Review of Washed Out (David Stringer of SceneSC)
If you missed our Freeway Music Newsletter Spotlight, here is the column written by David Stringer of SceneSC .
September 16 at The Music Farm – Washed Out
Event info here.
Aaron Graves info here.
Six years ago, Washed Out frontman Ernest Greene was finishing up his graduate degree at the University of South Carolina, constructing breezy pop songs on his laptop in his bedroom at the same time. Little did he know then that he was on the leading edge of “chillwave,” a trendy pop-up music genre that would eventually sweep across America along with the music of fellow chillwave pioneer and Columbia, SC native Chaz Bundick of Toro y Moi. That chillwave genre has since died out, but Washed Out as a band kept moving forward, building off their original fan-base to become one of the more popular indie bands in America. Their latest album peaked at #5 on the Billboard rock charts. Early live shows featured just Ernest Greene and his laptop on stage, but as the band has grown in popularity, so has the number of members on stage. These days the band features three Columbia, SC musicians including Cameron Gardner (Heist and the Accomplice) on drums, Dylan Lee (Heist and the Accomplice) on guitar, and Chris Gardner, brother of Cameron Gardner on bass. In the last two years they’ve toured all over the world with Washed Out, living a musician’s dream of playing for thousands nearly every night.
On September 16, Washed Out return to Columbia, SC and the new Music Farm for the first time in years for a very special show. Never has our music community united like it has for Those Lavender Whales frontman Aaron Graves in his battle against an inoperable brain tumor. This show looks to be the biggest fundraiser for his battle yet, with all proceeds from the show going to the Graves family. Fittingly, Graves’ band Those Lavender Whales open the show that night. Those Lavender Whales features Graves singing, his wife Jessica Bornick on drums, and Chris Gardner, who also plays with Washed Out on bass. In addition to playing in Those Lavender Whales, Graves and Gardner also run local record collective Fork and Spoon Records with Toro y Moi guitarist Jordan Blackmon. This is another event, much like the recent Freeway Music Festival, that proves Columbia, SC is much more of a music community than just a strong music scene.
-David Stringer