• About
  • Calendar
  • Artists
    • Submit Your Event
  • Venues
  • Blog
  • Media Coverage

Monthly Archives: November 2020

Wanda

Wanda – Huntsville’s Accessible Yet Unattainable Frontwoman

November 18, 2020 by Grace Treutel
Artists, Culture, Live Music, Musicians
alabama, gold sprint, huntsville, huntsville al, huntsville al live music, huntsville alabama, huntsville amphitheater, huntsville live music, huntsville music, live music huntsville al, live music huntsville alabama, music venue, outdoor event, outdoor venue, venue, wanda, wanda band, wanda wesolowski, wandaband

Wanda Wesolowski, frontwoman of eponymously named Wanda band, is the queer girl-next-door you wish you had and the latest musical artist to have Huntsville’s ears perking up.

At just 25 years old, the 256 native has recently dominated the Huntsville music scene with the release of her debut album, One-Hit Wanda, a self-explanatory double entendre. She and her band – comprised of guitarist Jasen Tehan, keyboardist Bransen Edwards, drummer Nick Recio, and bassist Andrew Sharpe – got together in 2019, though Wanda has been gigging around Huntsville solo for the last ten years.

She got her start playing wherever she could – Bridgetreet, Diaper Drives, Panoply – and was well-received by her hometown.

So what made her form the Wanda band instead of just continuing on as Wanda?

“Story goes, Jasen comes to me after one of my concerts in the park and says, ‘your music’s really good, I can hear a bigger sound. You should really have a full-time band.’ I said whatever, but he came in to see me regularly after that. He’d show me a new guitar, he’d ask me to come play. He told me about Nick and Bransen. When I finally went, we had such a blast and we played so well together. And here we are.”

Wanda - Rehearsal
Wanda - Rehearsal 2

This persistent appreciation and admiration her bandmates have for Wanda is evident the moment I step into their rehearsal space. It’s Jasen’s place and you can tell – the walls are covered with guitars of every different make and color.

“He has over fifty,” Andrew tells me with clear pride and affection, a hallmark of the genuine friendship between the bandmates.

The atmosphere is loose and perfumed with sweet-smelling smoke. Everyone mills about, talking and laughing with each other. But they all speak to Wanda with a particular affection and deference, making it clear she’s the leader of the pack. And it’s easy to see why.

There is something undeniably accessible about Wanda – she carries herself with a humble confidence and smiles easily, greeting me as if I’m a longtime friend instead of a stranger she’s meeting for the first time. Complementing this warmth is a dreamy quality about her that feels just out of reach, as if she moves through a self-created space that’s by invitation only. It’s the entire combination that makes you want that invitation so badly.

She tunes her guitar, glancing up at me occasionally, always smiling, and explains her new album.

“It’s abstract and weird. It goes from genre to genre. There’s a song for everyone. If you don’t like one, you’ll probably like another one.”

Her favorite song on the album is Virginia is for Lovers, a sweet, earnest song about romance, but she recognizes that most people are really digging Lazy Susan. I tell her my favorite is The Slaughter and she indulges me with the story behind it.

WANDA REHEARSES THE SONG SIMULATION OFF THEIR NEW ALBULM.
WANDA PLAYS THE CURE’S JUST LIKE HEAVEN.

“The Slaughter was actually written – it’s a little bit of a story [about heartbreak] where I turned on my voice memos, started strumming out that A minor chord, and went on a tangent of lyrics. I listened to it, took the best verses, and turned it into a song.”

This depth of feeling and honesty in her music is something she’s always valued, though it has taken her until recently to go about finding it the right way.

“When I was doing the brooding singer-songwriter thing, the solo artist, I was definitely feeding into a stereotype. You know, you’re young and naïve and you just do what you see your heroes do and you listen to songs like When I Drink by the Avett Brothers at 17 and you’re like, ‘yeah, that’s gonna be me.’”

In what sense?

“I was definitely a raging alcoholic. A lot of the places downtown give you free beer when you play, and I’d take advantage of that. In a very big way, I did that on purpose. I purposefully chose to go too deep in. And then I realized it’s not going to help me in the long run; I have to get sober. I kind of screwed up an American Idol audition. I actually talked about that [in a different interview] but they didn’t include that I got sober, so make sure to include that.”

