added shape and or polish. With three members now living in St. Louis, and Sears about four-hours-and-change away in Lawrence, Kan., things began to move toward a second chapter for the band. Unfortunately, a worldwide health crisis emerged… Williams said that the group “started getting together somewhat frequently, always just for fun, and at some point, someone brought up the idea of getting tight enough to play a show. We told Joe what we were thinking and he was quick to agree. Our plans for 2020 were to play Lo-Fi Cherokee and play the Thanksgiving show with The Urge. Then Covid happened and everything stopped, so we moved those plans to 2021-22.”

We practiced those songs over and over and over, the same way that we do for shows. Once in the studio though, of course, things never go as smoothly as rehearsal.

He adds that “over the course of rehearsing in 2021, I think it was Jay who suggested recording some of our unreleased songs and putting them out for the fans who might want to hear them. We all agreed. At this point, we’re all fathers, work full-time jobs, and Joe lives in Kansas City, so there is no such thing as ‘extra time’ or ‘free time.’ We all took (time) off of work, and Joe came to town to get it done.” In April 2022, the band performed for the first time in 25 years, at the new Golden Record in St. Louis, where they were the featured, headlining band for the day-long Lo-Fi Cherokee recording sessions, with their eventual Claws of Time track “Wishing” the song that reintroduced them to the fanbase. Not long thereafter, they went into the recording studio. Within a half-week in June 2022, the band put the bones of the release together at McEntire’s Sawhorse Studios in St. Louis. “Leading up to the studio sessions,” Williams said, “we practiced those songs over and over and over, the same way that we do for shows. Once in the studio though, of course, things never go as smoothly as rehearsal. There’s always some section of a song that you’ve played a million times that you just can’t get right for no apparent reason but we got through it.” Hearing the album, it’s obvious that this very particular blend of hard rock comes compliments of Sinister Dane. The songs, imagined in the ’90s and brought to life just last summer, showcases that the group’s still got the spark; heck, the fire. With a reunion video gig, an actual show played alongside a fellow regional favorite and now an album, there’s little doubt that fans will stay in the bands’ ears, asking for just one more, be that a show, a record, an extended run… Williams suggests that an album’s possible, another show more likely, though “I don’t even know (the future). There are a few more old songs we want to record and, who knows?, maybe we’ll write some new stuff. I guess it just depends on how things go. I could see playing some more shows but we haven’t talked about it. The main thing for us, now that we’re fully re-engaged, is to stay in touch and make a point of getting together from time to time to play for the people who want to hear us.” And if nothing else, the band has rekindled a collective friendship. Working together again, Williams said, has been “pretty easy, and fun. We’re probably not nearly as productive as we could be because there’s always a point during rehearsal that turns into locker-room jokes and vulgarity. But I think we all have a mutual respect for each other’s talents and creativity, and because of that, we collaborate well together. I don’t know what it’s like for them, but I listen to their songs and ideas differently than I listen to my own. I hear them from the perspective of a fan as opposed to how I pick apart my ideas to death. We’re a lot older now but we get along in the same way we always did, whether we’re just hanging out, writing music or discussing business. At this point, we’re extended family and we’re just having fun.” Parts of this story appeared at the author’s Substack newsletter, Silver Tray.

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A Sonic (R)evolution: Diverse Beats and Uncharted Sounds Galvanize Forest Park

Story: Madisyn Siebert & Jennifer Rolf Photos: Sean Rider & Cory Weaver

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Photo: Cory Weaver

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or years, St. Louis had been looking to fill the hole left by the LouFest Music Festival following its unfortunate downfall in 2018. The gap left many longing for the return of a local, true park music festival, and that wish was finally fulfilled with Evolution Festival’s inaugural event in August. And wow, did St. Louis show up. The festival, which boasted around 25,000 in attendance, headlined The Black Keys and Brandi Carlile, with supporting sets from a wide variety of genres and artists, including Modern English, Brittany Howard, Morgan Wade, Michigander, Ice Cube and more. While there was no cohesive “sound” to the festival, it did a great job of casting a wide net to see what would bring people in and hopefully set the festival up for success for years to come. The festival only had two stages, both on opposite ends of each other: one decently bigger (the VisitMo.com stage) and another smaller (the Lindenwood University stage). Every time one set ended and the next started on the other stage, a herd of music lovers traipsed across the field to the other side of the grounds—a trend that stretched throughout each day. Some festival goers took a different approach, opting to park themselves in chairs and picnic blankets near the main stage.

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If you weren’t there solely for the music, you had plenty of sponsors, shops and activations to check out on the festival grounds. There was plenty to explore during times when a set wasn’t exactly someone’s speed. Another interesting part of the festival was the VIP area’s special “stage” sponsored by Sauce Magazine that highlighted a variety of food and drink demos, from whiskey tasting to how to smoke the perfect brisket with Sugarfire Smokehouse pitmaster Zach Bingman. Plus, any good show-and-tell offers the opportunity to taste it for yourself, which the crowd did so with anticipation. Despite the rain-delayed start on Saturday that led to some muddy conditions that evening, people still came in waves to experience Evolution. Weather, of course, was outside the festival’s control. However, there were other things that were in the festival’s control that didn’t seem to go as planned, such as no designated walkways in the crowd of chairs and people, making it difficult to get to the photo pit and media tent, as well as the crowd of chairs nearly running into the food vendors by the main stage and blocking off access to the bathrooms. To give the festival team credit, they came back bright and early on Sunday and adjusted these issues with more regulations to keep the crowd of people walking and the crowd of people sitting both happy by designating certain areas for both. Now, on to the best part of this festival, the music.

Saturday Saturday’s lineup was a mix of sound and energy. The rain delay forced some sets to be shortened to help accommodate the timeline. Despite the weather issues, you could still feel the positive energy—not only from the crowd but from the artists themselves. Local St. Louis band Punk Lady Apple, on the Lindenwood University stage, welcomed many a festivalgoer onto the grounds with their style of punk rock and R&B. Postpunk/new wave rockers Modern English drew a large crowd, and when they sang “I Melt With You,” the St. Louis heat wasn’t in full swing yet, but the party was. Nikki Lane brought her edgy country flair to the festival, with songs like “700,000 Rednecks” “Highway Queen,” “Right Time” and “Denim and Diamonds.” We then shifted to Cautious Clay, who gave us many “Reasons” to check out his smooth R&B pop vibe. A must-see was Brittany Howard. Best known as the vocalist/guitarist for Alabama Shakes, she owned the stage with her blend of rock, soul and blues, playing songs from her celebrated 2019 album, Jaime, including “He Loves Me,” “History Repeats” and the 2021 Grammy-award winning best rock song, “Stay High.” She threw in a few covers, including Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” and Nina Simone’s “Revolution,” as well as a couple new tracks. Then came the penultimate set: The Black Crowes, a band that could have easily been the headliner. Raspy-voiced lead vocalist Chris Robinson and crew showed us that years may have passed since the bluesy rock band released new material, but it didn’t matter to the Evolution crowd. The Crowes broke out all of their well-known hits, including “Twice as Hard,” “Hard to Handle,” “Jealous Again,” “Thorn in My Pride,” “She Talks to Angels” and “Remedy.” The day was finished off with a stellar performance by The Black Keys. A different kind of blues-tinged rock band than their predecessors, the band played through the St. Louis drizzle to give the crowd exactly what they came for: songs like “Gold on the Ceiling,” “Tighten Up,” “Next Girl,” “Ten Cent Pistol,” “Wild Child,” “Little Black Submarines” and the finisher, “Lonely Boy.”

Sunday Sunday opened with St. Louis-based roots band Yard Eagle taking the stage, welcoming the masses who strolled in for the second day of the festival. We got a nice mix of rock and folk from upstate-New York-via-North Carolina band The Nude Party, whose set included “Cherry Red Boots,” “Astral Man,” “Lonely Heather” and the Bob Dylan song “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You.” Tatted country artist Morgan Wade got the crowd amped up with her cover combos like Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush” and Miley Cyrus’s “Karma,” and the Outfield’s “Your Love” and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl.” She also offered several originals, including “The Night,” “Losers Look Like Me,” plus “Psychopath” and a few more from her newly released album of the same name. One Bands Through Town staff member’s Sunday favorite was Michigander. The indie pop/rock band was a hit as people danced in the crowd to “Superglue,” “In My Head,” “Let Down” and more.

Photos (opposite page): Brittany Howard (Sean Rider), (This page, top/bottom): Modern English, Nikki Lane, and Cautious Clay (Cory Weaver)

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A crowd favorite of the day was Ice Cube, who performed a selection of his own music as well as a couple N.W.A. songs. The crowd was rapping right along with him to tunes like “Natural Born Killaz,” “Check Yo’self,” “Friday,” “You Can Do It,” “Straight Outta Compton” and “Gangsta Gangsta.” He wrapped up his time at Evolution with “It Was a Good Day.” The second-to-last act was Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, who performed a magical set that featured much of Ben’s solo work. The multifaceted musician and his band, whose music touches rock, folk, soul, blues, reggae and more, pleased the crowd with songs like “Below Sea Level,” “Diamonds on the Inside,” “Say You Will,” “With My Own Two Hands” and their most popular track, “Steal My Kisses.” Brandi Carlile, the highly acclaimed, award-winning singer whose broad style of music blends elements of folk, rock, alt-country and Americana, was the festival’s finisher. She has cultivated a large following, which was clear at Evolution. She touched on many songs from her albums In These Silent Days (including “Mama Werewolf,” “Right on Time,” “Sinners, Saints and Fools”) and By the Way, I Forgive You (including “Hold Out Your Hand,” “Party of One,” “The Mother”), as well as “The Story.” She also covered Wings’ “Live and Let Die” and Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” Her enthusiasm for performing was evident, and it made her the perfect artist to close out Evolution Festival. While this is a festival, it didn’t come with the high prices that traditional festivals have. General admission originally was priced as $99 for early bird tickets and maxed out $165; single-day tickets cost $89.50, and there was a variety of VIP options, the cheapest starting at $200 and the most expensive being $1,500 for everything under the sun. There truly is a package for everybody from the everyday fan to the person who wants to experience festivals like royalty. We witnessed appreciation from the artists all day; many complimented the team at Evolution Festival and said they were nothing but kind and easy to work with, which keeps us hopeful for this festival for years to come. As of now, we know the festival plans on coming back in 2024. This is good news because St. Louis, at its core, is made for festivals and loves gathering together to celebrate good music, good food, good company and more. Photos (Opposite Page, Top/Bottom): Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney (Cory Weaver). Photos (This Page Top/Bottom): STL’s Yard Eagle (Sean Rider), Patton Magee of The Nude Party, and Brandi Carlile (Cory Weaver)

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MUSIC AT THE INTERSECTION

At the Confluence of Sound:

Story: Jennifer Rolf Photos: Sean Rider

Music at the Intersection, in its third iteration, once again welcomed the sounds of hip-hop, R&B, funk and soul, peppered with blues and rock ‘n’ roll. The Midtown summer music festival is renowned for its diverse lineup that blurs genre lines by blending music from today’s rising stars with that of legends from all over the globe. Arrested Development’s explosion onto the music scene in the early 1990s was a welcome arrival for many who appreciated their positive approach to hip hop and their socially conscious lyrics. The Atlanta-based group’s debut album, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of..., brought us gems like “Tennessee,” “People Everyday” and “Mr. Wendal” and helped score two Grammy awards in 1993, as well as many other accolades. Fourteen albums, two compilations and 30+ years later, cofounder and lead vocalist Speech may be the only remaining original member, but he and the musicians who surrounded him on stage at Music at the Intersection on Saturday evening brought an immeasurable energy and a remarkable sound and

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live experience. In addition to the aforementioned songs, the group performed 10 more originals (including “Revolution,” “Ease My Mind” and “Mama’s Always on Stage”) and two covers (“Jump” by Kriss Kross and “Jump Around” by House of Pain) during their memorable set. As the Saturday afternoon sun beat down on the festival, one could find respite from the heat and enjoy the smoky jazz sounds of Denise Thimes under the Big Top. Originally from St. Louis, the songstress now calls Chicago home but has not forgotten her roots, despite her worldly travels that have taken her to big cities and other countries to sing for presidents and royalty, from the Queen of England to the Queen of Thailand to the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin.

