The West Michigan rock band celebrates its first studio album in nine years and its first concerts in 10 months with a series of Michigan CD-release shows, including Friday at The Intersection. (Video, podcast)
Kicking It Hard Again: From left, Lukas Ross, Chad Hendrickson, Ted Mitchell and Chris Newman of Willamena. (Photo/Anna Sinkevics)
Some might say Willamena is reveling in its second life as a rock band.
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The band never actually went away, but nine years have elapsed since the Kalamazoo-based foursome released its last studio album, so it’s understandable that audiences might have wondered what became of Willamena’s catchy, melodic rock.
Wonder no more.
The band’s new studio album, the appropriately titled “Lost in the Shadows,” brims with hook-filled rockers and ballads that span the musical territory between Matchbox Twenty and The Jayhawks, earning Willamena growing radio airplay across the United States.
“It may seem to some that we fell off the face of the earth, but we’ve played hundreds of shows through the 2000s. We took a break in 2008. Even though we didn’t release a lot of music, we played tons of shows,” says guitarist Chad Hendrickson.
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“We’ve weathered some musical changes and we think things have swung back in our direction with just honest good rock with hooks and good lyrics. We felt the time was right to finally put our music together and get back out there with the press and let people know not only are we still alive, but we’re kicking and kicking hard.”
BACK ON STAGE FOR CD-RELEASE SHOWS AFTER A LONG HIATUS
The band, formed in 1996, officially celebrates its new album this week with several Michigan CD-release shows, including Friday night’s affair at The Stache inside The Intersection and a Saturday appearance at CJ’s Pub in Kalamazoo.
Band members – Hendrickson, singer Lukas Ross, bassist Chris Newman and drummer Ted Mitchell – gave a sneak preview of the shows with an acoustic performance Wednesday as part of Local Spins Live on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW). Listen to the podcast here and check out a video of their rendition of “She’d See Everything” below.
This week’s live shows are the band’s first since July 2012. Its mini-tour in support of the new album actually comes about five months after release of “Lost in the Shadows” due to an unanticipated health scare for Hendrickson.
After suffering serious stomach issues for several months and losing more than 30 pounds, the guitarist and singer was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery to remove the tumor in March. Currently taking a break from chemotherapy, Hendrickson said he feels great and is excited about performing again.
As band members put it, things now seem to be falling into place for Willamena’s comeback, with their rootsy, hook-filled new songs charting and earning radio airplay in places as far-flung as California, Colorado, Missouri and Virginia “and all points in between.”
Willamena, “Lost in the Shadows”
Two of the band members still call Michigan home (Ross is a native of Gull Lake who lives in Kalamazoo; Newman grew up in Climax and now resides in Vicksburg), so Willamena still considers West Michigan its foundation. Hendrickson, who grew up in Hesperia, currently lives in Florida, with Mitchell, a Newaygo native, now based in North Carolina.
“The music scene in Michigan is strong, because we do feel the roots here, “ Hendrickson insists. “We take pride in Michigan.”
A VOYAGE OF UPS AND DOWNS, AND HIGH HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
Their winding journey as a band has been far more arduous than simply covering the miles that separate them now. The award-winning band earned kudos and a devoted audience for earlier albums, but never quite landed the record deal and industry recognition that seemed to be just around the corner.
“It’s always been, ‘Close, but no cigar,’ ” acknowledges Ross. “We believe at this point, especially with this album and some of the additional material that we’ve begun working on, that we actually have the right thing that people are listening to these days. Stylistically, things have come around again to our style of music, to the things that we do well.”
Willamena on Local Spins Live. (Photo/Anna Sinkevics)
With independent release of their latest album – produced in part by Kevin Beamish (REO Speedwagon, Kenny Chesney) and John Seymour (U2, Dave Matthews) – band members feel confident they can make a dent commercially now, getting promotional and booking help from Hendrickson’s brother, Lance.
The band plans some touring of the Midwest and East Coast, and even is plotting potential release of “tons” of previously recorded material. “Lost in the Shadows” represents the band’s first studio album since 2004’s “Far from the Current.”
Friday’s Grand Rapids CD-release show begins at 8 p.m. in The Stache inside The Intersection, with a new band, Bello Spark, opening the show. Tickets are $6 in advance, $8 the day of the show. The new album will be available at the concert for a discounted price of $5.
(Willamena also plays at 9 p.m. Thursday at Pub 111 in Whitehall, and at 8 p.m. Saturday at CJ’s Pub in Kalamazoo, a favorite “neighborhood” watering hole for the band.)
For more about Willamena and for links to purchasing its music through iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere, visit the band’s official website at willamena.net.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