I ask if her sobriety is a point of pride for her.

“I’m cool with talking about it because I think a lot of people think alcoholics look a certain way. And they can be anyone. I also want to feel… I want more people to realize that getting sober is a really great decision. If you think you have a problem, just give it up. For like, 30 days. Just to see how much better you feel. My reflexes got better; I was playing more, even my bass player told me I played better. And then I started the band and it was, in a way, the new addiction. Like, okay, time to hustle because if you work hard you will achieve your dreams. And I was doing that crazy thing that entrepreneurs do where it’s like, ‘if you set yourself up for success, you will find it.’”

Wanda is a subscriber to the ideology that if you manifest it, it will come – but with a healthy dose of hard work on the side.

“Manifesting things is something I really believe in. I was listening to Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes – I was driving to Green Hill [to record our debut album] and I was thinking, ‘I love these vibes, I wish we could have these vibes on our album.’ And then we’re like… four hours into this session and we’re playing Talking to Yourself and Jay, our producer, is like ‘hang on, I hear something.’ And he pulls out this big Nord piano and he says, ‘this is the same sample they used on Sound and Color.’ And I was like, ‘let’s make it happen.’”

I make note of her rainbow guitar strap, tripping over my own words in my nerves as I confess that I’m a queer woman, too, but not out. Wanda’s response is instant:

“I suggest anyone be out in Huntsville.”

When I sheepishly explain that I’m bisexual and unsure if it counts, Wanda, in keeping with her ‘accept everyone’ ethos, scoffs and empathizes: “People wanna invalidate that shit. I don’t. I hate that.”

Wanda is open about her own sexuality, candid as she strums the opening notes for Lazy Susan on her guitar.

Wanda
Wanda - The Show
Wanda - The Show 2

“This [entire album] is gay heartache in a nutshell. The longing, the yearning, the struggle with self-acceptance and self-love. People being fickle because they can’t accept themselves; their grief and joys. It’s the coming out process. The whole album is my coming out process, in a way. Every song on the album is about some woman I’ve loved in the past five years.”

I ask her how, exactly, she writes her songs, since she wrote all the music on One-Hit.

“You just play what you know. I’ve been songwriting since I was 16. Hopefully for our next album we’ll write all our songs together.”

Will they stay in Huntsville to do it?

“Huntsville is a great place for artists to live because there’s a pretty high quality of life for a pretty decent price. And I see it growing. I’ve seen slow growth – a lot of sideways and a little pivot, but moving forward. I think that Huntsville’s a place where a lot of people have invested in me and I owe it to Huntsville to stay here. I will make my home base here. I’ll stay as ‘from Huntsville.’”

Her influences become clear as the band begins to rehearse: the Alabama Shakes, Gregg Alexander of the New Radicals, the Beatles. They’re rehearsing specifically for their album release show at Gold Sprint Coffee, one of Wanda’s favorite places in Huntsville.

It’s a high energy rehearsal and I watch the way her bandmates all move as she moves, responding to her cues and watching her for instruction. They pause intermittently to tune a guitar, to laugh, to tease one another. All the while Wanda encapsulates that same air of easy, unaffected charisma, a comfortability in her own skin that makes you both want her and want to be her.

During a break, I ask Jasen if they’re all best friends.

“Yeah,” he says, grinning. “I guess so.”

“We go to brunch every Sunday,” Wanda says and Bransen nods as he walks by. “As a band, we’ve sampled every single brunch in Huntsville. We think the best one is Shagnasty’s. Make sure that gets in [to the article].”

When I suggest band friendship bracelets, Wanda laughs and enthusiastically agrees. It’s how the Wanda band seems to do everything – with laughter and enthusiasm. After all, as their van promises, ‘it’s a whole lot of fun.’

At their album release show at Gold Sprint later that week, this laughter and enthusiasm is infectious. It’s a socially distant, masked, inside-outside show with mandatory temperature checks at the door. Even despite these regulations, the show goers are in high spirits.

Them Damn Dogs, another local band, is the opening act, and Wanda is masked at the front of the audience, dancing harder and singing louder than anyone else. The musical community loves her hard and she loves it hard right back, as evidenced when she finally takes the stage and thanks everyone profusely not only for coming but for coming and being safe.