After a multi-year break, hip-hop phenoms the Earthworms reunited in 2022, bringing a renewed energy with them. With the band now being in separate places geographically, their live performances are limited for now, so you were lucky if you caught their Saturday afternoon set on the Field stage at the festival. Joined by Daemon, AddVerb Superb and T-Menace, the ’worms played a selection of mostly new jams from their latest release with Doug Surreal, Garden in the Ruins. Perhaps the latest to adorn the list of hip-hop/rap hometown heroes to break into the national spotlight, Smino closed out the mainstage on Saturday night. Surrounded by a swarm of backup dancers on a stage book-ended with giant mushrooms, Smino’s soul-infused rap had the crowd enthralled, headbopping and arm-waving throughout his set that was dominated by his 2022 release, Luv 4 Rent.

You can’t talk about roots rock in St. Louis without mentioning The Mighty Pines, who followed Root Mod’s Sunday set on the Washington Ave. stage. The four-piece blends elements of folk, bluegrass and Americana into a sound that has drawn a dedicated following, and their performance with lead vocalist/ guitarist (and recent participant on “The Voice”) Neil Salsich at the helm energized old and new fans alike. Samantha Fish, the Kansas City-born blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, lit up the Field stage on Sunday afternoon with her partner of late, Texas musician Jesse Dayton. The two collaborated on Death Wish Blues and have been touring together in 2023 in support of the album, making a stop at MATI along the way. Both are impressive blues musicians who complemented each other with their different styles and offered an electrifying live experience.

Photos (opposite page, clockwise): Arrested Development, Root Mod, Grandmaster Flash, Smino. (This page, L-R): Herbie Hancock, Jesse Dayton & Samantha Fish, Neil Salsich of The Mighty Pines.

Displaying veteran prowess onstage, Smino bantered with the crowd while not missing a beat during 2018’s “Flea Flicka:”— “Sometimes I feel like they’re itching to throw them clamps on me, Hit ‘em with the flea flicker, not scratch on me.” R&B outfit Root Mod helped open the festival on Sunday afternoon, bringing a jazzy vibe dipped in soul and hip-hop to the Washington Ave. stage. Fronted by the exquisite Bianca Fitzpatrick, the nine-piece ensemble drew in an audience that multiplied as festivalgoers filtered in through the front gates. Their set included Root Mod originals, “Love Language,” “Perish” and “Let Love Live.”

Native Australians The Teskey Brothers returned to North America last summer, hitting festivals and iconic venues throughout the States and Canada in support of their latest release, The Winding Way. Luckily one of those stops was MATI for a sunset performance on the Field stage on Sunday, and the band did not disappoint, showcasing their signature blues rock and Josh Teskey’s soulful vocals on songs like “Remember the Time,” “Oceans of Emotion” and “I Get Up.” Thirty minutes after the Teskey Brothers set started, New Orleans-based Tank and the Bangas went on at the Big Top, and the energy they brought was hard to match. The highly acclaimed group blends elements of soul, hip hop, R&B, jazz and spoken word, and lead vocalist and ringleader Tarriona “Tank” Ball did her part to enliven the audience. BANDS THROUGH TOWN MAGAZINE

Jazz icons were infused throughout the three stages over the two-day festival, but none were as big as the legendary Herbie Hancock. An integral cog of the jazz landscape for over 50 years, dating back to when he was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet (which also included legends Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams), Hancock put on a masterclass of post-bop jazz with an ever-so-subtle touch of funk. Accompanying Hancock on this trailblazing journey was another world-renowned jazz instrumentalist, Terrance Blanchard. Blanchard—a legend in his own right—has written over 40 film scores, and his ties to St. Louis will forever be etched in stone, as his second opera composition, Fire Shut-Up in My Bones, made its world premiere at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2019. “Midwest, where y’all at?!” From one legend to the next, iconic hip-hop DJ Grandmaster Flash greeted awestruck festivalgoers on Sunday. His influence is undeniable as one of the founding

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fathers of hip-hop. In the year of celebrating 50 years of the genre, Flash’s set felt more like a celebration of St. Louis hiphop, with a performance that included Nelly classics “Country Grammar,” “Grillz,” “Shake Ya Tailfeather,” “Ride Wit Me” and “Hot in Herre” along with Chingy’s “Right Thurr.” One of the last artists to perform was psychedelic bass virtuoso, Thundercat. Dropping in while on his “In Yo Girl’s City” tour, the affable former Suicidal Tendencies’ bassist could have easily taken the stage, played and left. But it’s always the banter and the bits of light shedding stories that preface a song, giving you a glimpse into the song’s existence. Take the funky, disco-yacht rock vibe “Overseas” for instance: “You ever have sex on an airplane? You should try that sometime.”

No question Thundercat’s music stands on its own, but you’d be lying to yourself if that tidbit didn’t enhance your experience. Rounding out his set were his quintessential bangers, “Funny Thing” (played twice, because…why not?) and “Them Changes.” The encore offerings were “Heartbreaks + Setbacks” and “No More Lies.” Esteemed St. Louis-based blues musicians, the Marquise Knox Band, had the honor of closing out the festival on Sunday night on the Big Top stage. Knox has been playing his classic blues style since he was a child and performs on stages both locally and globally—he is a true St. Louis treasure. The band was joined by the Funky Butt Brass Band horn section, and together they provided the perfect ending to a weekend that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

There’s no question that the Kranzberg-produced Music at the Intersection is coming into its own, toeing the line of becoming an underrated musical festival. From 2022 to 2023, the lineup keeps expanding as the spectrum from up-and-coming to legends are well-balanced. It’s very exciting to be able to see an emerging Australian band (The Teskey Brothers), a legend (Herbie Hancock) and a legendin-the-making (Thundercat) in a matter of a few hours. When you stop to think about it, it’s sort of wild—you may want to re-read that last sentence. Expectations now fully part of the equation, we can’t wait for 2024’s lineup announcement.

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Bentonville’s Festival:

Where Music and Art Meet Innovation Story: Jennifer Rolf & Cory Weaver

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ou don’t need to tell anyone in the Midwest that music festivals come and go, especially in Missouri. The few festivals that have cropped up in the middle of the country over the past few years (Evolution, Music at the Intersection) and the ones that have endured (Boulevardia, 80/35, Hinterland) have one thing in common: carving out a niche for local/regional bands and combining some sort of modern art—whether it be stationary or movementbased—with music. A multidisciplinary experience. The second year of the FORMAT (FOR M[usic] + A[rt] + T[echnology]) Festival in Bentonville, Ark., is no different. Following up their insatiable inaugural iteration in 2022, the fest moved from a remote grass airstrip outside of Bentonville to a centerof-town Uber/Lyft friendly urban festival in 2023—that is, “urban” Bentonville style. If you hadn’t attended the festival’s first year, you’d never be taken aback by the shift in location—cutting the festival map in half—yeah, we missed the cube and other interactive art installations that just couldn’t fit in the smaller footprint of the 2023 setup.

Square footage aside, the 2023 line-up rode the path of ’90s nostalgia and indie rock, infused with 2010s artists that would most likely reference their festival lineup comrades as influences—leaving no doubt that FORMAT knows how to put together a lineup worthy of national recognition. The three-day festival kicked off with the North of Oz and South of Oz stages rockin’ alt-country up and comer Madeline Edwards and the near local (Little Rock) rapper, Kari Faux. Madeline Edwards’ infusion of gospel and jazz into her alt-country sound matched the warmth of the sun-soaked stage during her stint on the biggest stage at FORMAT. At the opposite end of the festival and spectrum, Kari Faux was laying down nearly nine years of music. She’s been treading water in the rap, R&B and soul game, just waiting to break it big. She’s laid down tracks with the likes of Childish Gambino (“No Small Talk,” “Zombies”) and Open Mike Eagle (“Bucciarati”). As the sun descended on Day 1, the lights got bright with influential ’90s hip-hop sensation, Digable Planets, groovin’ through their hourlong set with a masterclass in hip-hop in its truest form. The trio were

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also celebrating the 30-year anniversary of their groundbreaking album A New Refutation of Time and Space. This record, known for its lyrics, beats and vivid poetry describing life in 1990s New York City, definitely shines bright in the annals of hip-hop and rap history. Keeping the hip-hop theme moving was Nigerian/British rap artist, Lil Simz. Most of her hour-long set was spent alone on stage accompanied by black-and-white video projections. New on our radar, she’s anything but that on the rap scene as her streams range from 19 million (“Gorilla”) and 124 million (“Venom”). From the stage called North of Oz it was a short jaunt to see Jamie xx’s set at the South of Oz, which was tucked back in the corner of the festival. A lot of the EDM folks had a blast during this portion, but we think it would have been better suited at the Drag Me to the Disco stage in the Disco Barn. The anchor and major get for the festival was LCD Soundsystem, in our opinion. A relentless set of hit after hit made a 100-minute set feel like half of that.

James Murphy and crew put together an airtight show as “Get Innocuous” and “I Can Change” started the set off—invigorating the audience as temps dropped. A bucket list must-see, LCD didn’t disappoint. They laid it all out with “Tonite,” “Someone Great,” “Losing My Edge,” “Home,” “New York I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down” and “Dance Yrself Clean,” ending the set with “All My Friends.” It was one of the first times we had left a concert and not said, “I wish they’d have played this or that” (even with the omission of “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House”). It was a complete set with one goal: keep you dancing in complete awe. Mission accomplished. The Drag Me to the Disco and Next Door stages, fan favorites in 2022 and seemingly again in 2023, were back this year, playing host to Poolside (DJ set), Myron Elkins, Angel White, Faux Real and The Past Lives. These two exclusive venues created for the festival are both a refuge and must-see—no matter who is playing inside.

he second day of the festival was peppered with text messages from FORMAT that alerted of sets festival-wide being moved up or shortened in preparation for severe weather. If you spent the whole day just moving between the main stages, no one would be mad at you. Outlaw country star (and a Bands Through Town favorite) Nikki Lane meandered through old smooth country ballads like “Highway Queen,” “Send in the Sun” and the not-so-smooth, desert-rock vibe invoking, “700,000 Rednecks,” which preceded newer rockin’ alt-country bangers from her newest album, Denim & Diamonds, like “First High” and “Black Widow.” Switching stages and gears completely, ’90s eclectic alt hip-hop outfit The Pharcyde dazzled as they’ve been doing for over 30 years. From “4 Better of 4 Worse” to “Passin’ Me By” to “Soul Flower,” one question remained: How long can you freak the funk? Jackson Stell a.k.a., Big Wild, showcased his electronic music and vocal abilities. Much more than just an “EDM artist,” he consistently switched between multiple instruments (drum pads, synths, keyboards and live vocals). Another ’90s act still putting out album after album is Modest Mouse, who were on their first tour without drummer Jeremiah Green, a founding member of the band who succumbed to cancer on New Year’s Eve, 2022. A hard pill to swallow, they carry on in memory of him, still rocking the stalwart hits “Dashboard,” “We Are Between,” “Ocean Breathes Salty,” “Dramamine” and of course, “Float On.” We still can’t believe they played “Bukowski.” The crowd was now properly warmed for another ’90s star, Alanis Morissette. The Jagged Little Pill artist’s hit album in the mid-’90s provided many Gen Xers an anthem—toeing the line of pop and grunge. Her near90-minute set was dominated by all the hits from her aforementioned acclaimed album—12 of the 13 songs from Pill were performed. Morissette has maintained her place in the spotlight through her works acting in film and television (“Dogma,” “Weeds”) and animated series (“The Great North”) and not to mention her Broadway-hit musical, cleverly named “Jagged Little Pill.” With impending doom-like storms hitting the festival, forcing organizers to cancel the rest of the evening performances, one could only ask, “Isn’t it ironic?”

