Magenta Wave headlines Chameleon before EP release
As Magenta Wave prepares to release their newest project, the Seattle rock band will cross the state in a return to Spokane and the Chameleon.
Guitarist Taylor Mastin and bassist Nathaniel McCurley went to high school together and were primarily interested in sports before graduation, around the time they both “fell in love” with music. Although college had separated the two, the pandemic brought them back home.
Around this time, the two were rock climbing at the Seattle Bouldering Project as they happened to be searching for a band name. They spotted a painting hung on the wall titled “Magenta Wave,” a name that would linger with Mastin.
“I was like, ‘dude, we don’t have anything else. I like that. Let’s just do that, and if we find something else, we can go with it,’ ” Mastin said. “But we just have stuck with it.”
Mastin joined McCurley in Bellingham, where he was attending Western Washington University. Once in Bellingham, they also went on to find the rest of the band’s lineup, a drummer and vocalist. Since then, the group has gradually been innovating their own area of alternative or indie rock – although Mastin himself may not dig too deep into categorization.
“I always just call it rock music, I don’t always feel the need to get into the microgenres and all that sort of stuff,” Mastin said.
Although Magenta Wave collectively finds inspiration from groups like the Backseat Lovers and Arcy Drive, Mastin believes the band’s distinct style is specifically fitting of their name. The group intentionally tries to display their emotions openly and honestly in order to help create a powerful sensation of sound and sentiment.
“I think it is kind of a wave, honestly,” Mastin said. “It is kind of a wall of sound that is very emotional and raw.”
The band’s upcoming EP, “The Well,” is set to release next Friday and continues to explore a sense of candid emotional authenticity. The project looks to provide the most vulnerable view into the heart and soul of Magenta Wave yet.
“It shows a lot of harder emotions that people don’t always feel comfortable talking about, and that’s loss and loneliness,” Mastin said. “It really encapsulates how we’ve felt over the last years we’ve been writing this stuff. It’s really special and important to us.”
Magenta Wave will be celebrating the EP release with a Seattle show next week as well as Friday’s show at the Chameleon, which will be their third occasion performing in the Lilac City – after the first Boomjam Festival in 2024 as well as an initial Chameleon show in early 2025. Mastin knows the area particularly well as he is initially from Walla Walla, and both of his parents attended Gonzaga University.
“We love it over there,” Mastin said. “We’ve always had people come out to our shows and we’ve really enjoyed it. The fan interactions have been awesome.
“It’s always had a special place in my heart.”