Month: December 2021

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New Year’s Eve 2021 Shows: BandWagon’s Top Picks

December 14, 2021

Not too long ago, warm temperatures and plummeting infection rates brought an early-summer wave of optimism to the live music scene. With coronavirus cases rising again, those days are gone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dance your face off this New Years Eve. Depending on where you live, you may need proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to gain entrance to a venue, but the show must go on. So, get your booster shot or bedazzle your mask, but definitely pop that bubbly, and we’ll see you out on the dance floor.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Magpie the Band – Under The Maple Tree

December 10, 2021

Folk trio Magpie the Band emerges into the Northern Colorado scene with their debut ‘Under The Maple Tree,’ featuring more Celtic and Eastern European sounds than the western Americana commonly heard in the Colorado scene. Balancing the amount of slow, introspective songs, and bouncy foot-stompers, the album plays like an intimate house concert put on by close friends.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: This Broken Beat – Far From Home

December 8, 2021

Julio Perez, lead singer of This Broken Beat has the kind of pop-rock cross-over voice that would make Adam Levine turn his chair around. Perez’ tenor shows clear Ed Sheeran influences, and with such an asset at the heart of their sound, it’s no wonder This Broken Beat shot for the stars on Far From Home.

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Features, Print

Break It To Make It: Okey Dokey Hits The Coast

December 7, 2021

It’s 1 am in San Antonio, Texas and Aaron Martin wants to give you a hug.

He’s the singer and co-founder of Okey Dokey and why wouldn’t he give you a squeeze? You are, after all, a part of Okey Dokey too.

“It’s everything you’d want after two years of, you know, the absence,” Martin tells BandWagon of their current tour. He’s been excited to finally practice Okey Dokey’s mission statement with the people who make the live music experience what it is to him: pretty much everyone who’s not in the band.

“The whole statement is kind of anti-separation,” Martin says. “Bands aren’t just a band. It’s everyone involved.”

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INTHEWHALE Gets Real on Vanishing Point

December 4, 2021

What sets Eric Riley and Nate Valdez apart from other heavy acts isn’t their musicianship (though it is excellent) but their ability to translate unflinchingly raw moments into music. Starting with INTHEWHALE’s last EP, Dopamine, the band’s tone shifted from the sophomoric humor of their earlier releases to brutally honest explorations of the darker moments of life. These explorations continue on Vanishing Point. The band wrestles with pharmaceutical addiction, suicidal ideation and gentrification. The pain and anger is palpable.

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