Photos (Opposite page L-R, Top/Bottom): Digable Planets, (this page) James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, Jamie xx, Lil Simz (Cory Weaver)

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Photos (This page L-R, Top/Bottom): Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse (Roger Ho), The Pharcyde (Grant Hodgeon) and Alanis Morissette (Ismael Quintanilla III) Photos (Opposite page, clockwise): Roger Ho , Ismael Quintanilla III, Roger Ho, Cory Weaver

ay 3 of the festival was not going to take second place to the weather-induced drama that Day 2 brought. Text messages alerted festival fans that BLOND:ISH was calling in sick and Neil Frances couldn’t make their DJ set due to flight delays. Bummer, because we caught both of them at Austin City Limits in 2022 and they did more than impress. But, the disappointment from the lineup changes did not take away any excitement, as the day still brought us two Bob Moses sets. The talented act filled in the DJ slot for Neil Frances and also performed a full stage set, bookending Tash Sultana’s set on the North of Oz stage. Sultana, the Australian singer/songwriter, started playing open mike nights at the age of 13 in Melbourne, and the multi-instrumentalist is now touring internationally. Suffice it to say: the time to see her is now.

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The headlining artist to close out the festival would have been worth the admission price all on his own. Leon Bridges is the closest thing we have to Marvin Gaye, D’Angelo or even Brian McKnight. The Texas soul singer should be a stranger to no one. His smash hit “River” is nearly nine years old, and that album, Coming Home, was nominated for best R&B album. In the past couple years he’s collaborated with fellow Texans Khruangbin on the songs “Texas Sun,” “Texas Moon” and “Chocolate Hills.” Bridges’ set toes the line of soul and rock n’ roll and features not only his groovy dance moves, but also his extravagant fashion taste. You shouldn’t need a reason to understand why he’s dubbed the “Texas King of Soul,” but if you do…perhaps it’s time to see him live.

The Art: This year’s arch entryway, “The Wheelway,” was designed by local Bentonville artist Zach Springer, owner of Gnargo Bike Co. Springer partnered with Pedal it Forward, an organization dedicated to donating bicycles to those in need. The mechanized spinning wheel entrance gate was the perfect design, as you could actually bike to this year’s festival. JR’s Inside Out project is an interactive installation of sorts. An internationally known photo booth/art project, Inside Out is a photobooth truck that festival goers could have their portraits taken in, and then a poster-sized print would be placed on the exterior of the Momentary, the multi-disciplinary art space at the center of the festival. Over the past decade, they’ve captured over 500,000 portraits and have reached every continent. Marinella Senatore’s “Dance First Think Later” was a familiar piece from the festival’s first year. It’s still a cool piece and perhaps the Momentary should leave it up year round. Esrawe + Cadena’s Los Trompos (Spinning Tops) served as a playground for all. The installation nods to the traditions and skills of the craftsmen in Mexico, specifically weavers. A dizzying experience for the young and young at heart—and a refuge for the tired. “Evanescent” by Atelier Sisu was the centerpiece of the festival. The immersive bubble-tecture sat at the top of the hill overlooking the festival grounds and the North of Oz stage. Colorful translucence during the day and bright colors in the evening gave the bubbles an illusion of solid form.

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Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers

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Sonic Spectacle Unleashed: ACL Festival 2023 Electrifies Audiences Story: Jennifer Rolf & Cory Weaver Photos: Cory Weaver

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It’s just another weekend in mid-October— unless you’re attending Weekend 2 of the Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL). This is our fourth year covering one of the best festivals in the U.S.—two weekends with more than 140 bands performing on eight stages. Looking at a schedule with that many acts is both daunting and exciting. It was necessary to divide, collaborate and conquer as best we could.

As always, the headliners and secondary headliners draw all the attention, but it’s the unknowns or the “I wish I had caught them when they came through town last time” artists that really make this festival what it is. HOT TAKE: Over the four years of Bands Through Town covering ACL, this year’s was the most complete and balanced lineup that we’ve experienced. Of course, there are must-sees and recommendations but, if you had to make the tough decision to see Portugal. The Man instead of The Revivalists, or Blond:ish rather than Lil Yachty, or Bob Moses over Noah Kahan, you were sure to not be disappointed with your choice. The Headliners: The Well-Oiled Machines On Friday night at the Honda stage, a large crowd waited in anticipation for the Lumineers’ set to begin. A cover of Rihanna’s “Desperado” played in full, while a dark stage displayed wispy clouds on the big screens until the words “I Don’t Wanna Be Alone” appeared at the song’s conclusion. A roar of applause took over as two shadowy figures emerged and made their way down a long catwalk into the crowd. As lights began to illuminate the stage, Jeremiah Fraites sat down at the drums and Wesley Schultz grabbed a guitar and the microphone while the notes for “Cleopatra” began. For more than an hour and a half, the band worked through their many hits like “Flowers in Your Hair,” “Angela,” “Ophelia,” “Gloria,” “Where We Are” and, of course, “Ho Hey,” a song that lead vocalist Schultz said many fans tell them they play as the first song at their weddings. He explained that the song is about a breakup (a clue may be in the lyrics, “I don’t think you’re right for him [Hey], think of what it might have been”), and suggested to the crowd that “Dead Sea” would be a better choice. It’s a song that’s more romantic and was inspired by his girlfriend, now wife, when she said, “You never let me sink— you’re like my Dead Sea.” On the same stage just before The Lumineers’ slot was Maggie Rogers. We could spend 500 words expounding on her set, but one word sums it up: BOSS. There’s no question that Rogers owns the stage once she steps foot onto it. Opening with “Overdrive” and immediately continuing with “Love You for a Long Time” and “Alaska,” she established that this would be a relentless show for the ACL crowd. Rogers, clad in a black bodysuit adorned with a long, black transparent skirt, explored every inch of the massive mainstage in her knee-high patent leather boots. She kept the favorites coming with “Falling Water” and her biggest hit thus far, “Light On.” 36 36

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She squeezed in a mashup of “Retrograde” into Whitney Houston’s, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and, an unreleased song from her “still being mixed” upcoming new album, “Don’t Forget Me.” Rogers’ set was one of our favorites of the weekend. We really wanted to feature Yeah Yeah Yeahs first in this recap, but it’d be too obvious that this was our “if you could only pick one band to see” set of the weekend. The otherworldly trio completely controlled a massive crowd Sunday at sunset. Quite honestly, the stage should’ve been thrown back on the trucks it came in on and sent to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame or, better yet, dismantled and given a Viking funeral in Lady Bird Lake, because no one was going to outperform Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase on that stage ever again. “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” set it off, as Karen O danced around in a custom fashion piece that perfectly meshed with her personality— fringe and spandex. After starting with a few songs off their recent album, Cool It Down, they kept the 12-song, hour-long set living primarily in the deep-cut space with the likes of “Black Tongue,” “Soft Shock,” “Gold Lion,” “Y Control” and the ultra-revealing and vulnerable “Maps.” They finished with “Heads Will Roll” and “Date With the Night,” a perfect end to a way-too-short set. The Subheads: ACL’s Noteworthy Sub-Headliners After more than a decade of playing together, the Canadian duo Bob Moses simply mesmerizes—whether you’re a firsttimer or a veteran to their live performances. As day faded to night on Saturday, the group closed out the Miller stage with a nonstop, seamless 12-song set, featuring their Grammy Award-winning “Tearing Me Up” early on. A massive crowd kept growing, and they were treated to a nice surprise, a cover of INXS’ “Need You Tonight.”

We were excited to catch one of our bucket-list bands, M83, and equally excited to see/hear how their euphoric, electronicheavy sound would translate live, and boy…we should never have had any assumptions about the veteran French group led by founding member, Anthony Gonzalez. Their 15-song set was a triumph as they rolled through songs fresh from their March 2023 release, Fantasy, and then leveled things out with 20+ year old songs from Before the Dawn Heals Us (“Teen Angst,” “Don’t Save Us From the Flames,” “*”) and Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts (“Gone”, “Noise,” “Run into Flowers”) before sending the crowd into a frenzy with “Midnight City.” The West Texas trio Cigarettes After Sex closed out the Miller Lite stage on Sunday and kept the vibe real low. Cast in just a singular spotlight, lead singer Greg Gonzalez swooned with his ambient tales of romance and love as their most popular hits like “Cry,” “Sunsetz,” “K.” and “Apocalypse” put the crowd into a dream-like trance. Thirty Seconds to Mars had one of the most memorable moments of ACL when lead vocalist Jared Leto leapt from the rafters high above the Honda stage and down to his spot, front and center, as he sang the band’s hit, “Walk On Water.” Clad in what looked like a high-dollar post-apocalyptic space suit, Leto spent very little time standing around during the set. He was in and out of the audience and roamed from far stage left, back to far stage right.

The energy garnered from the crowd seemed to be a necessity as the band’s mantra just may be: keep the fans entertained— and not only did they entertain the thousands at ACL, the set was live-streamed as well. During “Seasons,” Leto brought singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian on stage to perform with them. During Weekend 1, Leto brought Austin’s Calder Allen on stage to sing on the same song and was assisted by Austinite Matthew McConaughey, who helped select fans to come on stage for their final song, “Closer to the Edge.” The 1975 have been touring worldwide nonstop since August… of 2022, and we’re not sure if tour burnout is showing its stretch marks or if it’s just part of Matthew Healey’s persona now. Playing the second weekend only, the Kerouac-inspired English pop-rock band is a major draw—attracting tens of thousands every time they take the stage—but Matty H. just seemed happy to be moving from song to song…while still standing. But, can you blame him with such a rigorous tour schedule? Despite assumptions and criticisms, the group shows up, delivers, and the crowd and their fans love them. Between swigs from a flask and drags from multiple cigarettes, the garish leader dispatched all the hits that the 1975 had to offer. The loud roars of approval echoed through Zilker Park and infiltrated the Foo Fighters set as “About You,” “I’m in Love With You,” “Robbers,” “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You),” “Chocolate” and “Somebody Else” fulfilled all expectations.

Karen O, of Yeah Yeah Yeahs

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Heads Up

Rock star and movie star Jared Leto dropped in on his set, taking a page out of Pink’s aerial acrobatics from last year’s ACL Festival. Photos opposite page: Tove Lo, M83’s Anthony Gonzalez and Matthew Healey of The 1975. 38

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Marcus Mumford was on a streak at ACL, playing in his fourth of the last six festivals, this time with his band. Simply put, Mumford & Sons came to entertain. They are a complete unit, which is why Marcus’ solo endeavor last year seemed lukewarm (although a notable highlight was his performance of “Kansas City” from The New Basement Tapes). The band powered their way through the set, all the while making sure the crowd knew that they were happy to be back at ACL and wouldn’t mind coming back every year. Crowd-pleasers like “Little Lion Man,” “Guiding Light,” “The Cave” and “Believe” were captivating, but bringing out Hozier for “Timshel” and “Awake My Soul” may have been the duet we needed in 2023 and perhaps outshined their finale, “I Will Wait.” Some of the most entertaining musicians of ACL can be found on the smaller stages, like the Tito’s tent stage, the IHG stage, the T-Mobile stage and the smallest of them all, the BMI stage. None should be discounted as they provide the foundation of the festival and seem to be a launching pad to stardom. For instance, Dayton, Ohio rockers The Breeders, who hit it big in the ’90s with “Cannonball,” delivered a memorable 19-song set with other favorites like “No Aloha,” “Drivin’ on 9” and “Divine Hammer.” Same stage, different day, the scantily clad festival wear extends from the festival grounds and onto the stage with the Swedish dark-pop songstress, Tove Lo. Her style evokes many high-pitched screams from the crowd as her sex appeal is found not only in person, but in her songs as every word of “Attention Whore,” “Talking Body” and “Habits” were shouted back at her. Under the Tito’s tent, Sudan Archives’ delayed start on Saturday because of technical difficulties left more time for the crowd to swell, eventually spilling out of the sides and back, as they eagerly awaited the Cincinnati native’s set. She then emerged with her signature violin and gave us songs like “Milk Me,” “NBPQ (Topless)” and “Selfish Soul,” all while maintaining her coquettish vibe. Yves Tumor also had the tent bursting at the seams with fans ready for his EDM-meets-rock sound on Sunday. U.S.born and Italy-based Tumor reminds us of Nine Inch Nails, Tool and perhaps vocally, a lot like Rob Zombie. The crowd was pumped for his pulseraising experimental psychedelic electronic rock incantations like “Limerance,” “Kerosene!” and “Gospel For A New Century.”

