When: Saturday
Show: 9 p.m., Doors: 8 p.m.
Where: The Blue Note
California Wives love college towns. The indie band has been traveling the country and visiting a new city every night with Diamond Rings and Stars, but it’s places like Boston — America’s ultimate college town — that have been some of the most memorable.
It’s been the band’s biggest tour outside of some two-week tours, drummer Joe O’Connor says. And this Saturday, California Wives will bring their ’90s-esque wailing guitar and booming drum beat to Columbia. O’Connor says he thinks the college town shows are incredible, refreshed by seeing that young people don’t fear looking uncool and are so into his music.
“The fans have been really supportive, and we’re incredibly enthusiastic that they like our music,” says Jayson Kramer, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist. “To get excited about art is incredibly important to me. I’ve been making music in my room for so long, and now I get to share it with people.”
Formed in 2009 in Chicago, California Wives released the LP _Art History_ in September through Vagrant Records. Their track “Blood Red Youth” premiered with Rolling Stone, and their video for “Purple” debuted at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
“We’re thankful for the exposure,” Kramer says. “We want to propel the music. You never know what happens when you put it on that website. Either people like it, or they don’t.”
Kramer says he loved music from a young age but only recently started pursuing it as a career.
“This band completely changed my life,” he says. “My plan was to be in sciences, the medical field. But I’ve been playing music since I was six. It wasn’t something I could run from. I don’t know where I would be if I had. Not enjoying life as much.”
California Wives have never toured in Columbia before, but they say they’re looking forward to the stop because they’ve had good experiences in St. Louis.
“We hope to build our following just by going out there and playing,” O’Connor says. “It took us about a year to figure out our direction. Our sound was good when we played it. That’s kind of how we got here.”
According to the band’s Facebook page, songwriting is the most important part of what distinguishes the band. Some people have described the lyrics as bleak. Kramer admits that the lyrics are different but says they reflect what the current young generation is going through.
California Wives hope to continue their writing process but, other than that, they have no major plans for after the tour besides looking to perform as much as they can.
“It’s not a question of whether we’ll play it because we will,” Kramer says. “It looks like we’ll be sleeping in the van a little longer.”