The Grand Rapids singer and his new rock band, The Bad Disciples, plan to release their much-anticipated debut album later this year, with Wilson also planning a solo EP. (Story, video and podcast)
Rock, Retro-Soul and Something ‘A Little Bit Experimental’: Lucas Wilson has a new band, The Bad Disciples. (Photo/Anna Sink)
THE BAND: Lucas Wilson & The Bad Disciples
THE MUSIC: Soulful rock
WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE BAND: 5 p.m. today (Thursday) at Rosa Parks Circle for the Talsma Concert Series; 8 p.m. Oct. 14 at SpeakEZ Lounge for the Local Spins Wednesdays series
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Lucas Wilson most certainly has the voice for “The Voice” – or “American Idol,” for that matter – but it’s never jibed with the Grand Rapids singer-songwriter’s M.O. to take a stab at these T.V. popularity contests.
“That has come up over the years. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it,” said Wilson, noting his friend, Matt Giraud of Kalamazoo, had a successful run on “American Idol” several years ago.
A new musical ideology: Lucas Wilson (Photo/Anna Sink)
“For my style of music and for what I want to do with my career, I don’t think it’s a good fit. I don’t want to get caught up in that tornado. I prefer my small little corner-shop bars.”
That “corner-shop” mentality – and a resonant voice that melds the likes of Ray LaMontagne, Sam Cooke, John Mayer and Joe Cocker – actually has served Wilson well, starting more than a decade ago when he fronted roots rock’s popular Sweet Japonic, which won three Jammie Awards for its various recordings and earned national attention as an up-and-coming band.
After leaving the band in 2010, Wilson’s debut solo album, which he describes as an “artistic coming of age,” earned a special jury prize for best new artist from community radio station WYCE-FM.
Now, he’s formed a rock band, The Bad Disciples, which is putting the finishing touches on a new EP recorded with Peter Fox in Grand Rapids. And he has plans for a solo EP as well.
“It might just be kind of a solo singer-songwriter record,” Wilson says of the second recording. “I love playing rock ’n’ roll, but I also love the kind of simplicity of a songwriter, so I really want to do both of those.”
Fans will get a chance to hear some of that new material live twice over the next week. Wilson plays at 5 p.m. today (Thursday) at Rosa Parks Circle, as part of WOOD TV 8’s free Talsma Concert Series, with Detroit native Tony Lucca performing at 7 p.m. Next week (Oct. 14), he’ll headline the Local Spins Wednesdays series at SpeakEZ Lounge starting at 8 p.m.
He brought one of those new songs this week to Local Spins Live on News Talk 1340 AM WJRW, performing “Some Kind of Love That I’m Missing Out On” in the studio. Listen to the radio podcast here, with a video of his performance below.
Wilson stresses that the full-band version of the song is a much different animal.
“It’s become kind of a rock-soul thing,” he says of the band, which features bassist Dave Alves, keyboard player Christian Van Antwerpen and drummer Mark Weymouth. “Between doing straightforward rock ’n’ roll and obviously the retro-soul stuff that I love to do, we have a few tracks where we’re being a little more experimental as far as my genre would be – experimenting with some Latin influence and jazz influence and those kinds of things.
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“I’ll always consider The Bad Disciples a rock ’n’ roll band, but I really don’t think we really put any boundaries on ourselves for what we’re going to do. That’s kind of my new ideology of music. I’m going to do what I want to do and that’s just what it’s going to be.”
Wilson – who grew up listening to everything from The Beatles and Motown music to The Byrds and Bob Dylan – hopes to release the new band EP by the end of the year, with a single slated to drop prior to that.
He’s also readjusting the band lineup temporarily for his upcoming shows due to a “freak accident” involving Weymouth, his drummer, who fractured his knee and can’t play for the next month or so. Instead, veteran drummer Eddie Eicher (Hip Pocket) will fill in, with some other guests also making appearances.
“It’s going to be a little loosey-goosey, but it’s going to be a riot,” he says. “It’s going to be really fun.”
VIDEO: Lucas Wilson, “Some Kind of Love I’m Missing Out On” (Local Spins Live)
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