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The BMI stage is a must-stop at ACL. In past years the stage has featured Gary Clark, Jr., Shakey Graves, Maren Morris, Weyes Blood, Catfish and the Bottlemen, and an extraordinary blues vocalist that we discovered when he opened for Kaleo at the Pageant back in April 2022, Myron Elkins. The 21-year-old Michigan native embodies the bands he grew up with, such as The Allman Brothers, Tom Petty and Bob Seger—all known for their distinct vocals and storytelling. Much like Marcus King, you sit back and wonder where a voice like that comes from; shortly after you just stop questioning and enjoy it.

Unknowns and Pleasant Surprises Thee Sacred Souls were in an early mainstage slot and immediately became “an add them to your playlist” act. When the trio played “Will I see You Again?”, comparisons to St. Paul and the Broken Bones came to mind. Dope Lemon is indeed dope, but there is nothing sour about the music. Australian singer-songwriter Angus Stone loves monikers (his debut album was released under the pseudonym “Lady of the Sunshine”). Since 2016, he’s been Dope Lemon and has been emitting soulful desert rock that was perfectly placed in the heart of Texas.

Dope Lemon Sudan Archives

Keeping with the Australian vibe, The Teskey Brothers endured on the sun-soaked Miller Lite stage. The Melbourne rock band has a dominant bluesy sound, and Josh Teskey’s lead vocals match it perfectly. They will be coming through St. Louis to the Pageant in May 2024. The T-Mobile stage had some nice surprises in store for the earlier crowds. On Friday we caught the set of Abraham Alexander, a Ft. Worth native who impressed with his brand of Texas soul. On Saturday, Nashville-based Devon Gilfillian’s botanical-inspired suit captivated the audience almost as much as his alt-indie-soul did. He got a nice bump of notoriety when he appeared on stage with Thirty Seconds to Mars later in the day. Sad that we missed: Hozier, Del Water Gap, Noah Kahan, Blond:ish, Oliver Hazard, Jane Leo (played Weekend 1 only) and so many more, but with ACL’s schedule conflicts, it’s hard to see everyone on your list. There’s a lot to live up to for 2024’s festival after this iconic run, but the folks at ACL always seem to pull off a stunning array of artists year in and year out. See you there in Fall 2024. Myron Elkins

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All the Hits The bar flies of ACL Fest, Mumford and Sons, played all the hits—easily becoming one of the weekend’s favorite sets

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Bands Through Town magazine BANDS THROUGH TOWN MAGAZINE

Behind the Sonic Dreams of

Blessing/Curse How Sleepy Kitty’s newest body of work became a real love letter to St. Louis Story: Melanie Broussalian Photos: Jen Meller

hink back to 2016 and what was going on in your life seven years ago. Now fast-forward to 2023 and think about the road to get here—it’s hard to even wrap your brain around all the changes we’ve collectively undergone since then. For two-piece Sleepy Kitty, helmed by Paige Brubeck on vocals/guitar and Evan Sult on drums/tapes, this period marked major personal changes, as well. The duo moved to Brooklyn after a decade in St. Louis, plus Paige underwent vocal surgery (and subsequent vocal rest) in 2018. It’s easy to imagine that an album written and recorded over the course of seven years could be a long, meandering, maybe even unfocused collection of songs. Their record, Blessing/Curse, couldn’t be a more sonically and thematically cohesive compilation of the band at their best. With influences from ’60s French music to Cate LeBon to tried-and-true garage favorites like Guided by Voices, Blessing/Curse has an undeniable fire that’s reflective of Sleepy Kitty’s eagerness to hit the road and share everything they’ve been working toward. Songs like “Bigger Picture” and “New Job Debbie” soar with unrelenting drumbeats and showcase Paige’s unique ability to use her voice as an instrument in its own regard. Meanwhile, songs like “Poor Gilles” explore the band’s softer side, though all equally earnest and passionate in their delivery.

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Before they headed out to Paris in October, Bands Through Town got to chat with Paige and Evan about recording Blessing/Curse, the impact both the pandemic and Paige’s surgery had on their creative process, the album’s biggest influences, and how this body of work became a real love letter to St. Louis. BTT: So just to start, can you talk about the genesis of Sleepy Kitty for any readers who might not be super familiar with your music? Paige: So, Sleepy Kitty began out of one day in Chicago, just working on an experimental sound collage with our friends.

Just kind of stuff that we didn’t know where to put it next to our other bands and we just kept calling it “Sleepy Kitty,” which was just kind of the name that we had all decided on kind of just at an impromptu moment because we needed to export the file and call it something. Evan: It’s pretty much the word that has meant just the collaborations of Paige and me across whatever medium we got into. Once we moved to St. Louis, we were screen printing posters for rock shows and plays and stuff like that—that was our full-time gig for a long time and we just called that “Sleepy Kitty” as well. So now Sleepy Kitty has just been this kind of multi-headed beast that really boils down to me and Paige for an awfully long time now. BTT: And I’d love to talk about St. Louis since Bands Through Town is tied to St. Louis. I would love to know your history with the city, 44

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especially in the context of this album. And, if there’s a certain magic in terms of recording, especially Blessing/Curse, that you felt that was captured in St. Louis rather than in Brooklyn. Paige: So, we moved to St. Louis because it was 2008. I had just graduated from art school, and it was the economic crash. And it was a strange time to be trying to do anything that cost any money. At that moment, we decided to move to St. Louis because it’s a very affordable city. And as artists, we were able to find the space that we could turn into our practice space, our live-work-art space, and it was very affordable and very possible, therefore, to just make art and music our full-time life.

Evan: And a very artistically romantic space, too. Paige: Yeah, it was a 3,000-square foot loft or—not even a loft. It was a dirty warehouse that we turned into a loft. (*laughs*) So we moved there for that space, and we spent 10 years in that space, and at the 10-year mark, that’s when we decided to move to Brooklyn. But Blessing/Curse is the third album we’ve made. And really, we’ve always bounced around between studios when we do a full-length record, but this one we did some home recordings. Two of the recordings were ones that I made in our space, what we called the “Art Castle.” And for a moment we had practice space on Cherokee Street, as well, just down the street from where we were living, that we called the “Hot Pocket.”

Evan: I feel like Blessing/Curse is an album that was very St. Louis in its conception, and then also in its execution. It turns out that we tend to want to have a fancy studio for recording fancy, complex sounds and then a crazy, lo-fi place for recording crazy lo-fi sounds because you don’t want to spend your time at a high-end studio recording lo-fi sounds. But we do love low-fi sounds. That’s part of our DNA. So, with Carter, we really found in Suburban Pro, we really found a place where we could—Paige had the connection with him from a prior music life together that they were able to fire up and Carter is completely familiar with the punk scene that they came from. And then also completely capable of whatever reaches we were going for with gear and with composition and things like that. So, I think of Blessing/Curse as really kind of culminating our experience, including the fact this is very Sleepy Kitty of making sure to bring in someone from outside to kind of help the churn and enrich the whole process. But it was to me, the culmination of our experiences in St. Louis, our connections in St. Louis, and what we’ve been learning from it. It expresses a whole period of time in a single album that is, to me, extremely St. Louis-specific. BTT: Within, Paige, your vocal recovery and the pandemic, had you been recording the whole time or was there a moment where you were sitting down and you thought, “I think we’re ready to get back into writing and recording?” Paige: This album, Blessing/Curse, ends up being a really appropriate title for it because it covers a lot of challenges and surprise good things. I think most notably is the vocal surgery and kind of leading up to that, realizing that I had a problem that wasn’t going to go away on its own and that I needed help making it go away.

And it felt like every little thing was giving me a sore throat. And I just started noticing my range going away and just having problems and not feeling like the musician I am. So, my surgery happened in, I believe it was, January 2018. That was a real challenge, but in some ways, it was what needed to happen because it was an answer to this thing that had been kind of harassing us for the last year. And so even though it kind of brought us to a complete stop, it was the only way that things were going to get better and that I was going to be able to get my voice back and we were going to be able to keep doing things the way we like to do things. Paige: Basically, as soon as I could start singing again, we got back into the studio and started writing again. It was a long process of getting my voice limber again and working it up to kind of the stamina I had before; because part of it was recovering from the surgery, but a lot of it was recovering from not singing for so long and not being as active as a vocalist for a long time. My inner songwriting voice feels very connected to my physical singing voice, and I kind of had a writer’s block that I associate with knowing that my voice wasn’t where I wanted it. When I started getting limber enough and just physically comfortable enough and kind of psychologically comfortable enough to being kind of full-strength again and singing with abandon again, the songs started coming back a lot easier. Most notably I would say, for me, I really remember “Poor Gilles” when we did that one. We had seen a movie at the French Film Festival in St. Louis, which was a great film festival. Highly recommend it. And the next day, I just went into the practice space and wrote a song about a character in that film. There was a moment that it felt like I was on the other side of the hardest part. Maybe that was it, it was just sitting down and working on that song again. And that was one of the first ones we recorded post-surgery. Evan: I’ll say one of the tricks of the album for us was that it didn’t have an end for a long time. We were just kind of going and going, and it wasn’t until the searching for the perfect set of songs from within the songs we were working on. We were still in the middle of writing a bunch of songs, but once the pandemic hit, we realized that was the end of that chapter.

“

Most of the record was recorded at Suburban Pro, which is a South City recording studio, with Carter McKee, who is a musician that I went to high school with, actually, and played in bands with when we were teenagers. And one of our collaborators who is all over this record is Benjamin Shure, who was living in D.C. at the time. And he came out to St. Louis to record with us at Carter’s space and also, we recorded with him in D.C. too.

Sleepy Kitty has just been this kind of multiheaded beast that really boils down to me and Paige for an awfully long time now.

Which would turn out to be a surgery. We were recording the whole time, we were on tour a lot, and we were constantly writing and constantly kind of demoing for ourselves when we were home. And sometimes even in the car on tour, I would just sing little voice memos to myself. But we started recording in, I would say 2016, was the very first stuff that we recorded. And then by the end of 2016, that’s when I feel like I really started noticing that I was taking longer to recover if I had a sore throat.

Like whatever we did prior to the pandemic is a body of work. And anything after that is going to be coming from a different place and probably literally being made somewhere else some other way. The world kind of forced us to see that as a body of work. And then once we did, we realized—though we had been kind of in motion the whole time, that was, in fact, a pretty coherent set of thoughts and arguments. Or, you know, melodies and things like that.

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So once the external circumstances made us pause and turn around and look at what we’d done, we realized we did have an album there. And I will say I was particularly guilty of wanting to keep us moving forward because I just felt like we were in pursuit of a bunch of really exciting music. Which we are now, once again, in pursuit of because we were able to stop and finish Blessing/Curse. So in our case, the outside world kind of helped us stop what we were doing and finish a body of work. And then that subsequently has helped open us up again to the next stuff that’s coming down the line. BTT: And I’d love to talk sonically about the album. I think in Blessing/ Curse there are moments that are really referential to ‘60s garage rock, maybe more so than your past work. I would love to know, were you inspired specifically by any artists or eras that you wanted to emulate on the record? Paige: I can say that Blessing/Curse is definitely in the middle of a huge Cate LeBon phase for Sleeping Kitty. And we really got into her record—was it called Crab Day? And then a lot of the people that we were touring with at that time when we were writing these songs, and Benjamin—who plays bass on most of the record and the other sounds—he was in a band that we toured with a bunch. And they were all listening to Cate LeBon. And we were all listening to Cate LeBon, like everybody was listening to Cate LeBon at that moment. And we still really like her music a lot. Cate LeBon personally for me, and just her guitar work I think is really cool. And the way her melodies work with the guitar at the same time. And they think once people know that they will hear that influence. And also, I would say I started listening to more contemporary French pop.

