Wallows looks forward to sing along with Pinoy fans in 2023 show

MANILA, Philippines — The American band Wallows will commence its Tell Me That It’s Over Tour Asia 2023 in the Philippines on Feb. 15. The Los Angeles-based trio, composed of vocalist-guitarists Braeden Lemasters and Dylan Minnette, and drummer-guitarist Cole Preston, is expected to treat local music enthusiasts to an eclectic, well-rounded song line-up. That speaks about the kind of sonic exploration and experimentation the indie alternative, rock and pop group has endeavored in the past five years.

Their Pinoy fans are definitely eager to troop to the New Frontier Theater and hear for themselves live their go-to soundtracks from the group’s EPs as well as debut and sophomore albums Nothing Happens and Tell Me That It’s Over.

“I’m probably most excited about the surprise of what would it be like,” answered Braeden when asked about the experience of performing before fans abroad in a brief virtual interview, also graced by fellow artists Dylan and Cole, with The STAR. “I’m excited about what I hear about the crowds in these places like how they’re energetic and they can sing very loud and I’m always very curious to see how that translates. And I’m really excited to see who shows up and whoever shows up, we’ll have a great time.”

After doing a series of sold-out shows in North America and countries like Australia and New Zealand, Wallows will finally meet in person their fans over here and Braeden believes it’s going to be a “pretty amazing” experience. “We’ve played a lot of shows in the US and you know in some other places. Some people have seen us multiple times… but the idea that it’s (meeting) a whole new group of people is pretty amazing and that’s very exciting.”

The level of excitement is different from musical activities like recording and jamming sessions and performing in another platform.

“When you’re recording a song, you imagine what would it be like live, but yeah, it’s really a special feeling when you see it translated for the first time,” said Dylan, who has acted in films and TV series, like the Netflix drama series, 13 Reasons Why.

Prior to its Asian tour, which includes stops in Singapore, Bangkok (Thailand), Seoul (Korea) and Tokyo (Japan), Wallows will perform in musical venues around the UK and Europe in January. Wallows’ first-ever concert in Manila will, in some way, make the boys and their fans walk down memory lane, look back on the band’s musical journey and reflect on their artistic progression.

“We’ve experimented with different like sonic textures and whatnot. And I think we’re still very much like the same band. I think we’ve gotten a bit wiser and a bit, I think, brave(r) and more self-aware. I think we’re just naturally growing and we’re getting older with it. It’s coming clearer and clearer to us though, but we never wanna lose that spontaneity and like sort of endearing, like naïve energy kind of quality that we had when we started.

“Just maintaining that sort of excitement and making sure that there’s always liking what we’re doing and knowing why we’re doing what we’re doing. But I think like, yeah, we’ve experimented more to just put out a lot of music.”

That mindset for experimentation (and innovation) as well as the innate creativity have made Wallows inspired and prolific in churning out songs.

“I think we’re still the same band overall,” added Dylan. In relation to that, by following his line of thinking, one could say that they can play their first single Pleaser and some of the new songs back-to-back and figure out what people want, but they know where they want go to as a group.

During the interview, the Wallows guys also gave one a peek into their process as creatives.

“I would say it’s basically just one of us has an idea and we work on the idea,” recalled Braeden of how he, Dylan and Cole come together in creating songs and melodies. “The creative process is usually just waiting for some sort of inspiration of some kind and just making something up on the spot. That’s probably fairly common to a lot of people, but you just play whatever you play and you maybe have a basic idea you want to sound like and then, you work on it. It’s pretty cool.”

As for what fans can look forward to come showtime, Cole said, “Just our plan for the show is we’re well-aware of the fact that we’ve never played in Manila or in the Philippines or Asia for that matter. So, like what we’ve said earlier, we’ll be playing for people (there) for the first time and I’m sure there are people who (have become) a fan of us for the long time (present throughout) the show.”

“So, (it’s) finding the right balance of all the new songs and just putting the right set and making sure we play the songs that people wanna hear,” he added.

If that’s the case, the repertoire will include Pleaser, the double-platinum Are You Bored Yet?, At the End of the Day, Especially You, I Don’t Want to Talk and Marvelous. The last four songs belong to Wallows’ latest album, which, according to the piece of information given to this paper, is a continuation of its “sonic exploration with influences from lo-fi post-punk to indie-folk to early-‘90s dance-pop psychedelia.”

Cole shared that they looked at the Internet and the purpose was for Wallows to know what people want to hear. He added that they will play older and new songs, crowd favorites and Wallows popular tunes that will form a well-rounded set, as Cole put it.

Since it is a live performance, the band’s following will enjoy every bit of the show and the energy Wallows is about to unleash as it might try to capture perhaps the triumphant feelings when it recorded every song. Wallows is simply ready to play music to everyone’s delight.

The Wallows’ Tell Me That It’s Over Manila show is promoted by AEG Presents Asia and Ovation Productions. Tickets are priced at P3,550 and on sale via ovationtickets.com and ticketnet.com.ph.