BandWagon Magazine | January 2025 | Silverada by BandWagon Magazine

BANDWAGMAG.COM PUBLISHER

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CARTER KERNS

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BANDWAGON STAFF CONTRIBUTORS

SAWYER MATZ GABE ALLEN MATTHEW DIETRICH LAURA GIAGOS

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SILVERADA

WILLI CARLISLE

MUSIC review

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Naked Mannequins

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Naked Mannequins Soup and Grilled Cheese

Matthew Dietrich

BandWagon Magazine

Naked Mannequins’ latest single, Soup and Grilled Cheese, offers a heartwarming and upbeat break from the heavier themes of their previous releases. Inspired by a simple craving for chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese, the track marks a milestone in the band’s creative journey, showcasing their versatility and ability to bring joy through music. The song originated in a casual jam session where Mikah’s noodling on the guitar sparked a collaborative effort to craft an engaging and dynamic soundscape. With a more lighthearted approach to both lyrics and melody, the band embraced an uplifting theme designed to bring laughter and joy to their audience. Naked Mannequins describes this track as akin to their earlier work Therapist, providing an opener that energizes and entertains while standing apart with its brighter, more playful tone. Unlike some of their more emotionally intense songs, Soup and Grilled Cheese came together smoothly and

efficiently. The band credits their engineer, Eric, for helping to refine and elevate the final product. As a group, they cherish this song for its ability to spotlight each member’s individual skills, creating a balanced and unified showcase of talent. The reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with the track already climbing to become their third most popular release, resonating strongly with their fans. Naked Mannequins’ plans for 2025 are equally exciting. The band is gearing up to record their highly anticipated second album, with the possibility of releasing a few singles beforehand. Although no collaborations are confirmed yet, Naked Mannequins remains open to new opportunities that could shape their sound. While touring remains a challenge with three members in college, the band is committed to live performances. They aim to reach as many people as possible through local shows and maintain an active presence on social media to connect with fans worldwide. Their Instagram continues to be a hub for updates, ensuring fans feel part of the journey. Ultimately, Naked Mannequins’ goal is to provide a refuge through their music, offering songs that resonate across all emotions. Whether it’s the playful Soup and Grilled Cheese or their deeper tracks, Naked Mannequins strives to create a safe space for listeners, reminding them they’re never alone.

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safekeeper halloweekender

Laura Giagos

BandWagon Magazine

It’s easy to be surprised by the Colorado music scene. It’s that uniquely American amalgamation of influences and cultures that propagated music in a state that is less of a destination for the music industry, but more of a stop along the way. Because of this, for better or worse when the rest of the world stumbles upon a local show, the bands will always be described as “surprising” in a, ‘oh I can’t believe a place like THIS (gestures to stunning mountain landscape) has good music’, kind of way. Ft. Collins based slacker rock band safekeeper on the other hand is not a surprise, but a bag full of indie rock tricks. For their latest release halloweekender, every one is being used to the delight of any fans pining for those early Modest Mouse records. Helmed by Zach Visconti, safekeeper has been a welcomed presence in the Ft. Collins scene since forming in 2018. Visconti’s ability to craft dynamic songs housed in the fuzzed out sound of early 2000s indie and midwest emo has been an escape for audiences looking for raw and interesting music.

Past releases from the project found Visconti leaning further into ambience and down tempo, but underneath it you couldn’t help but feel there was a pop record waiting to come out. halloweekender is the seven track followup to the 2022 double release, The Gravity Between Two Celestial Bodies. While halloweekender is not a pop record by the conventional sense, it is undeniably catchy, capturing a confidence and a vision that makes it a pleasure to revisit. Songs like “Playable Characters” and “halloweekend” are fun, infectious demonstrations on how to write a hook, while “ghoul complex” is a haunting walk to a dark place reminiscent of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. What’s worth noting about halloweekender the manner in which it was recorded. It is not a spit n’ polish kind of record with everything fitting together nice and neatly, but rather one almost free of form and modern recording conventions. Recorded in a carriage house in Ft. Collins, halloweekender on the whole is loose, off the grid and settled into the lofi pocket of Visconti and long time collaborator and original drummer Matt Scorca. With the addition of brothers Jake and Ben Ward on bass and guitar, the music is a lot of things, but above all it’s interesting. While it may not all fit nicely in the box, it is packed with tasteful ear candy that shows a method to the madness. If anything, halloweekender shows us that in a world of easy perfection, embrace the chaos and be the artist because neat is boring.

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SILVERADA HAS THE ‘HOTTEST 90 MINUTES IN COUNTRY MUSIC’

MIKE AND THE MOONPIES HAVE REBRANDED, AND THEY’RE AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME

BY GABE ALLEN

ORIGINALLY RUN IN SEPT. 2024

fter 17 years as a band, Silverada, formerly known as Mike and the Moonpies, still love the game. They’re playing dates all over the country this summer and fall. By now, the theater and dancehall circuit is a well-worn track. They know the crowds, they know the songs that will get them riled up, the songs that will bring it back down and they know what bars to party at after the encore. “We do the hottest 90 minutes in country music,” frontman Mike Harmeier chuckled during a call with Bandwagon. Earlier this year, the band changed its name and released a new album as Silverada. The 10-track LP may be the band’s most ambitious project yet. It draws from divergent lineages of Americana, in one moment invoking the Allman Brothers and, in the next, outlaw country. At this point the band has a hit list of fan favorites to run through at shows. Yet, they regularly find themselves bumping old tunes out to make room for the tracks on Silverada. And people love it.

