Being the “new kid” in town is challenging. It’s even more difficult when you’re a 51-year-old musician starting in a new town. My wife and I moved to Myrtle Beach in January of 2024, and to say it was a culture shock is the understatement of the year. How was an aged, raging liberal singer/songwriter going to fair in the land of enormous ass trucks, overly sunbaked white people, and more obnoxious Trump swag than you could possibly imagine? I wasn’t quite sure, but it didn’t look all that good to me. I kept my head high and my ass in the chair at my studio, finishing up my album that I’ve been working on for 3+ years.
Little by little, we started to meet some great like-minded people, which definitely took the sting out of feeling like outsiders. We made some great friends, and things were beginning to feel a bit more optimistic, but I still longed for some connection within the local music community of Myrtle Beach. I was being super judgy about the fact that there were so many cover bands in this town. Coming from Atlanta, the land of “original bands,” I wasn’t used to hearing about bands playing 3-hour shows in bars ripping out covers left and right. It all sounded weird, but then a friend here told me about a band I needed to check out. That band was WESAWABEAR.
One of the most uncomfortable things I can hear from someone is, “I heard a band that you’ll love.” That is usually a red flag because the people saying that don’t really know me all that well. This time, my buddy Scott (who I trust wholeheartedly) said, “Don, you need to check out WESAWABEAR. They have some great songs and some really great covers that I know you’ll enjoy. I trusted my Broba Fett, broheem, and broseph, and I listened to them on Spotify and was unprepared for what I was hearing.
The first song I heard of the five originals on Spotify was “Another Window.” The opening music was the dreamy music of “Another Window,” which immediately made me exhale a huge sigh of relief. Still, hearing the ethereal, smokey vocals of Lara Maraqa set me on a journey that I wasn’t expecting to have. I literally played the fuck out of those five songs over and over and I finally decided to dig into their YouTube.
Watching them do covers by bands like The Talking Heads, Desiree, and KT Tunstall blew me away, and I suddenly became so excited and happy. Here is a hard-working band with some outstanding original material while doing covers in the same vein as the music they make and putting enough of a twist on it to sound like their songs. They are jammy, rootsy, and full of feel, heart, and soul. They treat these songs like their own, so they are played with a level of reverence that sometimes makes you forget they’re even covers.
I reached out to Lara via social media and let her know that I was a fan of the band and that I was new in town. I wasn’t expecting much, but she was so kind and open to talking that I felt I was seen. She gave me some great pointers on playing around town, and I was excited about music and the thought of playing music for the first time in a while. I finally went to see WESAWABEAR for the first time at Pine Lakes Tavern in Myrtle Beach. I was excited, nervous, anxious, and all the feelings one could feel.
When I walked into the back music room, Lara and her partner/co-bandmate Conner Mills, along with their drummer, immediately greeted me. They welcomed me with hugs and smiles, and I had the best time talking to them about the scene, getting to know more about them, and vice versa. I watched them having so much fun, and the energy was infectious, to say the least.
A few weeks later, I caught Lara and Conner doing an acoustic set at the Dead Dog Saloon about 10 minutes from home, and I loved it on a whole other level. Seeing them as a band is one thing, but I needed to see Lara and Conner just keeping it bare bones on a cold, rainy Tuesday night. As I walked in, they called me out from the stage and immediately played two songs for me, “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree and a special dedication to me, the song that started it all for me, their original song “Another Window.” I smiled, took it all in, and thought, “This is where I need to be.”
After their set, we laughed, bullshitted, and had a couple of drinks. They even encouraged me to get back out and start playing again by offering to let me play between sets sometime during another “duo” show. More hugs were exchanged, and as I got into my car, I sat for a second and smiled. I felt like I had found my people again, and I felt inspired, motivated, and full of joy to work toward getting back out there and sharing what I create.
A few days after the show, I messaged Lara to thank her and Conner for making me feel so accepted and welcomed. I tend to get over-excited when I feel connected to someone, so I apologized to Lara in case I was being a bit much or extra. She said, “You’re a part of the fam now. Come as you are and want to be!” How can I not be filled with happiness, inspiration, and music after that?
Thanks, fam. You made this old new kid in town feel a lot less scared about starting over.
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