We’d always listen to a lot of ’60s French music, like Francoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc. But this one, I was listening to Clara Luciani, who’s very pop. But I really like her song structures. I feel like the stage one of the recording, there was a lot of Cate LeBon going on in my head. And then stage two of the record was more like I was thinking of her melodies, Claire Luciani. But through it all, there’s been The Fall, there’s been Guided by Voices, there’s been The Velvet Underground, Pavement... Evan: Those are kind of the core units. And then I think “New Job Debbie” and “Bigger Picture” are definitely rockers that have ties to garage rock that we’ve had from songs from our EP, like “Mockingbird” or “Summer.” Those are the songs where we specifically look for a lo-fi environment to create these lo-fi nuggets. And we’re trying to sometimes literally find the sound of the garage and really make the most of that because there’s tons of music that we love that carries that sound. But we’re also not feeling attached to any genre or through-line of a genre. We certainly will reference and play garage music, but I don’t think we feel like we are trying to home in on that scene’s stuff. It’s just one of the things that we’re drawing on while we’re chasing our own weird versions of what a perfect noisy, poppy, fragmented-but-coherent gem would sound like. Paige: Yeah, I agree with all that. And I will also add, I think one of the biggest influences isn’t necessarily a band on this record but was the gear we were using itself. We worked with this guy, Colin Croy, who has an amazing cool pedal company, called Croy Tone Audio. And he made a custom pedal for me called the “Siren Song” that’s a distorted vocal pedal that had come from him seeing our band and seeing how I had things rigged and being like, “You know, I could probably put all of those adapters in one box, and it would probably work better too.” And that really changed the game for us because a lot of the sounds that I was using in the recording studio for the distorted vocal and using my voice as a guitar lead, like that you hear on Infinity City and “Give Me a Chantz!,” there’s a lot of that. But it was the first time I was able to kind of write live with that sound. And you really hear it on “Bigger Picture,” you hear it on “New Job Debbie.” And it almost sounds like guitar leads that are just like kind of extra wacky or distorted keys. I think being able to have that sound with us the whole time really changed some of the things we did and were able to do. And the more you’re able to do, the more you do those things. And so, I would say Croy Tone Audio gear is a huge influence. Evan: And he was based in St. Louis until just this year; he moved to Japan, but he was a student of Brad Sarno’s. Brad Sarno is a legendary pedal guy. We have a Brad Sarno pedal in our gear, which really influenced our sound as well. I agree with Paige. The gear is almost like a genre of its own. The way that we were using it, and our most key pieces came from pedal makers in St. Louis. BTT: So what’s next for Sleepy Kitty? Paige: What is next for Sleepy Kitty? Well, we are about to go to Paris and play a show there. And we are trying to play out more while this album is fresh to people still. And we are starting to write new music, as well, and seeing where that leads. Trying to not overthink where that leads right now, but just trying to write songs and see what that turns into. But definitely new music is something we’re thinking about a lot, which is funny since this album just came out. But I would say we’re trying to play more of the Blessing/Curse body of work while it’s fresh. And we have a video that is finished that we will be releasing very soon. And I wish I could say a date already—and I’m not being secretive about it, I just don’t actually have a date for it yet (*laughs*).

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Evan: But it’s cool, and it was made in St. Louis. Paige: Yeah, and it was made with a bunch of theater actors from the ERA Theater, who we really love their work, and we’re excited to share this thing because it’s pretty ornate. After years of touring the contiguous, mostly Midwest and East Coast-U.S. for many years, it’s been really exciting to get to Europe and play in Paris and play in London. And now we’ve played a few shows in Paris and we’re going back, I would say that’s something that we’re looking to do more. But also getting to home cities to play this album soon. Evan: I would say that, and we’re digging deeper into the playing in New York. Like everybody, we had to stop playing for a long time, but that was kind of right as we moved to New York. So, we’re playing shows with bands that we’re getting to know better in the city. Of course, no surprise, there’s a whole bunch of fantastic bands here and a whole bunch of fantastic scenes. And great venues and the energy of New York is pretty much as advertised. It’s full of people who are ambitious and making cool stuff and we really like being in that energy. So being able to shift between New York and Paris and use them each as bases of operation to find people there to play with, find people there to work with, that’s a whole lot of new information for us to be diving into. I mean, I’ve been touring for a couple of decades; to have a burgeoning territory for us to have in front of us to explore in Paris and London, but also in Belgium and Berlin and Liverpool. There’s just no end of places that we’re looking to play and kind of expand our horizons. It’s cool to be postfreshly off the release of our third record, and in the middle of our second decade together, and just see a ton of new places to go and things to do and people to meet. It’s easy to feel your world getting smaller the further you go, and instead it really feels to us like our world is getting bigger, which is really exciting. BTT: Awesome. And I selfishly hope that Silverlake, California, is on that list of places to visit soon. Paige: Oh my gosh, definitely! Love Silverlake and we love L.A., and we’d like to come back. Evan: We tease one particular denizen of Silverlake [a reference to the track “Alceste in Silverlake” from Blessing/Curse], but we are appreciators of that place. BTT: Well, thank you guys so much, and I wish you all the best in Paris! Good luck! Note: This interview has been edited for length.

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A twentysomething misfit’s indie-rock metamorphosis 4848

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Into the Woods with Indigo De Souza Story: Lauren Textor Feature Photo: Angella Choe

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ndigo De Souza’s August 18 performance at The Midland Theatre in Kansas City is simultaneously anxiety-inducing and cathartic.

Sustaining oneself through tough times has become one of the central themes of De Souza’s music, and she finds her resilience in creating art and submerging herself in the natural world.

The 26-year-old American-Brazilian indie-rock artist wears flowy pants that resemble an acid-washed pickle. Her voice is uneven, as it is on many of the tracks of her three albums. It rises and falls with raw emotion, sharpening into screams during “Always” from her April release, All of This Will End.

De Souza lives in a renovated church in a small town outside Asheville, N.C. When she’s not on tour, she devotes her time to exploring nearby creeks and forests with her friends and her dog.

“Father, I thought you’d be here,” she cried. “I thought you’d try. I thought you’d stay.” In her opening act for Sylvan Esso, she runs almost straight through the set without speaking except for a few quiet “thank yous” to the audience for attending. The performance feels like you’re watching her process her grief and trauma in real-time. In our phone interview, she explains the mental toll that touring takes on her.

But you get the sense that De Souza also belongs to the woods. She’s spoken extensively in other interviews about her experiences in taking magic mushrooms (including during the shooting for her self-directed music video, “Younger & Dumber”) and swimming in rivers. She’s anchored herself in her environment through psychedelics and forest bathing, and it comes through in her music. “I have a community there,” she said. “I have a lot of friends and a really, really special community that I put so much of my time and soul into. It feels like a forever family that I could not possibly leave. I’ve committed myself to the nature there, and the trees and the water and the mushrooms. I am growing to know all of it so well that it would feel strange to go somewhere else.” In her song “The Water,” she sings about leaving her clothes on a rock while she goes for a swim. Most of the song is built around a simple refrain: “I really love the water.”

De Souza at The Pageant, opening for Sylvan Esso. Photo: Cory Weaver

“I’m excited to see places that I haven’t seen, but touring is really hard for me because of my brain illnesses,” De Souza said. “I have a hard time being in an unstable environment and going from place to place. But there is so much importance in my learning how to sustain myself within it because I love the impact that it has. I love being in the room with people who care about the music I make, because those people are normally healing something within themselves, too. I like creating and growing that community. Doing support tours is interesting because most people don’t know who you are when you go onto the stage. It feels like a mission to grow the community further, whereas my own shows feel like I’m meeting with the community that I already have.”

“My dog is a really insane guy and he doesn’t do well in society,” she laughed. “I basically never take him anywhere where he would have to be civilized. He only goes to ferally run around with his friends in the woods, so I have to do that a lot with him because it’s the only way he gets out his energy.”

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“

When I was younger, I used to only hang out with people who made music, and then I ended up feeling really depressed.

“

As with much of her music, the focus is on the emotion in her voice rather than lyrical complexity. With her third album, All of This Will End, De Souza comes firmly into her own by releasing a flood of memories and emotions, whether joyful or agonizing. She solidifies her artistic direction as an up-and-coming indie rocker by taking control of her image. This is especially evident in her music videos, many of which are self-directed. “Younger & Dumber” is one of her most striking due to the elaborate costuming and set. It’s interspersed with home video clips of De Souza throughout her childhood—as a chubby-cheeked baby with tufts of dark hair, then a smiling child in a pink dress and tiara, then a little girl with pigtails stretching down her back. She sweeps her wrists, arms and legs in fluid motions as raindrops pour down on her costume of ruffled sleeves and chaps. She wears a white and pink patterned mask with white braids attached to the scalp but removes it to wipe her hands over her face before the video closes. “When I was first designing [the costume], I was thinking about the leafy seadragon,” she said. “They have a bunch of flaps that come off of them, and there’s one that’s especially iridescent. It changes in the light, so I looked for fabric that did that. I was inspired by rave culture’s shapes and how the chaps are used. I wanted the costume to move when I moved. Then you have the mask, which is made by Henry Shearon in Raleigh, the brother of one of my friends. While we were working on the costume, I happened to see one of his masks on Instagram, and I fell in love with it. I actually didn’t even have plans to wear a mask until I saw it on Instagram, and it changed everything.” De Souza’s mother, Kimberly Oberhammer, designed the artwork for all three of her albums and assisted with the creation of the costume and set. In fact, one of the most telling details of their relationship is that De Souza named her debut album I Love My Mom. “She makes art all the time in kind of a manic way,” De Souza said. “Anytime I’m able to collaborate with her, I always jump at the opportunity because it brings us closer, but she also knows how to make anything.” Perhaps the biggest change in De Souza’s life from her debut album to her most current release is the community that she surrounds herself with. “When I was younger, I used to only hang out with people who made music, and then I ended up feeling really depressed,” she said. “It was like, Everyone’s so sad and writing sad songs around me. Now I feel like my community is this vibrant group of people who all need different things and have different ideas and dress in different ways. It seems like a group of misfits— it feels like all of us got bullied in school, but we ended up together and we can do great things together.”

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Cave Radio:Your New Obsession Story: Alex Bakken

ike many aspirations, the band was conceptualized many years before it was realized. “I came up with the idea for Cave Radio about eight years ago,” recalls Deanna Sorenson, founder, songwriter and lead vocalist for the group. “I picked up a guitar right out of college, started writing songs that I didn’t hate after two weeks, and was like ‘Oh, this could be something…’”

Sometimes you listen to an album and know there’s just no going back. The leaves are falling off the trees, you’re in your car driving down a familiar road, and you’ve decided to check out a new band for the first time. The tracks continue one after another, and you’re hooked.

The first wave of demos was written by Deanna and her then partner, but aside from the occasional open mic, the songs did not see the light of day for four years. That was until late 2019 when they met Brandon Mason, now bassist for Cave Radio. “We sent Brandon all the early, early demos of the first album, and he helped get them to a pretty good point. The next thing we know we’re planning a live show, and the next, next thing we know Covid happened.”

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Photo: Cory Weaver

Deanna and Brandon continued to pass demos back and forth throughout the pandemic, slowly but surely polishing things up to their own “presentable” standard. In early 2021, Deanna and her partner had split, and it was clear that things were changing for Cave Radio. As the world gradually returned to a new normal, the now dynamic duo of Deanna and Brandon realized that their music was ready to be performed live, which required more band members.

