Alt-rock band The Wrecks are coming to Madison on October 19, but that’s probably not the only genre you’ll hear when they take the stage at the Majestic Theatre.
Released in June 2022, their sophomore album “Sonder” bends genres as it follows the course of a breakup.
“We’re opening our umbrella a little bit more and letting it cast a wider net,” Nick Anderson, the band’s vocalist and producer, told the Daily Cardinal.
This goal of expanding their sound is illustrated early in the album. The second track “I Love This Part” is a harder rock song that includes a punky screaming refrain as it documents the realization that a relationship is over.
Immediately after, The Wrecks wade into the slower, indie-rock ballad “Where Are You Now?” which features girlhouse and looks back wistfully on the younger stages of a romance with the lyric “we were nineteen, was it worth it?”
The result of their efforts is an impressively diverse yet cohesive album.
“Every time it happens, I feel like I don’t know how to do it. Like this time, I remember Googling, ‘how to sequence an album,’” Anderson laughed. “I just started sequencing it based on some WikiHow article that someone just wrote.”
Despite their DIY nature, The Wrecks showcase their maturity on this album. Anderson’s lyrics depict a period of growth while the band’s instrumentation takes on softer, acoustic elements such as those on “Ugly Side,” which Anderson said was the most difficult track to produce.
Their work is “naturally (evolving) into different sounds,” agreed guitarist Nick “Schmizz” Schmidt.
Their shows this summer have so far starred tracks from the group’s 2020 debut album “Infinitely Ordinary,” a record they didn’t get to tour because of the pandemic. However, they plan to play more songs from “Sonder” on the next leg of their tour, “Back And Better Than Ever Tour: Part 2.”
Getting back to performing live was “absolutely insane,” Anderson said.
“I know unreal is a pretty commonly used word, but after every single night I was in complete awe of how many people were at the shows, how excited everyone was,” he said. “Like we’ve been gone for years, and everything’s happening still. It really doesn’t feel real.”
With many genuine connections to Wisconsin, the Wrecks made a stop at Summerfest in June and have performed at The Rave in Milwaukee “maybe eight times now.”
“I’m a Packers fan,” Anderson, a New York native, told the Cardinal. “And I don’t mean this to be pandering.”
The band has also performed at UW-Stout — where bassist Aaron Kelley was not only a student but the mascot, “Blaze” the Blue Devil.
“[Madison] is a new part of Wisconsin for us to explore,” Anderson said. “This is exciting. This is new.”
The Majestic is likely to prove a perfect setting to fulfill The Wrecks’ desire to play in smaller venues and create an experience like their first tours.
“There was such a sweaty, club-like energy in those first shows that you can’t really get on a bigger scale,” Anderson said.
He added, “I think things are going to get a little unhinged… so that’s fun.”
The Wrecks will perform at the Majestic Theatre with support from Carr on Wednesday, October 19. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show. Advance tickets are currently listed at $22.
Hope Karnopp is the news manager and dabbles in music reviews at The Daily Cardinal. She previously hosted the Cardinal Call for WORT-FM and edited state news.