“We do pretty much every song on the record in the show now,” Harmeier said. “We have a rabid, kind of cultish, fan base. No matter what, they just like us as a band. It gives us the freedom to explore.” This month, Silverada will return to Denver, a city they’ve been gigging at for more than a decade. Once upon a time, they were regulars at the Hi-Dive. Now, they’ve moved on to bigger rooms — they will play the Oriental Theater on Sep. 22. Harmeier never knew he was going to be a rock star, but he always knew he was going to try. He dedicated himself to music at 10 years old and never wavered. “I’ve done odd jobs, but I’ve never really had a real job other than this,” he told Bandwagon. “It started as a kid for me. I was just infatuated with music, and I’ve been chasing the lifestyle ever since.” His earliest influences came to him over the airwaves of late ‘80s/ early ‘90s Texas country radio — George Strait, Clint Black and Randy Travis. As he gained skill on the guitar, he found himself gravitating toward classic rock and blues. That rich vein carried him into his early 20s, when he found work as a session player for blues bands in Austin. In 2007, Harmeier got the itch to make an album. A collection of country ballads had been living in his head for years, and he needed

to get them out. He gathered friends and acquaintances to back him in the studio — a group that went on to become the Moonpies and now Silverada. In addition to Harmeier, Silverada includes drummer Taylor Englert, guitarist Catlin Rutherford, bassist Omar Oyoque and steel guitarist Zachary Moulton. The quintet has been together for so long, they’re family. And, even after 17 years, they’re not tired of each other. After a long stretch of tour dates, they’ll vacation together — usually a big, families-included trip to a lake house. “It’s just a non-stressful way to keep hanging out,” Harmeier said. From the beginning, Harmeier found bandmates with his same, unique attitude. Music was never a side hustle, nor was it a pipe dream. It was everything. “We’re all lifers,” he said. “There’s nowhere else to go. This is what we’re doing.” It’s this attitude that has carried them through nearly two decades of breakneck touring (and partying) together. And it’s paying off. Silverada, the album, showcases a band with a deep mastery over the country form. The songs are earworms that touch on familiar sounds and themes with an added layer of unbridled creativity.

“I hate the way I play the blues. One four five with a minor two,” Harmeier sings on the opening track “Radio Wave.” It’s how I learned to tie my shoes and color inside the lines.” "Radio Wave" is a perfect country anthem about wandering around the rural American west. It’s sure to please a crowd, but before the listener gets too comfortable, Silverada follows it up by coloring outside the lines — just a bit. “Anywhere but Here” covers some of the same material thematically, but it takes a left turn into a wild Allman Brothers-esque jam. It’s a chance for the band to show its formidable chops — built from nearly two decades on the road. When Harmeier sings “I’m still livin’ on a two-lane road that takes me anywhere I want to go,” he means it. They might have kids and a lake house, but the members of Silverada will always be a hard-touring band at heart. The kind of band that can’t resist an encore. The type of band that invites a fan onto the tour bus if they’re feeling friendly and they’ve got a bottle of liquor. The type of band that makes a home wherever they go.

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WILLI CARLISLE

BRINGS FOLK TO LIFE WITH INTIMATE SHOWS IN COLORADO BY SAWYER MATZ

PHOTO: JACKIE CLARKSON

illi Carlisle’s music is not just performed—it’s lived. Combining old-time folk traditions with theatrical storytelling, Carlisle brings audiences into a world where raw emotion meets modern resonance. Colorado welcomed the gleaming Willi Carlisle for a recent threeshow run. Carlisle and his band of eccentrics, supported by the Dublin-based group DUG, played the Belly Up in Aspen on October 17, Denver’s Globe Hall on October 18, and made a final stop at Fort Collins’ Cloverlick Banjo Shop on October 19. I had the pleasure of attending the Denver and Fort Collins performances. This is not the first time Willi played in Colorado in 2024. He graced the Planet Bluegrass grounds in August, making a solo appearance at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. Lorkin O’Reilly and Jonny Pickett, or DUG, joined Carlisle on their first North American tour. Carlisle kicked off this tour after the 2024 release of his record, Critterland. This magnum opus of an album is a small museum of hymns, poems, balladics, and tragedies, a relic of folk art. Carlisle crushed this tour, but not without the help of his high-voltage band: Grady Drugg on guitar, or as Willi called it, the “guit-fiddle,” Joey Berglund on stand-up bass, and Sophie Wellington on fiddle and tap. Willi, the well-versed craftsman, rotated between slapsticks, banjo, guitar, fiddle, concertina, and harmonica. Sophie was a ball of energy, always jumping, jigging, and grinning, second-hand exhaustion attending the show here. DUG, ferrying a steel gui-

