On an early April Wednesday in the basement of Echols House, members of the student band Indecisive talk about the upcoming recording of their first album, their experiences as a band and their hopes for the future.
Indecisive found its origins in high school. Bassist Dade Walker, second-year College student, and guitarist Erik Holmer, first-year Engineering student, met in their school’s drama club band.
“We were in the band, and we worked really well together so we started meeting up outside of school and playing music together,” Walker said. “Then, we started writing songs and we would do the drums, bass and the guitar.”
Drummer Alex Schaefer, first-year College student, came into the picture later on. Holmer described hearing music coming from down the hall of his dormitory during orientation week. It turned out to be Schaefer playing an electric drum set in his room. Holmer introduced Shaefer to Walker, and they began to write songs together — the rest is history.
“Someone will come up with a piece, like a riff on any instrument,” Walker said. “Sometimes I’ll write for the guitar and Erik will write a bass part. And then we just kind of come up with everything and share it all with each other. Then, we get together and flesh it out into more of a full song.”
Holmer also shared that they recently recorded a live demo which has been posted online. The performance is of an original song called “It Must Be You.” He was also excited to announce the band will be recording an album May 14 and that it will be released by fall of this year, an impressive feat given the band members’ youth and the relatively short period of time they have been working together.
In terms of inspiration, members of Indecisive are incredibly different. Walker loves punk and metal music, and finds inspiration from bands like Alice In Chains and Bad Religion. Shaefer, conversely, is a jazz drummer and enjoys listening to bands like Rush and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Although the band has a variety of original songs in their back pocket, they often perform covers as well. All three members agree that their favorite cover to perform is Arctic Monkey’s “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.” Holmer cited the “energy” in the audience as the reason for this preference, “especially because everybody knows it.”
The band also tries to consistently switch up its set. Indeed, Walker said that “at every show we try to play a different cover,” exemplifying the band’s versatility. Their audience members certainly have many fun covers to look forward to.
“The standout covers are probably going to be the ones we’re about to play. We’re about to cover ‘I write Sins Not Tragedies’ and ‘Somebody Told Me,’” Holmer said.
Thus far, the band has played a number of gigs with University Records and Indieheads, a music-focused club on Grounds. Schaefer cited his favorite show as the last one they did before winter break. According to him, it was the first show in which they truly felt like a band.
“That one we felt really good together,” Holmer said. “When we first started out we were practicing two days a week. We really practiced a lot to try and get as tight as we are.”
Walker and Holmer also loved a particularly high energy show at the house of the Academical Village People, an all-male acapella group on Grounds. Walker described “a sea of people” packed in front of the stage. Shaefer also recounted being worried about their ability to get through to the stage to perform, “we started up front when we were about to play then we slowly got pushed to the back.”
Indecisive has high hopes for their band, particularly given their exciting upcoming album. They also have a slew of gigs planned, including an Academical Village People house show April 29 and a show at Henley’s Orchard as part of a larger collective called the Mountain Project.
Presently, the band is thrilled to announce that they will be having their first independent show on May 7th at Crozet Pizza in Charlottesville. Other upcoming gigs will be announced via the band’s instagram.
The members of Indecisive started their musical foray early, giving the band the chance to grow and change over the course of the next three years of their time at the University. This columnist will certainly be along for the ride.
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