Every so often I get floored by a band upon the first few notes of a live set. This happened a few weeks ago when I saw Bandages at The Southgate House Revival for IRON FEST. If you can believe it, it was their FIRST show! Bandages is a four-piece, hard-hitting melodic punk ensemble that includes members from 500 Miles to Memphis, The Messengers, and Nightbeast! Their collective experiences help to craft a diverse punk/alternative mix that will heal your nostalgic punk rock needs and have you feeling like a teenage street rat in record time.
I jumped at the chance to get to know Bandages!
Tell us about the forming of Bandages...
Wade - Brandon and I are lifelong friends. We were in and out of bands together, when we were younger. We got a point where we wanted to start something again. We would send song ideas to each other through phone recordings. We ended up getting together and started a drummer/singer search. He reached out to a few drummers, and I knew Shannon from when we worked together at the Cincy Guitar Center. I was always a huge fan of her voice when she was in The Messengers. So I reached out to her, via Instagram, to see if she would even be interested in playing music again. Luckily, she was! She had just started the process of moving back to Cincy from Indy, so the timing was perfect. The three of us started getting together and continued the drummer search, to no avail. I saw Andrew play one of his first shows with Nightbeast earlier this year, and quickly noticed his talent. Again, reached out to him on IG and hoped he was able to come and at least jam. He did and the rest, as they say, is history.
I know none of you are newbies to the Cincinnati Music Scene, but to land a first gig at IRON FEST is impressive! How did that come to be?
Wade - One of our first practices as a full band, Shannon said one of her goals was to play Iron Fest. Of course we were all on board immediately. I reached out to Ryan Malott, who I have a close relationship with from my time in 500 Miles to Memphis, to see who was in charge of booking for the fest. Ryan gave me John’s number, so I just sent him a text describing who we are, what and we sound like, and he made it happen. Which, a big thank you to him for booking us, without even really knowing what we sound like.
What do you want the audience at your shows to take away from the experience?
Brandon - I just hope people have fun. It’s enough for me to share the stage with great musicians, so anything else is an added (and humbling) bonus. If we’re having fun, hopefully that mood permeates outward and moves others.
Shannon - Adding to what Brandon said, we really started this band as a creative outlet and to have fun. I think we all just love creating music and performing it live. Hopefully that comes across on stage and we appeal to some listeners. I think our passion for what we are writing can / will transfer to audiences. I just hope to provide an enjoyable, energetic show.
What is next for Bandages?
We have two shows lined up in January with Intro Signal. Jan 19th @ SGHR and Jan 28th @ The Comet. Early next year, we plan to record a 5 song EP with the aforementioned Ryan.
