Band bio
Wild Abandon is a 5-piece band from Arcata, California that has been playing together since 2015. Their music is a mix of indie folk rock and experimental improv shenanigans.
The band released their second album, Character Study, on January 14th, 2023. Character Study is a self-produced album that was recorded in bedrooms, living rooms,and back porches. The band self-produced the album with drummer Gabriel Lubowe doing the majority of the production and recording.
Wild Abandon released their first album, Grayscale, in 2018, which was recorded at Big Bang Studio in Loleta, California with Timmy Gray. Both albums are available across all streaming platforms.
The band is known for playing live shows where their songs transform and expand in the moment. Many songs end up having an improvisational experience in the middle or end, as the energy goes with the flow of how each band member feels right then and there.
The band has played all over Humboldt County at music festivals, sold out summer shows, house parties, bars and breweries, collective arts spaces, dance venues and listening rooms over the last 8 years. Wild Abandon has been called “a band of magical starlit darlings” by Colin Yeo of North Coast Journal. Playing on the main stage at the Benbow Summer Arts and Music Festival and playing at the Arcata Theater Lounge were two very fun and expansive shows they’ve done in the past few years.
The band started with lead guitarist Cory Goldman and vocalist Melanie Barnett playing more folk sounding music, and then expanding and adding more noise and depth to the singer-songwriter vibe. It has expanded into bass thumping experimental indie rock and now Cory’s lead guitar riffs haunt listeners with their jazz influenced and melodic voicing setting the tone for each song. In 2016 bass player Nate Zwerdling joined and we got complex and weaving bass lines. Gabriel Lubowe jumped on drums in 2018 to bring a distinct indie rock feel and he leads the band into improvisational territory and jam-it-out bliss with his creative rhythmic process. The newest member is Marley Jarvis, who joined as harmony singer in 2022 adding intricate harmonies and more aliveness and emotion to the sound.
Musical influences include: Grizzly Bear, Feist, Radiohead, Jaco Pastorius, Big Thief, Laura Viers, Grateful Dead, The Beatles, and a mash up of 90’s alt rock sounds and screeches.