The show is a hazy, technicolor daydream complete with fog machine and most of the crowd singing along, having already memorized the lyrics after just one day of the album being released. Wanda is in a white jumpsuit and her bandmates are in matching navy jumpsuits – “We love Dickies!” she exclaims to cheers from the crowd, playing the opening notes for The Cure’s Just Like Heaven.

When I ask her afterward how the show went, she can’t temper her smile.

“I was really pleased with the turnout. I wasn’t too overwhelmed, and it seemed to be a really respectful crowd. Everyone got temperature checked at the door which I think mentally puts you in a different place.”

Wanda Live from Gold Sprint Coffee Playing Lazy Susan.

And the reception to the album?

“Oh, gosh. I’m overwhelmed with the amount of positive feedback that I’ve gotten. A lot of people told me they’ve been listening to it nonstop. I don’t know if they’re being hyperbolic but either way it’s a super great compliment.”

I reassure her it isn’t hyperbole – I’ve fallen victim to the Wanda bug, unable to stop listening to One-Hit on repeat. She laughs, audibly embarrassed by the compliment but still pleased.

“I’m hoping that it can stick. I’m hoping that it can be in someone’s regular rotation. I’m already thrilled – to me, I’ve already accomplished what I set out to do.”

And what she set out to do was make an album.

“That was the point. Because without it, I’m just a musician in Huntsville and you can only hear my music by catching my shows. Now, I actually have a real album, a real product. I can show people my band and what we sound like – and that was the goal. Just to have the product in hand and be able to share it with everybody.”

Her songs are all about real, relatable topics, mostly matters of the heart, and in listening to her album, it’s easy to apply her artfully crafted lyrics to your own personal experiences.

“That is honestly the greatest compliment you could ever give a writer. It’s one thing to be a songwriter that wants to tell everybody how they wrote the song, why they wrote the song, when they wrote the song, but to just release the song and just let everyone else tell you what it means… it’s just so much more special.”

And at HuntsvilleMusic.com, we think ‘special’ is the perfect way to describe Wanda and her Wanda band.

Wanda - One Hit Wanda

To stream One-Hit Wanda, check it out on Spotify. To grab Wanda merch and stay plugged in to what the band is up to, visit their website at www.wandaband.com and follow them on Instagram @wandaband.

Grace Headshot
Grace Treutel

Grace is the Content Director of HuntsvilleMusic.com and lives in Madison, AL, which really isn’t that far, guys.


Got ideas on how we can help build Huntsville’s music scene? We’re all ears. Send me an EMAIL with any questions, comments, or suggestions, and  SiGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER for important updates. Don’t worry – we won’t overload you. Important stuff only, promise.

huntsvillemusic.com/
4 Things Header

4 Things We’re Thankful For

November 11, 2020 by Alex Hendrix
Culture, Live Music, News
alabama, alabama amphitheater, amphitheater, huntsville, huntsville al, huntsville al live music, huntsville alabama, huntsville amphitheater, huntsville live music, huntsville music, live music huntsville al, live music huntsville alabama, music venue, outdoor event, outdoor venue, venue

‘Tis the season to count your blessings and not your calories, at least that’s what we tell ourselves as we reach for one more Good Company pastry.

2020 has been a wild one, but we’re here to say that it hasn’t been all bad. Even in the bleakest of times, we’ve found some key things to be thankful for, from quirky new jams to multi-million dollar developments.

Forward Motion

We are thankful for…forward motion

While so many cities have come to screeching halt amid the uncertainty of pandemic life, Huntsville has continued to gain momentum. The Rocket City has taken the time to innovate and reimagine, and because of that we are seeing live music return with safety measures in place. From Mars Music Hall’s local series to Humphrey’s patio shows, Huntsville venues are bringing your favorite Huntsville faces back to the stage for live performances all across town.

But we’re not just returning to the typical — we’re also making moves. And excitement for a big move, the Huntsville Amphitheater, is palpable.

At the start of the pandemic, the fate of the amphitheater, a large-scale project, seemed to be up in the air. But we’re happy to report that Huntsville’s amphitheater-slash-park-slash-community-mecca is right on track for a 2022 opening and slated to give 8,000 music lovers perfect acoustics and uninterrupted views.