“So I got a message from Brandon on BandMix sending some demos that eventually became the first record,” remembers Colette J. (CJ) Beckwith, drummer and producer for Cave Radio. “When I heard the demos, I thought ‘I love this singer, I love these songs, I love this music. I need to be a part of it.’ Charlie [Brooks], Zack [Geese], and I had previously been in a band together, so when we needed a guitarist, I was like, ‘I know a guy,’ and Charlie was in. And since Brandon was already playing bass, we needed a keyboardist and I was like, ‘I know another guy…the smart one of our group, Zach.’”

Zach was—and still is—in medical school studying for his doctorate and only played keys on the side. After an “I don’t know, I’m too busy right now” response to CJ’s invitation, Zach was pulled in by a “You’ll only be a stand-in for a few shows” offer from Brandon. “We wanted Zach so badly we asked him twice,” Deanna said, laughing. Charlie continued the bit: “We were getting ready to have everyone reach out to him.” By fall of 2021, the Cave Radio quintet had been solidified. While the members of the band were new, their music carried on Deanna’s original vision for Cave Radio’s sound. “It mostly stuck to that [original] vision. Really the only change was that, you know, I could only play guitar and I wasn’t a very good producer by myself. So, our song ‘Deep Ressions’, for example, I would play that song on my sad acoustic guitar all the time, and it would just be very stripped and bare. But I always heard it pretty much how it sounds on our first record. It was really amazing to hear them come alive as basically what I had in my brain. I still get moments when we’re practicing where I’m like ‘There’s four other people playing this thing that came out of my head… that’s so weird!” Cave Radio’s debut album, Deserter, is a wonderful blend of the band’s combined talents. The rich tones of Deanna’s vocals combine effortlessly with her vivid lyricism to create an irresistibly relatable, sparkling melancholy present in every track. Brandon’s sturdy baselines match Zach’s mood-laying keys to add just the right amount of atmosphere, while CJ and Charlie bring the group’s energy full front with their magnetic drums and engaging guitar. The album’s production consistently surprises from song to song, most notably when transitioning from the quiet, still air and acoustic strumming of “Seahorse” immediately into to the propulsive energy of “Alaska.” Just when you think you have a hold on its sound, Deserter takes yet another turn into the dark, booming synths of “SAM” only to shift gears into the dance-inducing, Paramore-esque tunes “Get Out Of My Head” and “Time Is Weird.” And just before you leave, Deanna reminds you of Cave Radio’s beginnings with one more acoustic track, “Your Ghost.” What really pulls the record together, for me, is the story of its recording. CJ, who led production for Deserter after Brandon’s early additions, was still new to the world of audio engineering: “I was sort of flying by the seat of my pants with the whole record because I was punching above my weight class. I thought the songs were really good and I wanted to do justice to them, but it was the first thing I ever actually engineered or produced. I bought some equipment just so I could be like ‘Hey guys, if you wouldn’t mind—let me try to take a swing at this and see if I can do it justice.” One by one, the band members met at CJ’s house and recorded their sections. The recordings themselves happened very quickly, only taking up a week’s time. “I think I recorded all my vocals in, like, an hour,” Deanna recalled.

“

I picked up a guitar right out of college, started writing songs that I didn’t hate after two weeks, and was like ‘Oh, this could be something.’

Afterwards, CJ took the tracks to an engrossing post-production. “I was developing a lot of processes as I edited more and more,” CJ said. “That was a big exploratory phase, always telling myself, ‘Let’s see what this whole world is about and let’s see if I can tell that story properly with this massive production and engineering’ all while knowing ‘wow, that was all recorded in my basement or bedroom.’” Throughout the interview, the members of Cave Radio continued to mention Deserter in the context of a soon-to-be-revealed second album. “It can sometimes be difficult to listen back on Deserter because we know what’s coming next. We’re really proud of our second record. But it’s nice to look back on the special nature of [Deserter], you know, especially with the story of how we recorded it,” CJ said. After a brief inquiry into the sound of the second record, Deanna replied, “The [second album’s] songs are almost classics to us at this point; we’ve been playing them live since our first show. Some of those songs are almost five years old. I love Deserter and it will be like my child forever, but we’re really excited about album two. Come to a live show and you’ll get a sneak peek!” With a bit of prodding, the group was able to give me a vague idea of when the new record would drop. “We’re recording the second half of it this fall (2023), and we’re hoping to have it out by next summer (2024)… maybe late next summer…okay maybe early next fall.” In the meantime, I can at least take comfort in knowing the group will continue making new music together. “I really enjoy my bandmates as people, that’s the best part about it—and also making music that I love, of course,” Zach said. “We haven’t gotten any negative responses yet, so that’s really fulfilling.” Charlie quickly added to the conversation, “Playing with this group is very fun, and as long as I’m having fun, I’m going to keep doing it. Simple as that.” Standing by for even more Cave Radio tunes might be a bit of a pain, but I can at least take solace in the fact that I can do so while enjoying another spectacular addition to St. Louis’ music scene. One that, although eight years in the making, was entirely worth the wait.

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C NELS I N E Behind the Scenes of Cousin with Wilco’s Lead Guitarist Story: Alan Scully Photo: Peter Crosby 54

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Having just returned from a tour of the United Kingdom and Europe, Nels Cline was preparing for an unusual undertaking for his band, Wilco, when he called for a mid-September interview. “We are actually going to do something very uncharacteristic, which is we’re going to rehearse for the tour,” the guitarist revealed. The reason for the rehearsal is the fall tour of the States. It will be the band’s first outing in support of Cousin, the album Wilco released on Sept. 29, 2023. Cline noted only one song from the new album was performed on the UK/Europe tour. “We try to avoid having a bunch of YouTube versions of the songs before anyone’s heard the album,” he said, although the band had run through stripped-back versions of some of the Cousin songs, “There’s still plenty to address and plenty of sound design in my case to address because, as we tend to do in Wilco, we want to reproduce the tones and textures as closely as possible, as faithfully as possible, I guess I should say,” Cline said. “That’s probably going to take a little work on this one.” Cline and his bandmates also needed to get up to speed with playing the songs from Cousin because the members weren’t together for the bulk of the recording. With fellow artist Cate Le Bon brought in to produce the album—the first time Wilco had used an outside producer for an album since the 2007 album Sky Blue Sky—the plan wasn’t to record live as a band in Wilco’s Chicago studio space, the Loft. All six band members—singer/guitarist/ band leader Jeff Tweedy, Cline, keyboardist/guitarist Pat Sansone, drummer Glenn Kotche, bassist John Stirratt and keyboardist Mike Jorgensen—only convened for a short initial session before the real work on the album commenced. “Cate was really desiring to make a more layered record and not so much a live record,” Cline said. “So we came in individually after the first session. I worked for two days with Cate one on one, while Jeff (Tweedy) was there and Tom Schick, our beloved engineer, was there at the Loft.” This instrument-by-instrument approach to the recording is readily apparent in listening to Cousin.

Perhaps the most sonically ambitious moment comes on “Infinite Surprise,” the opening song on Cousin. The track builds from spare guitar/vocal verses into a swirl of pillowy synthetic sounds, accented with edgy elements courtesy of Cline’s fuzzed-up guitar and the squalling saxophone parts from guest Euan Hinshelwood. “Sunlight Ends” makes effective use of an echoey rhythm track, seemingly random twinkling notes and washes of synth-like tones to make what could have been an intimate ballad a grander, more colorful experience. The thwacking drum tone on the title track, coupled with shimmery guitars that dart in and out around the vocals, turn what could have been a fairly monochromatic song into a multi-hued, yet edgy, adventure. By and large, the other songs aren’t quite as production forward, but have plenty of sonic treats built around the consistently inviting vocal melodies and steady, unobtrusive tempos that anchor these songs. “Evicted” is embellished by sparkly guitar parts and the pleasantly bent lead guitar lines, while “Levee” has a dreamy atmosphere that adds a mystical quality to the song. “Meant To Be” is enhanced by airy textures that provide a nice contrast in this otherwise driving pop-rock song. The album’s overall feel is something a bit different for Wilco, Cline observed. “When I heard the mixes, I realized that there were certain things in the mixes, like a certain amount of reverb or certain contrasts between dry and wet that were different from the way Jeff and Tom, for example, would work,” he said. “I think that’s what people are going to kind of respond to sonically with the record, and it’s kind of what people are talking about.” With Cousin ready for release, the focus shifts to touring. The band’s set lists will change from show to show, as Tweedy expends considerable effort mixing and matching songs from Wilco’s 13 albums. As good as the band is on albums, Wilco shines live, as many of the songs grow more potent live, and the interplay of the six musicians is even more readily apparent. Cline is not the boastful type, but he likes what he and his bandmates do in concert (double meaning intended). “We endeavor in live performance to play 100 percent hot (good) shows. And I feel like we pretty much do, so there’s satisfaction in that,” Cline said, noting he feels Wilco is more of a rocking outfit live. “Overall, I think we go to bed after the show thinking ‘Well, that was good.’ And that’s a good feeling, to have pride in one’s work.”

Where Wilco’s previous album, 2022’s Cruel Country, was a rather lean, acoustic-led country-rooted affair, Cousin is a full-bodied work that incorporates a kaleidoscopic range of instrumentation and sounds to create a far different kind of album than its predecessor. bands through town magazine

ANE French Girl Chic Meets EO Effortlessly Cool

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Story: Jennifer Rolf Photo: Cory Weaver

Fresh off a tour with indie-pop trio Cannons, we caught up with Jane Ellen Bryant and Daniel Leopold, better known as Jane Leo, at Austin City Limits Music Festival. Although we missed their sole ACL performance the previous weekend, one listen to the new single “Wow” and their neon-noir sound that blends elements of pop, punk, electronic and avant-garde had us tracking them down to learn more about this intriguing duo who give off French-girl-chicmeets-effortlessly-cool vibes.

Jane: We met five years ago in the Austin music scene; we had the same producer. It’s kind of a small circle once you’re in the scene here. We started writing immediately, and we didn’t actually release anything until two years ago.

Daniel: I was tiny. I found a guitar that had like three strings. Everything I do is hyper-obsessed. Here I am 35 years later, still doing it full time for about 15 years, and it’s one of those things, once you get to that level you can only look back to remind yourself to give you perspective that it’s hard work in that world, and I love it. I love every ounce of everything. I don’t know if Jane would say the same thing, but literally everything that’s hard, easy, everything, I love it. Press. We get the press requests, “Let’s do press!” “Let’s wash the van!” I love washing the van. I wouldn’t say it’s a blessing but something close to it. Everything you’re doing has a trajectory, it has purpose, it has intention. That’s a life well-led.

BTT: How did you get connected with Cannons?

BTT: Did you have supportive families along the way?

Jane: Their manager was a friend of ours, and we got to play with them in their Texas shows last year, then their manager became our manager and we got to join them on tour this year. So, we just got to be really good friends with Cannons. They’re the best, and they wanted to have us around, so it was great.

Daniel: Yes and no. Coming from families that are supportive when you’re young, [you] kind of grasp on to their idea of what that means, because they get you started young. And they’re like, “Oh, yeah, I want you to be a country singer, then a folk singer.” And then with this new thing that we’re doing, they might say, “Well, wait, what happened to the rock and roll icon that you used to be? You used to be really masculine.” I’m like, “No, no. It changes.” And you have to run with that. Same with Jane, [who] came from a very Americana/folk world. So yes, they’re very supportive. But that’s a double-edged sword, because it’s like, you only want and need to handle that kind of support for so long until you’re on your feet, and then you have to kinda do it on your own.

BTT: Was this your first time performing at ACL? Jane: Yeah, first time as Jane Leo. We’ve performed as our solo projects but never together. BTT: How did you meet, and how long have you been together as Jane Leo?

