The band plays its first Grand Rapids show in nearly a year tonight at SpeakEZ Lounge after releasing a new studio album this summer. Local Spins Rewind revisits a summer interview and podcast.

Playing ‘Fallout’ Live Tonight: Major Murphy’s Chad Houseman, Jacob Bullard and Jacki Warren. (Photo/Brett Carlson)
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To say Major Murphy is excited about playing its first Grand Rapids show since November 2023 might be an understatement.
Since that appearance, the acclaimed Grand Rapids indie-rock band has released a new album, “Fallout,” which means fans get a chance tonight to hear live renditions of songs from that recording for the first time as part of the Local Spins Wednesdays series at Grand Rapids’ SpeakEZ Lounge. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.; details here.
To celebrate the occasion in SpeakEZ’s intimate setting, Major Murphy has added special guests to the evening roster: violinist Jeffrey Niemeier and Dobroist Mark Lavengood.
“We will be playing the material from our new album, ‘Fallout,’ for the first set. Violinist Jeffrey Niemeier will join us for that set as he appears on the album,” said Jacob Bullard, lead songwriter for the band. “Second set will be with Mark; he will be playing steel guitar with us as we play through songs from our back catalog as well as a couple brand new songs. Looking forward to it.”
Much of that new music is all about being sincere and genuine.
“I guess as a songwriter, I just try to say something that’s authentic and true and let people take from it what they will,” Bullard said of the new Winspear records album released on July 19.
“So, I don’t really have an agenda or anything other than just trying to put some words down that are realistic and true to my lived experience and make sense in the context of the music I’m putting around it. Ultimately … it’s just about the music and trying to put something together that has some kind of integrity.”
Mission accomplished, especially when it comes to the lead single from the album, “Time Out,” an infectious rocker that Bullard describes as a “toe-tapper.”
“I’m kind of commenting on just the grind of life,” Bullard offered. “You feel like sometimes it’s like you’re punching the clock kind of and just getting through. And on the other side of that is, where do you find renewal and energy? … It kind of somehow struck me as a way to balance the grind of life with a more positive outlook.”
VIDEO: Major Murphy, “Time Out”
The band – guitarist Bullard, bassist/multi-instrumentalist Jacki Warren and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Chad Houseman – has decided that “we really only want to play if we know it’s going to be just a great gig,” said Bullard. “We want to be a little bit more curated or selective with what we take on.”
Bullard conceded the band leans heavily on its “little group of fans in West Michigan,” as well as devotees across the country and even in Japan to spread word about its projects.

Leaning on Devoted Fans: Major Murphy (Photo/Brett Carlson)
“People voluntarily sharing about your music is the best thing,” he insisted. “And social media’s super helpful in that way to be able to give something for people to latch onto.”
The band formed nine years ago, with drummer Brian Voortman leaving the fold in 2021 and Houseman taking on “a full-time role on drums.” Major Murphy did release its “Access Point” EP in 2022, following up on the full-length “Access,” that came out in the spring of 2021.
“We have settled into a little more of an alternative and/or indie-rock sound, although that has always been there, too, and a little less of a throwback rock ’n’ roll sound. Some pop and rock pastiche was kind of a part of our early sound and I feel that is less a part of what we’re doing now,” said Bullard.
Recorded at Russian Recording in Bloomington, Ind., and at home, Bullard said the album’s “new songs are maybe a little darker and moody as a whole, but there are some moments of levity peppered in, too.”
Listen to the full interview and Major Murphy tracks as part of the July 5 Local Spins on WYCE radio show below.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (7/5/24)
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