We are thankful for…new tunes

Many artists have taken time during quarantine to perfect a plan for releasing new music, and we are loving the additions to our playlists. In the last few weeks alone we’ve been graced with Live Local alum Preston Watts’ long-awaited release, Distractions from the Truth, a new single from beloved duo The Beasley Brothers, and a full-length album from Huntsville transplant Andrew Loehr.

Plus, there’s even more to come in November. WANDA is releasing their debut record this month, with first single Lazy Susan already out and garnering rave reviews. Fans are encouraged to pre-order now and celebrate the milestone release of their album, One-Hit, this Saturday, November 14th at Gold Sprint for their release show.

Preston Watts
Wanda - One Hit Wonder
Andrew Loehr
New Tunes
Lines
Tireless Supporters
Lines

We are thankful for… tireless supporters:

It would be impossible to have a collaborative music effort in Huntsville without the constant support of community members who work tirelessly to build up musicians and venues. These busy hands are often working long hours behind the scenes with very little personal payoff.

Judy Allison

Huntsville locals like Judy Allison, Huntsville Music Board member and Founder of Purple19, which hosts Music Biz Mondays, education for musicians on how to navigate the music scene and SheWrites, a songwriter showcase for female writers.

Tim Miller

We also want to mention our friend Tim Miller, who has been busy promoting local artists on his podcast In Tune with T-Mill and has spearheaded many community projects during 2020.

Mario Maitland

And of course, Mario Maitland, who founded Maitland Conservatory to ensure the future of musicians themselves, helping children pursue their dreams and passions while also cultivating a knowledge and education that assists them in actually achieving their goals.

Of course, Huntsville has many more faces that deserve a full-blown Beaches moment where we sing Wind Beneath My Wings as the sun sets, though this article would go way off the rails if we tried to fit them all into it. Please know that we see you and we are thankful for you.

Deserved Recognition

We are thankful for… deserved recognition:

It’s no small feat to carve out a place for the Arts in a city built on science and technology, which is why it feels like a massive victory to be acknowledged. This is why we are overjoyed that Huntsville just won the national Scout Guide Campaign’s Top Artistic City.

We were placed in this category alongside major locations such as New Orleans, Memphis,  and Richmond, so earning the top spot is something that should not be taken lightly. This further proves that Rocket City is on the rise, quickly becoming a destination for arts and music lovers as well as artists and musicians themselves.

And lastly and most importantly, we are thankful for you. For all of you who have embraced us and joined our mission to bring Huntsville music to the forefront. Thank you, from our weird family to yours.

Alex Hendrix
Alex Hendrix

Alex is a native Huntsvillian and a singer/songwriter, culture promoter, and content creator.


Got ideas on how we can help build Huntsville’s music scene? We’re all ears. Send us an EMAIL with any questions, comments, or suggestions, and  SiGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER for important updates. Don’t worry – we won’t overload you. Important stuff only, promise.

info@alexhendrix.co
The Venue Group - Amphitheater

Amphitheater To Be Huntsville’s Newest Park

November 4, 2020 by Grace Treutel
Culture, Live Music, News
alabama, alabama amphitheater, amphitheater, huntsville, huntsville al, huntsville al live music, huntsville alabama, huntsville amphitheater, huntsville live music, huntsville music, live music huntsville al, live music huntsville alabama, music venue, outdoor event, outdoor venue, venue

Huntsville’s newest park is set to open its doors in 2022 — and by park, we mean amphitheater.

Ryan Murphy, President of Huntsville Venue Group and the mastermind behind the amphitheater, met with HuntsvilleMusic.com to fill us in on the big things ahead for Huntsville’s amphitheater. It’s a project that’s been two years in the making and which, as of October 2020, has been officially greenlit by Huntsville city.

“It’s going to look like nothing you’ve seen before,” Ryan promises, his excitement contagious.

The amphitheater will be a Romanesque marvel designed to hold 8,000 to 8,500 showgoers with not a single bad seat in the house. The design is intentional; the inside will be a bowl created to ‘hug in the sound,’ ensuring that everyone in attendance will be able to hear the live music regardless of seat.

“We’re lifting [audience members] up and bringing them in as tight as possible. The artist/fan experience is just mind-blowing at that point. Even in the worst seat in the house, you’re seeing the whites of the performers’ eyes.