BTT: You’re from Austin. What does ACL mean for the music scene locally and globally? Jane: I mean, I grew up in Austin and it was always just like a staple. I grew up coming to the festival in high school, so I think it’s really neat to be able to be a musician that’s based here and get to have that world stage in your backyard. There’s a lot of negative things to Austin growing so much, but that’s one of the best things—people from all over the world are coming here, so if you’re a musician here, you can meet people from all over the world and have them see you play. BTT: Who are some of your inspirations? Jane: Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been big, the Cars, Talking Heads… Daniel: Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg…there’s a lot of European influences. The Kills. That’s kind of where our head space is. It’s American but very much not so as well. But even a lot of hip-hop because it’s the both of us to a drum machine with the electronic beats and synthesizers and all that, so kind of nothing’s off limits. There’s also Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra going on. BTT: What inspired you to get into music as a profession? Jane: As a kid I was in my room alone performing to stuffed animals and that just made me really happy and feel the most alive and fullest I’ve felt. And then writing is this even greater extension of that, to be performing our own music and see people singing along. So I never remember wanting to do anything else.

BTT: My last question. How have you approached any challenges or setbacks that come your way? Have you had that “no” in your face at all? Jane: I’ve been into tennis lately, and this is a segue, but a tennis player recently said there’s no losing, you just learn. And I think you hear “no” more often than you hear “yes” in this business. So you get used to hearing that a lot. And I’ve started to take that as like, if someone says no, then that’s because it’s not meant to happen, or there’s something better. It’s not personal or there’s…a different thing, like, oh, this door is closing, that means that something else is opening. And it sounds cliché, but it’s so true. Things kind of phase in and out, opportunities phase in and out, you know, but as long as we have each other, and that’s been huge. Coming from different projects, where when you’re in your head, and there’s only you and your echo chamber, it’s like, you know, you can get really down really quick, but most of the time if one of us is down, it’s like a teeter totter—we can kind of balance each other out and get perspective. And we’ve both been in this long enough now that we kind of know what kind of bullshit to expect, and then also, we know what to appreciate. There’s so much good happening right now that we’ve worked so long and hard for, so we’re kind of riding that high.

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Nemegata Infusing Global Beats with Colombian Passion in Austin Story: Jennifer Rolf

Photo: Cory Weaver

t’s no secret that Austin is a breeding ground for musical talent; a magical place that draws musicians from all over the world to perform, record and, for some, plant roots. For those who don’t originally hail from the “Live Music Capital of the World,” there’s a chance they formed musical alliances there that turned into something truly special. This is the case for Nemegata, a band of unrelated brothers with Colombian roots who met in Austin. Together they form a sound that blends traditional Colombian melodies and percussion with African and Caribbean psychedelic rock influences. We caught up with the power trio that is Víctor-Andrés Cruz (“El Guámbito”—lead vocals, electric guitar, synth, Colombian percussion), César Valencia (“I Nova”—bass, synth, Colombian percussion, vocals) and Fabián Rincón (“Don Fabo”—drums, synth drums, vocals) before their first-ever set at Austin City Limits Music Festival on the heels of the release of their sophomore album, Voces.

BTT: How did you find each other? César: We met here in Austin. Playing with other musicians around, being in the studios. And one day, Victor showed up and said, hey, I have this [idea]. You wanna participate? Victor: So through music, and just touring and touring. I used to fly from New York to Austin to do shows. And we would meet here to play with other projects, and we just became really good friends on the road. BTT: How long have you been making music? When did you first start recording?

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Victor: The first recording I made was in New York on my own with some friends there. I already had the idea for the band, and I used this 4-track cassette recorder and put out a 7-inch vinyl. And that’s what I brought here. I had some ideas for other songs, and when we started rehearsing and putting all the songs together, the actual formation of the band happened in 2019. And then all of those songs that I brought we kind of arranged together playing live; that was the first album, which dropped in 2020 (called Hycha Wy). BTT: So you kind of had your beginnings during the pandemic, I guess you could say. What kind of challenges did it pose? Were you able to get together and make music?

Victor: Yeah, that was kind of like what started the album Voces. Because we dropped the previous album in 2020, and when we got all the vinyl records—it actually took longer to press because all the plants were closed—and when we finally got them, it was lockdown. Before that, we had a bunch of dates, like a little tour through the Midwest, like Chicago, the surrounding areas, even Kansas City. We had to cancel all of that. We just basically had to release the music online like everyone else was doing. BTT: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

a lot of the Latin American musicians that have experimented with psychedelic music, like in South America and in the Caribbean and also in Africa, particularly the music that was made in the ’60s and ’70s. BTT: Like afrobeat? Victor: Yeah, like afrobeat, like highlife, pop makossa, desert blues, and then things like kompa from Haiti, chicha from Peru, champeta from the Caribbean and Colombia. The common thread is electric guitar, that format, but kind of filtered through all these cultures.

Victor: Fundamentally, what we follow is traditional Colombian music: cumbia, bullerengue, puya from the Caribbean, and many, many others, like música pelayera. But also from the mountains, from the Andes, there’s a lot of pasillo and bambuco. From the south, there’s different things with flutes and drums, and on the Pacific Coast, there’s currulao and bunde, a lot of different rhythms.

BTT: Last question: What is your favorite Colombian dish?

All the different regions have different traditions, and we get inspired by that. We play some of that music for ourselves. And there are musicians within those communities that we follow, that we have learned from. And in the more contemporary world,

Fabián: Bandeja paisa from Medellin. It’s a big plate, a lot of food.

Victor: Ajiaco for me. Fabián: I’m from Bogota, so ajiaco. César: I’ll pick up the arepa…arepa con todo, with everything.

BTT: Thank you guys so much.

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Perseverance Pays Off for

Story: Jennifer Rolf

Photo: Cory Weaver

or Andy Stepanian (vocals, guitar, songwriter) and Mason Brent (guitar, bass, banjo), better known as Leon III (pronounced “Leon the Third”), the road to Austin City Limits Music Festival has been one of anticipation, dedication and perseverance. Known for their unique blend of rock, country and psychedelic influences, the duo has worked diligently over the years to gain the recognition they deserve for their soulful and atmospheric sound, with lyrics that often explore introspective and existential themes. We caught up with them quickly before their first-ever appearance at ACL and then had the opportunity to watch them live, a performance that lit up Zilker Park on the final day of the festival.

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BTT: Where are you from and where are you based? Andy: I live in Houston, and Mason lives in Richmond, Virginia. We’re kind of divided a little bit. I grew up in Virginia too. So, we’re like Virginians, but we live all over now. And we’re really connected to Austin, so we’re here a good amount. BTT: Is this going to be your first ACL? Andy: Yes. I’ve been here as a spectator. But this is the first time we’ve ever played. BTT: How do you think this will compare to other performances you’ve done in other places? Mason: Probably a lot bigger than anything that we’ve done before in this band. BTT: How did you guys meet and start performing together? Mason: We met back in the grade school days, I was barely a teenager, maybe; maybe not a teenager. We were in the same school. I have an older sister that he knew already. And then he started watching my band at the time play some music. And I was sort of the root of this all the way back then. Andy: We were in a different band together for 20 years and then formed this thing trying to make different music. BTT: Where does the name come from? Andy: It’s really part of my family—my grandfather and my father are both named Leon. There’s no Leon the Third.

moments that are influenced by that. We also kind of grew up listening to British rock demigods, like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and we both like the Grateful Dead a lot. We also like jazz and country and all kinds of stuff that comes from all over. But this band is frequently compared to some British rock royalty. BTT: [To Mason]: Would you agree? Mason: I grew up on classic rock overall, more than anything, and it basically continues right on through this very day. And the band has a lot of that. BTT: You get tagged with the “psychedelic” term a lot. Andy: It’s very song-based what we do. I’m trying to write good songs—it’s not just about making noise or being psychedelic. It’s really song-driven. BTT: How do you accomplish what you want to do with your band when faced with challenges? Mason: One foot in front of the other. Stick at it. Keep after it. Andy: If you’ve been doing this for any amount of time, you’ve gotten your ass kicked a lot. That’s just part of it. And honestly, I think at this stage we’re in—in our lives and musical lives too— we’re just happy to be doing it and making music and being able to play at something like [ACL], and if you just take it in and just enjoy that, the rest will come to you, I think. Seems like it anyway. BTT: I’m excited for you guys. I know you just dropped some new music, like right now, right?

BTT: What are some of your musical inspirations?

Both: Yesterday! (Something is Trying to Change My Mind, MonoSonic Records/Soundly.)

Andy: It’s really all over the map. Mason and I are both really into reggae, but we’re not a reggae band at all. But there’s occasional

BTT: We’re looking forward to seeing you live. Thanks for your time.

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Turning Quarters into Crescendos Exploring Musical Currency with NYC’s Quarters of Change Story: Jennifer Rolf

Photos: Cory Weaver

Quarters of Change (Ben Acker, guitar, multi-instrumentalist; Attila Anrather, drums; Jasper Harris, guitar; Ben Roter, lead vocals) is an indie-rock band made up of four 20-something friends from New York City who met when they were young and grew up exploring the sights and sounds of the city together. They embody the look and feel of a post-punk revival band that was playing the clubs of NYC in the early aughts while they were still getting their bearings in life. With two albums under their belt and a strong following, it seems the only way for them to go is up. We caught up with them for a quick chat ahead of their first performance at Austin City Limits Music Festival. 62

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BTT: You guys are from New York. Are you from the city originally? Ben Acker: Yes, and we’re all still there. The three of us are from downtown Manhattan, and Ben grew up in Brooklyn as well, as did Attila. BTT: What does it mean for your musical career to do a festival like this, and how does it feel to get to play ACL? Ben Roter: It’s another achievement, for sure. Like it’s a real moment that I’m proud of all of us for having reached. Ben A.: Yeah, it’s definitely a landmark. A dream-come-true kind of moment. We began writing our first album and signed just over two years ago, so to think how much has happened in those two years is pretty crazy. BTT: Especially coming out of the pandemic year, you had a lot of challenges to face, I’m sure. Ben A.: Yeah, we’re really lucky. It seems like a lot of bands right before Covid, who were doing really well with their touring, got a wrench really thrown in their operation. And we hadn’t really started touring yet, let alone festivals, so we were really forced to do a lot more on the digital side of things. We sort of built from there and then got to start touring. So timing was super lucky for us. BTT: What would you say are some of your biggest influences, musically speaking? Jasper Harris: Definitely the Red Hot Chili Peppers was a big one starting out for us as a band. Ben A.: These days, there’s a much bigger range, I would say. Jasper: It’s always been a very eclectic mix. Ben A.: Yeah, eclectic rock mix. Some Deftones. Jeff Buckley, Pantera… Jasper: Jimi Hendrix.

Ben A.: All over the place. We have a lot of different musical influences, which I feel like is kind of wild. Like, our stuff has a lot of different sounds—we’re not just a one sound kind of band. Ben R.: For me personally, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, Interpol—like that 2000 scene, Moldy Peaches, all of them are so influential. I just liked seeing the way that you can play music and do that for a living too; on top of that, creating, amazing art. That inspired my whole childhood. BTT: So reading those stories about bands like Metric, TV on the Radio, etc., they were all living in Brooklyn in this shared warehouse space. Ben R.: After 9/11, all those places became free, and it was such a rush of artists in the city and such an acceptance of the scene, but now it’s so expensive. It’s there, but it’s different for sure. BTT: So you guys are kind of like the post-post revival scene, in a way. Ben A.: I guess so. We’d be honored to be. BTT: How do you deal with setbacks? Ben R.: I’d say like I said in an interview earlier, but view everything in a year, don’t view it in the moment because so much stuff’s gonna happen that you just have no control over. And there’s gonna be some weeks when you feel like you’re on top of the world, and some weeks where you feel like you’ve completely failed at everything. But if you’re able to just take a step back and assess where you’ve gone and come from, like 365 days, that’s kind of what I’ve been trying to do. And it’s helped me be a lot more even-keeled and get over any setbacks that we might have. Ben A.: There’s a lot of days where you’re going to be working your ass off and you’re not going to feel like there’s anything coming of it and that’s okay, like you work your ass off and that day, you’re a little bit better and you do the same thing the next day and you’re a little bit better and then the next thing you know, it happens.

