The Traverse City-bred band will play five Michigan shows this month promoting the trio’s new “Cover Art” album. Get the back story and listen to new tracks at Local Spins.
Returning to Their Home State: Some of The Accidentals’ shows already are sold out. (Courtesy Photo)
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO AND TO LISTEN TO THE ACCIDENTALS’ LATEST SINGLE
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
The Accidentals are perpetually in motion – recording new music, catching flights, rehearsing sets, towing luggage, packing trailers, lighting up stages.
The band that multi-instrumentalists Sav Buist and Katie Larson built in Traverse City in their teens and early 20s has evolved and adapted with each year of crisscrossing the country.
Now, the Nashville-based trio, which also includes Detroit drummer Katelynn Corll, is embarking on a new musical journey: touring behind a studio album featuring a batch of imaginative covers, titled “Cover Art.”
“It really goes back to the beginning of Sav and I playing music together,” said Larson, 28.
‘Green and Gold’ Cartoon Cover Art: A single from the new album.
“We were little high school nerds in our orchestra program (at Traverse City West High School) and we bonded over artists we loved. It’s just something we’ve always loved doing, paying homage to the stories and the artists who have inspired us to do this in the first place.”
As part of a spring tour in support of the new record, The Accidentals will play a homecoming show at 6 p.m. Sunday (4/21) at City Opera House, with tickets $25-$100, available online at cityoperahouse.org.
They’ll follow that with shows April 23 at Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Petoskey ($30-$105, tickets here), a sold-out show April 24 at Midtown in Grand Rapids (with Danni Nicholls), another sold-out concert April 25 at The Ark in Ann Arbor, and April 26 (with Danni Nicholls) at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Café in Kalamazoo ($25-$100, tickets here).
While recording “Cover Art,” the musicians aimed to limit the instrumentation to only “three instruments and three voices.”
“Most of the time, we try to add something new to the actual flavor of a song and make it our own. We try to accent our signature sounds of three-part harmony or weird instrumentation; that’s kind of what we’re going for,” said Buist, 29, the grand prize winner of 2022’s prestigious USA Songwriting Competition.
“We’ll look at other covers of a specific song we’re recording and see how other bands interpreted it and get ideas. As artists, we’re all interpreting something differently and adding our own spin to it.”
LISTEN: The Accidentals, “Not Strong Enough”
LOTS OF FAVORITE COVERS AND LOTS OF UPCOMING SHOWS
Known for their high-energy shows that often feature reimagined pop covers, the album encapsulates that same inventive energy.
There’s a cover of “Heart of Glass” by Blondie that’s driven by the orchestral qualities of a violin and cello. There’s an Indigo Girls song, “Closer To Fine,” that the trio was so fond of they opted to closely maintain its original structure. There’s also a cover of the wildly popular track by Boygenius, “Not Strong Enough.” (Listen to the track above.)
There are also favorite band covers that don’t appear on this particular album – a weird and wonderful list that descends into the musical universe of recorded cover songs.
Stage Energy: An Accidentals trademark. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
Buist is a fan of Squirrel Flower’s cover of “So Hot you’re Hurting my Feelings,” by Caroline Polachek. Larson said The Punch Brothers’ cover of “Reptilia” by The Strokes was “life changing” when she first heard it.
Corll – who replaced the trio’s original drummer Michael Dause last summer – recommends an obscure cover of “Attack of the 20 Pound Pizza” performed by Vinnie Colaiuta with only drums and vocals. Other mentions include Sinead O’Connor’s cover of “All Apologies,” by Nirvana, described as a “broken-down, acoustic rendition” of the grunge favorite.
“The last few years, people have been grasping for a sense of community,” said Buist.
“So I think the energy and the nostalgia that covers have brought over time create this shared experience. It’s a moment of familiarity.”
The band’s summer touring will once again include an appearance at the Fair Ground Festival outside Hasting, Mich. The second-year festival taking place on July 27 will also feature sets by The War and Treaty, Hannah Wicklund, Bailen, Alanna Royale and The Rebel Eves. Get more details online at thornapplearts.org/fairground.
VIDEO: The Accidentals, “What a Waste” (Tiny Desk Contest Submission)
Copyright 2024, Spins on Music LLC