 

And those ‘worst seats’ will be made all the better since the higher you climb in the amphitheater’s bowl, the better your view will be of Huntsville’s breathtaking skyline and sunsets.

But it isn’t just Huntsville locals Ryan and his team plan on attracting with the amphitheater. The plan is to draw in big-name performers and eventually host festivals and other events that turn the amphitheater into what Ryan refers to as a “pilgrimage spot,” further cementing Huntsville as a Music City in its own right.

“When Sound Diplomacy was here researching the idea of an amphitheater for the sound audit, my partners flew down and suggested creating an amphitheater that wouldn’t be just one of many but would be the one. The only one like it.”

Ryan Murphy - The Venue Group

Currently, the amphitheater is set to begin construction in 2021 with a projected completion date of January 2022. Its open-air structure means it will be a viable venue for socially distant events and allow for safe event-going in the current climate. The first concert won’t be for several months after construction is complete, but Ryan doesn’t plan on waiting until then to open the doors.

“By February and March [of 2022], ideally we’re doing community events. I am very much a proponent of opening this place up and literally anyone who wants to see it – wants to walk around, check it out – you’ll have a couple months to have done that before the first major concert. I wanna open this place and people go, ‘hey, I might not ever buy a ticket to see a concert there, but I can walk through and go grab a sandwich, a beer, I can go have a picnic, I can go do yoga, I can run the stairs.’”

Amphitheater Blue Print 1
Amphitheater Blue Print 2
These are the blueprints that decorate the office of The Venue Group.
Amphitheater Blue Print 3

 

Ryan’s list of amphitheater activities outside of shows isn’t merely hypothetical; all of these suggestions are rooted in experience. After all, this isn’t the first amphitheater he’s conceptualized and reinvented.

Ryan spent the last decade bringing the St. Augustine Amphitheater – colloquially and affectionately known as The Amp – into a new golden age. Along with booking star-power performers like Stevie Nicks, Steely Dan, and Santana, Ryan introduced community-minded initiatives like farmer’s markets, art shows, and smaller-scale concerts by local artists. It’s this vision he plans on iterating here in Huntsville.

“At St. Augustine, I’d get to work at 7:30 and there’d be people doing yoga in the pit. On any given day, there may be a farmer’s market, there’d be bands, there’s stuff for kids. There’d always be something going on to where you could go and not spend a dollar and still have a full day of fun.”

My question: “So… it’s like a park?’

Ryan Murphy - The Venue Group

 

“It is, yeah. It’s entirely for Huntsville, by Huntsville. We want to really drive home that point – that this is yours. Granted, we’ll still have ticketed events with awesome artists playing, but on any given day, if there’s not a concert, these gates are wide open.”

But it won’t only be big names performing in the 8,000-capacity venue. When asked about other, smaller bands and local acts, Ryan was enthusiastic about involving and showcasing this talent, too.

“We’ll have smaller bands play, too – we’ll get creative.”

Ryan draws inspiration from well-known, community-embracing venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and Forest Hills Stadium in New York, both of which encourage community involvement and have famously expanded beyond the traditional understanding of a music venue. He believes that with the right mindset and the right community, the Huntsville Amphitheater can be counted among these ranks.

The amphitheater will be located in the MidCity district, tucked into the greenway to enhance the park-going experience. It will attract shows across all genres and be home to future festivals, art installations, farmers markets, and more. To stay up to date on the amphitheater’s progress, visit huntsvilleamphitheater.com and sign up for their mailing list, or follow them on social media @huntsvilleamphitheater.

Ryan’s promise to the community (and beyond) is simple: “On any given day, there’s going to be something.”

And we at HuntsvilleMusic.com cannot wait to go.

Ryan Murphy talks about the future plans for park.
Ryan Murphy talks about the orientation of the amphitheater.
Watch Know Huntsville’s interview with Ryan Murphy.
Grace Headshot
Grace Treutel

Grace is the Content Director of HuntsvilleMusic.com and lives in Madison, AL, which really isn’t that far, guys.


Got ideas on how we can help build Huntsville’s music scene? We’re all ears. Send me an EMAIL with any questions, comments, or suggestions, and  SiGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER for important updates. Don’t worry – we won’t overload you. Important stuff only, promise.

huntsvillemusic.com/

Copyright © 2020 - Huntsville Music.com powered Know Huntsville