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Listening Room: Album Reviews

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“ Rock' s Greatest” Duo is Back With

God Games

The Kills, Photo: Myles Hendrik

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The Kills God Games

Passionate lyrics like that, underscored by edgy guitar riffs and pulsing drums, are what Mosshart and Hince have made their name on throughout their history as a duo. While God Games may not have any songs with the notoriety of past efforts like “Future Starts Slow” or “Doing It To Death,” it reminds the listener of the unrelenting intensity of classic Kills. Twenty years after their debut album, Keep on Your Mean Side, it’s clear that there’s nothing slow about this group’s future. —BA

American indie duo The Kills returned to the forefront of rock radio late last year with their first studio album in seven years, God Games. The time off hasn’t lessened their power, with an album that made many of the Best of 2023 lists, but it nearly didn’t happen under The Kills banner. Guitarist/keyboardist Jamie Hince said that it was initially intended as a side project that “wasn’t like The Kills.” However, it soon became apparent that it was exactly the sound they had established over the course of their history, minimalist with maximum impact. The Independent, in its best of the year list, describes the album’s vocals by stating, “Alison Mosshart croons like a sci-fi Siouxsie Sioux and a hex is cast on LA.” Her hypnotic vocals, paired with Hince’s raw, charged guitar work, make for a sound that is stylish in an unmistakable way. Coming in under 40 minutes throughout the course of 12 tracks, God Games is impactful in its brevity. Dual lead singles “New York” and “LA Hex” set the tone, while the titular track has a thumping rhythm that sticks with you. On that song, which matches the album’s artwork, Mosshart sings, “Like a matador, they’ll adore you/For every heart you tore through/And like every matador before you/They’re praying for the bulls to gore you.”

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This isn’t a mere return to a singersongwriter style for him musically, but a profound bittersweet exploration of love, loss and moving on. Like the collage in the album artwork, the songs on this record are all colorful with many different shades and hues. Most of the tracks are blooming flowers: they start with him and a guitar/ piano and expand into a vast, ethereal musical world. It seems like the artist is comforting himself throughout the recalling of both beautiful memories and harrowing emotional experiences. The atmosphere that this creates is one that both soothes and saddens the soul of the listener. This dichotomy is also explored in the album’s production. Many songs, such as the standout “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” and “A Running Start,” feature an almost tribal aesthetic, utilizing bongos, tambourines and wind instruments to add a Disney-esque sense of community and magic.

Sufjan Stevens Javelins There are few things that are as personal while also simultaneously universal as grief. Everyone experiences the loss of someone dear to them, a pet, a parent, a friend, and yet, as Kendrick Lamar pointed out, “Everybody grieves different.” We can empathize, but not fully sympathize, with one’s loss. Javelin, however, allows us to do both. Sufjan Stevens dedicated this, his 10th studio album, to his late partner who he described as “an absolute gem of a person, full of life, love, laughter, curiosity, integrity and joy.” Losing a partner or a lover can be one of the most painful experiences life holds. Many who do become bitter or simply lose the will to live entirely. This isn’t the case with Stevens. The lyrics in here can be tragic, yes, but this work feels not so much like a mourning brought on by death but a celebration of life in both an intimate and communal form.

There are also tracks, like “Everything That Rises,” which evoke more mechanical and gear-driven instrumentation, often reflecting the cold nature of life that can arise in the shadow of death. The album works itself to a grand thesis statement in the form of “Shit Talk,” an almost nine-minute track that is as sprawling and cathartic as the record itself. There is no emotion the album doesn’t cover in its relatively short 42 minutes. As the album ends with a soft kiss goodbye in the form of a cover of a Neil Young song, I could not help but be reminded of a line from the final Harry Potter book, a sentiment that captures the spirit of the entire album: “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all those who live without love.” —LO

Sonically, Strays is her most rockforward body of work yet, resembling contemporaries, such as Jenny Lewis and Angel Olsen, and honoring those who have come before her, like Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde. “Light Me Up” is an epic homage to Rumors-era Fleetwood Mac, with Mike Campbell lending his distinctive sound on guitar.

Margo Price Strays

Margo Price, Photo: Alysse Gafkjen

In a world where country music continually pedals the “pickup truck and tequila” narrative, Nashville songstress Margo Price dares to do things differently and unapologetically her way. Her fourth album, Strays, sets an immediately confident tone with the opening lyric in “Been to the Mountain”—“I got nothing to prove, I got nothing to sell, I’m not buying what you got.” The age of the well-behaved, perfectly prim and traditionally desirable female singer has ended. In this sprawling 10-song record, Price is embracing her feral freedom and invites those brave enough to join her.

Collaboration is the name of the game across Strays: “Radio” features BTTfavorite Sharon Van Etten, and the ever-dreamy band Lucius adds their signature haunting background vocals to “Anytime You Call.” While consistently referential to ’70s psychedelic rock, Price and producer Jonathan Wilson (who has worked with Angel Olsen and Father John Misty among excellent solo projects) are able to create something updated and fresh with the deliberate use of synths and programmed drums. Price’s knack for storytelling is best showcased at the album’s midpoint, “County Road,” which recounts her close relationship with someone who passed in a fatal car crash in evocative detail, like how they used to listen to Warren Zevon together on long drives.

Never one to shy away from telling unsavory stories about her past, “Hell in the Heartland” directly addresses Price’s struggle with substance abuse; but as a listener, you can feel through the song’s increasing tempo that she’s come through on the other side. Slated toward the end of the album, “Lydia” is a somber, almost spokenword ala Johnny Cash epic piece about abortion rights and the apocalyptic opioid crisis plaguing the U.S. The song is orchestrated sparsely with Price on guitar and Wilson deftly bringing strings in and out to puncture her stark narrative. Both Strays and Strays II, a follow-up with an additional nine B-sides, were recorded live, and that magic is evident throughout both records. Strays finishes with the mellow “Landfill,” which Price describes as “a little bit of clarity and a little bit of peace.” It shouldn’t go unnoted that the very last word of the album is “love.” It’s a sentiment felt throughout the record, both lyrically and sonically, which was crafted with equal parts wild abandon and sensitive care. —MB

Photo: Aidan Zamiri

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While songs in their first album fly by, the ones here, though shorter, feel twice as long, leaving you wondering “when is this going to get interesting”?

Black Pumas Chronicles of a Diamond The first Black Pumas self-titled album was an instant favorite of mine. Every song on it was groovy and catchy, making me feel like driving a convertible away from an explosion while smoking a cigar. Because of that, I was greatly anticipating their second record, Chronicles of a Diamond. Unfortunately, though it is certainly not unpleasant, it is a stepdown in almost every facet.

Another dose of frustration is when the album tries to be interesting but ends up falling flat. In “Ice Cream (Pay Phone),” the vocal line is in a very upper register, which is ear-catching, but I’m sure not in the way it was intended to be. The final track, “Rock and Roll,” has an intriguing 6/8 time signature, but lacks in depth; there is a continuous instrumental in the background throughout the whole track that quickly becomes tedious. It would have been better if each instrument came in one at a time over the length of the song, gradually building into a

There are definitely worse albums that came out this year, but there are also much better ones. Nothing in this record is surprising, for better and for worse, which is particularly painful because their debut was as good as it was. If this were a debut album for another band, it would leave me thinking “Okay, this is decent, but I wonder how they’ll evolve on their next one”. Now I wonder if they will even be as good as they were. —LO

Various Blonde Love is How We Will Survive There is no question that independent/ local/regional bands are grinding out there and putting out better music than

The Black Pumas. Photo: Jody-Domingue

Previous songs of theirs, like “Stay Gold,” offer ear candy at every layer, with captivating vocal and bass lines, rhythm, harmonies, keyboard and lead guitars with various pedals that fade in and out of the track. Nearly every song on this album, however, is burdened by distracting and blown-out production.

It is a noisy record, which can add in some tracks like “Sauvignon,” a darker groove with a plucky “Superstition”-like bass line, but hinder and burden most. I love a noisy album when it’s done well (Nine Inch Nails was in my top three artists this year, after all), but here it feels like covering up for half-finished songwriting. The best song on the record, “Angel,” is great in part because it gets away from this monotonous cloud of compression with cutting chord progression and a well done, unresolved ending.

grand instrumentation. It is a missed opportunity when it doesn’t, especially for it being the final track.

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much of what’s heard on the air waves and satellite radio. One such band is Kansas City’s Various Blonde, who could and should be on the radio and on your playlist. Back in September, the band released their third studio album, Love Is How We Will Survive, which has been in the works since the early days of the pandemic. When they issued the album’s title track as a single accompanied by a pretty sleek “we’re not gonna take it” premise video that was filmed in Mexico, it left the listener ecstatic for what was on the horizon for VB. Love Is How We Will Survive is a completely different vibe than 2016’s All Bases Covered and 2020’s twin EPs, 3s 1 and 3s 2. At no point do Josh Allen (vocals/guitar/synth), Mark Lomas (drums/synth), Jason Nash (Bass) and Bryson Thomas (guitar) shy away from signifiers of previous works. The hallucinatory sounds of Allen’s falsetto, dizzying synth, raspy rawness and howling guitar chords on previous tracks like “Smash & Grab,” “Top Down,” “All

Bases Covered” and “375” paved the way to an album that lives and breathes in the realm of prog rock—and I am here for it. The 32-minute, 11-track album leads off with “Obtuse,” a back-tracked, synth-heavy groove with dreamy vocals overlayed and peppered with desert rock guitar riffs—it’s a bit of old Various Blonde, segueing us into what they’ve become. On songs like the bass-driven “Turn It Up,” the palpitating “Love Is How We Will Survive” and the head-bopping “Too Many Secrets,” where some serious bass meets ever-present but nonoverbearing guitar, VB evokes live show vibes, the kind that make you want to rock out and dance. The midpoint of the album gives us the sexy, danceable “Play With The Pain.” This track embodies VB’s eponymous second album, weaving in and out of signature changes and matching dominant, addictive dark guitar and bass lines with Allen’s raw falsetto echoing throughout—it inspires sweaty dance party feels.

The most surprising track on the album is “Queen of Hearts,” as it melodically embraces post-punk sensibility with what can only be described as funky, early Wilco vocals. “I got a taste of you, then I drank a case of you, but couldn’t keep my pace with you.” The Tweedy-ish vibe is prevalent, but it’s the mind-blow that comes as you realize it might be the truest rock melody that the group has conjured thus far. Closing out the album is the spooky dark synth side of VB, “Wylde Lyfe,” which begs the question, “How do you get to sleep at night,” and “Trickle Down” with its Little Dark Age feel: “I am just a middleman, I never devised a plan, you told me not to hold your hand, hurry up become a man.” VB expounds on its new territory and growth as a band musically, all the while paying homage to their previous records. It’s a well-thought album that has been willed into existence slowly and purposefully. —CW

Declan McKenna What Happened to the Beach Feb. 9, 2024

Idles: Tangk Feb. 16, 2024

Chromeo Adult Contemporary Feb. 16, 2024

IDKHOW Gloom Division Feb. 23, 2024

MGMT:

Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood March 22, 2024

Loss of Life Feb. 23, 2024

Looking Ahead

BANDS THROUGH TOWN MAGAZINE 57

BANDS THROUGH TOWN MAGAZINE

Photo: Cory Weaver

(Above) Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen at First Ave in Minneapolis. (Opposite page) Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age with Viagra Boys and Jehnny Beth at Saint Louis Music Park.

Photos: Cory Weaver

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(Top, L-R) Louis Tomlinson at Saint Louis Music Park (Photo: Holly Kite); Sylvan Esso at the Pageant, The Struts at the Pageant; Mt. Joy at Saint Louis Music Park; Wilco at Stifel Theatre (Photos: Cory Weaver)

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Photo: Cory Weaver 74

BANDS THROUGH TOWN MAGAZINE

bands through town MAGAZINE

INDIGO DE SOUZA

Sleepy kitty • HIS LORDSHIP • NELS CLINE • Sinister dane CAVE RADIO • LAST DINOSAURS • ACL FEST • FORMAT FEST EVOLUTION FEST • MUSIC AT THE INTERSECTION