tar and a banjo, was an exemplary prelude. This entourage clashed together to create the perfect storm that is a Willi Carlisle concert. “I love my job. I love doing this. It’s my life’s work. If it grows, good. If it doesn’t, I don’t think that I’ll feel like I’ve done it badly. Shrinking might mean that you could say something to a smaller audience in a more detailed way. Growing might mean that you could reach out.” Willi swept us up in mammoth arms and drew us in close. He harnessed the inferno of a centuries-old flame and catapulted it into the core of every fortunate mortal fauna in the audience, critters included, setting it ablaze, stoking, extinguishing, and tending to it as his mythos saw fit; defining himself as a soulful, well-intentioned arsonist. Willi’s stage presence opened a Pandora’s box of personality. With hips on a gyroscope and heart in a voice box, Carlisle unleashed his poise. If you’ve felt the ardent of love, the agony of heartbreak, the slash of a late loved one, or the exhilaration of being, you may begin to understand what it’s like to see a Willi Carlisle production. “When writing songs, you’re looking for a unique perspective on one of them (aspect of human condition). So if you get an angle, you’re lucky. Especially if that angle is linguistic… slippery territory between what you say and what you mean… my filter is language, that language is imperfect, me as an artist, I wouldn’t pick one.” Carlisle’s concerts are a full-fledged theatrical experience. He yanks at heartstrings and strikes movement in your limbs, an emotional puppeteer. Willi steps on stage toting a beer (whiskey in Fort Collins) and a Leatherface-esque mask. He spewed his tastefully written and politically fueled opening lines in a grumble, setting a precedent for the remaining hours. The band crept out, concealed by beautifully-flawed critter masks. The crowd prepares. “I just don’t want to be in any club that would have me as a member… One of the reasons I like old-time music is that it takes a lot of that stuff (referring to punk music) and cleans it up while keeping a lot of the dirt.” Globe Hall was a fantastic place to host this maven. The togetherness a small venue provides is unmatched, a spot-on place for live folk. The bar attached to the venue allowed for the coterie to mingle before standing shoulder to shoulder to experience the night. Willi’s wavelength of highs and lows translated exceptionally well. “I have seen enough stadium shows to believe that it is difficult to transfer the human spirit at a distance. I believe in intimacy. I love this level. I love the mid-range. I love a human scale.” The Fort Collins show was held in the backyard of a family’s residence, also home to Cloverlick Banjo Shop, a mecca of tightknit places to experience sound. Situated

on this lovely property sat a small wooden stage, adorned with antique decor. In the apron of the stage sat log benches, a halfpipe, a tree fort, and an unparalleled sense of community. If you find yourself in Fort Collins, and you’re in the market for a banjo or a good time, pay them a visit. Willi’s showmanship made the audience feel like they were sitting around a campfire with lifelong friends. Perfectly enough, there were three, burning throughout the night. “I want folk music personally to be a connective fiber between us and previous liberatory, even mentally liberatory movements, that have existed.” While each song performed was a feather in his cap, one stuck out like a black sheep: “Two-Headed Lamb” left the crowd in calamitous awe. A beautifully tragic song based on the poem Two-Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin. Theatrically, Marshall Tinnermeier, tour manager, disguised in a sheep mask, approached the stage with a wooden and illuminated story scroll. As each somber note progressed, the scroll’s account followed, displaying painted images and lyrics tied to the song. Though melancholic, it still struck a warm feeling; in Willi’s words, “Sad songs make me happy.” “The reason that I’m not a poet primarily anymore is because I didn’t like the lack of singing… So I want to sing now. But I loved writing poems. I keep returning to it over and over again.” Another undaunted sequence was Willi’s execution of “The Money Grows on Trees.” A seven-minute tale, loosely based in fact, of an Ozark drug runner and his associations with the law. Willi sends the band away, standing proudly alone. Seven minutes spent raising his arms in heroic fury and throwing his air confidently. Saliva being tossed onto the closest onlookers, fists crashing through the air like a morally potent dictator, the fable rendered into the kernel of the openeared. To hear it told live was something else entirely. “I like to do stuff that’s crazy like that. I like to demand that it exists… An epic is one of the things that folk music still gets to do. I think it’s a good warrior in a fight for our attention span.” Musical genres grow and adapt with the times; folk is not immune to this. Carlisle does an exceptional job at balancing tradition and modernity in his projects. He is a tried and true musician, bard, and performer; a bonafide prodigy. Willi gave a speech during the show about how, at a young age, he was mad because he felt the world owed him something. In contrast to now, he’s mad because he feels he owes something to the world. Keep cool, Willi. You are paying that debt. “Why imitate somebody from 10 years ago or 5 years ago or 2 years ago? Why not imitate somebody from 100 years ago? It’s the age of total digital and mechanical reproduction, the whole world’s at our fingertips. Why not get lost?”

PHOTO: MADISON HURLEY

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