Logan-based band launches album
Logan-based band Little Barefoot will play an album release concert in the USU Performance Hall on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
The album, titled “A Hundred Different People (part one)” will include six tracks, but band member Taylor Wilson said they plan to release an expanded version in the future. Wilson said he realizes many people don’t pay for music, so the album release is more about sharing the music and building a following than selling records.
“I’d rather have people have the music for free and enjoy it and come show their support in other ways,” said Wilson, who co-writes much of the band’s music.
The album will include art, a poster and other extras to make it appeal to fans who wouldn’t have to pay for the music alone, Wilson said.
Though they’re not charging admission for the concert, the band will sell the new album and other merchandise.
The album will be released on Lucidity, a Logan-based label. Drummer Ben Wilson and bassist Dillan Stracke, who play with Little Barefoot, started the label. Wilson said he started Lucidity in response to label offers he received as part of another band, Racoon Dog.
“They turned out to be really sketchy, and everyone was in it to benefit themselves,” Ben Wilson said. “So instead we decided to start our own label, where we have full control.”
Ben Wilson said Lucidity puts the success of the bands over the success of the label. He said three bands have worked with Lucidity so far, including Racoon Dog, Mountain Woman and Little Barefoot.
Stracke said he enjoys his work with Little Barefoot because it’s more about creative vision than financial success.
“My goal is just to get people away from mainstream, Justin Bieber pop,” Stracke said.
Band member Alex Van Oene said Little Barefoot has been described as experimental folk or new-wave ’80s. Van Oene said when a radio producer described the band as new-wave ’80s, he was surprised. He couldn’t see the band’s connection with the popular music of the time, but eventually it made more sense.
“I started listening to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Bob Dylan and those kind of ’80s revival bands and that kind of style of writing,” Van Oene said. “I feel like we embody that.”
Though college bands often break up because members move away, Taylor Wilson said he expects band members will continue playing together for years.
Natalie Beck, a founding member of Little Barefoot, plans on leaving Logan later this month to teach English in Korea, Wilson said.
“There’s still a spot in the band when she gets back,” Wilson said. “She’s still going to be listed as a member because she helped start the band.”
Ben Wilson said even if the band members moved to different states, the band could keep playing together.
“(Taylor Wilson) could write a song and record a guitar part, and he can send me the file and I can mix the file, put drums over it, send it back and he can put singing on top,” Ben Wison said. “We can sit here and have a practice for a whole week and not even see each other and be in completely different states. As far as people moving away, I don’t think that’s ever a big deal.”
Though the band is promoting their music through online track releases and tours, Taylor Wilson said their motive isn’t money.
“It’s just all about the music,” Taylor Wilson said. “I feel like that’s cheesy to say. I don’t think anyone gets to the end of their life and says, ‘I wish I had never played music.'”
– steve.kent@aggiemail.usu.edu