Wallows are an interesting band to be sure. Two of the three band members are working actors. However, their musical aspirations aren’t new. Dylan Minnette and Braeden Lemasters started getting roles, primarily on TV, beginning in 2005 and have worked steadily in front of the camera ever since. Minnette is probably most widely known as a cast member of the Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why, while Lemasters’ most recent high-profile role was in the webseries T@gged.
The band was formed back in 2011 while Minnette and Lemasters were attending a music camp called Join the Band. Drummer Cole Preston was randomly assigned to them and he’s been with actor/musicians ever since. But a funny thing happened. The band is now getting more attention than Minnette and Lemasters’ still active acting careers, thanks not only to skilled musicianship but adept songwriting.
Bumped up by popular demand from the smaller A&R Music Bar, Wallows’ show at Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio on Sept. 7 was a homecoming show of sorts for Lemasters who hails from Warren, Ohio, near Youngstown. However, that wasn’t the reason the venue was sold out. A crowd of mostly young women, as well as a few dudes and the occasional parent, were treated to an evening of solid Rock & Roll by the increasingly popular band.
With influences ranging from contemporary artists like The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys to more vintage acts such as The Beatles, The Cure, Violent Femmes and Cocteau Twins (they even lift a line from the latter in their song “Ice Cold
Pool”), Wallows whipped the crowd into quite a fervor. Speaking of ’80s alternative bands, Wallows are reminiscent of another ‘80s act, also a trio, Love & Rockets, in that it seems that the songwriter who writes the song also sings their song.
To say Wallows played the hits doesn’t accurately describe the setlist as the crowd sang along to nearly every song — word for word, all 19 songs, loudly. The only stumble came during the encore when, after an acoustic treatment of their fine “1980s Horror Film” by Lemasters, his bandmates joined him for a cover of Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun.” The young people rocked the chorus but struggled with the verses. Halfway through, Wallows shifted into their own very popular “Pleaser,” before exiting with the end of “Blister.” For the Femmes’ tune, Minnette sat at the drum kit, while Preston played guitar and even rocked out some vocals (which he should do more often).
As they continue to sell out venues and their album gains more streams, it is apparent that Wallows may one day be soon known not as a band made up mostly of actors, but a trio whose members occasionally act.
Remo Drive, from Bloomington, Minnesota, opened the show and favored the crowd with their familiar brand of Indie Rock, which wasn’t too dissimilar from the headliners. However, they set a nice table for Wallows and the crowd certainly enjoyed them.
This article appears in Sep 4-11, 2019.