The Accidentals wrap up ‘crazy, awesome’ year; will play South by Southwest and finish new album in 2015

After playing 230 shows in 2014, the teenage indie-folk phenoms from Traverse City continue to tour and record ceaselessly as a break-through act. They return to One Trick Pony tonight. (Videos, podcast)

 

To say that the meteoric rise of Traverse City’s The Accidentals has made for a frenzied, event-filled year would be selling the year short.

The young, acoustic indie-folk/rock group has racked up 10,000 miles by playing an astounding 230 shows across the country in 2014, earned widespread media attention, signed a contract to record four albums in New York City with producers Marshall Crenshaw and Stewart Lerman, and exponentially expanded its fan base across the Midwest.

Multi-instrumentalists and singers Savannah Buist, 19, and Katie Larson, 18, added drummer Michael Dause, 19, to the fold over the summer and haven’t looked back, making their debut at venues ranging from Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park to major music festivals to showcases in New York.

They also signed a management contract with MCT Management (which represents national acts such as Crenshaw, Dar Williams and Pearl & The Beard), scored the soundtrack for the “One Simple Question” sailing documentary that debuted in Florida earlier this month, and marketed their song “Silence” for use in a Shanty Creek Resorts commercial. They even met rock icon Jack White in Nashville.

The Accidentals return to One Trick Pony in Grand Rapids tonight (Thursday), performing at 8 p.m. Admission is free; call 235-7669 for reservations. On Friday, they play The Loft in Lansing with The Appleseed Collective.

A HECTIC 2014 FOLLOWED BY AN EVEN MORE HECTIC 2015

“It’s been awesome,” said Larson, who graduated from high school earlier this year and has been on tour ever since. “We’re seeing what it’s like to be on the road and what it’s like to be in the studio in New York. Things just keep getting more exciting and more crazy every day.”

But 2015 could be even more action-packed for the duo-turned-trio: The Accidentals expect to wrap up work on their much-anticipated new album with Crenshaw and Lerman early next year, are nominated for four Grand Rapids Jammie Awards being presented in February, and have been invited to play the prestigious South By Southwest music conference/festival in Austin, Texas, for the first time in March.

“That was really exciting,” Buist said of the SXSW showcase selection made earlier this week, “because it’s always been a dream of ours to be able to do something like that.”

The band also was selected to perform along with about 20 other Michigan acts – including Seth Bernard and May Erlewine, Billy Strings and Don Julin, Mustard Plug and Alexis – at the Feb. 13 Jammie Awards show in Grand Rapids where their CD, “Bittersweet,” is up for album of the year and other honors.

“We are completely flabbergasted and honored and excited,” Buist said of rubbing elbows with other acclaimed Michigan acts at the event hosted by radio station WYCE-FM. “Those are bands that we all really look up to. It’s really cool to see our names on that list.”

On Wednesday, they made a special appearance on Local Spins Live on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW), playing a new song, “The Sound a Watch Makes,” as well as a tune from “Bittersweet.” Listen to a show podcast here, with videos of their performances below.

Dause, who’s originally from the Detroit area, officially joined the energetic string duo in July after first meeting Buist and Larson at 2013’s Blissfest.

“It’s been amazing,” he said of playing with the graduates of the Interlochen Center for the Arts. “They’re just spectacular musicians and I just feel grateful to be able to play with them.”

A priority in 2015, of course, is wrapping up the band’s follow-up to “Bittersweet.” The Accidentals have completed 8 of 10 songs for that project, recently recording five songs in four days in New York after rehearsing 10 hours a day for two weeks to get ready for the sessions. And there’s more to come as the project gets shopped to record labels.

A CHRISTMAS BREAK FOLLOWED BY SOME HIGH-PROFILE CONCERTS

“We actually have 16 brand new original songs to choose from and that number is constantly growing,” said Buist.

While the trio is taking a little time off for the holidays, they have several high-profile shows on tap after Christmas and will continue to tour incessantly: They play Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville Dec. 30 and 31 and a special show at Workshop Brewing in Traverse City on Jan. 3, with the keyboard-playing fathers of Buist and Larson joining the girls on stage.

They’ll also open Jan. 8 for singer-songwriter Abigail Stauffer at The Ark in Ann Arbor and Jan. 17 for The Duhks at Chicago’s City Winery, then play a special “Folk The Police” show at The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor on Jan. 25. And they’ll return to play One Trick Pony on Feb. 19. They’re slated to play more than two dozen shows in January and February alone.

“The greatest part,” insisted Buist, “is everywhere we go we keep getting reminded of how supportive Michigan is because people keep sending people out to these shows and it’s just fantastic.”

 

Copyright 2014, Spins on Music LLC