Temperances touting new music, heating up summer

SCROLL DOWN FOR BUS BENEFIT LINEUP, VIDEO, RADIO SHOW PODCAST

Support our coverage of
West Michigan’s music scene

It all seemed unlikely, considering how dissimilar their individual voices come across during performances, but The Temperances’ first rehearsals together quickly altered that perception.

Indeed, just like the “a-ha” moment which immediately cemented the distinctive harmonies of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash in the late 1969s, the trio of Olivia Vargas, Marley Kaye and Audrey Pearson knew they had hit on something special when they first joined forces in 2024.

“If you listen to our voices individually, we have completely different voices and completely different writing styles,” said keyboardist Vargas, who also fronts the soulful indie-pop band August.

“I think similarly to Crosby, Sills and Nash, we probably wouldn’t have suspected that they would go well together, but the moment that we sang together, we were like, ‘Oh, this makes a lot of sense.’ And we found out we have such similar interests in music and inspiration. So it was actually a really natural combination.”

Describing their music as “angelic emo,” that natural combination of voices that brings together Vargas, Kaye from the band marsfade and Pearson from her solo work has turned heads since its first performances, with 2026 shaping up as a milestone year for the West Michigan super-trio.

After releasing a single in January, The Temperances debuted a new song at The Stray in Grand Rapids last month, have plans for more indie-folk-driven releases in the new future and perform for the first time at the Buses by the Beach Bus Benefit in Trufant over Memorial Day weekend.

“We’re super-excited. I think it’s going to be a fun festival for us to play,” Kaye noted. “It’s our only festival we’re doing this year, so we’ll be able to put all our energy into it.”

The Bus Benefit – a regional music festival and fundraiser for the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors – kicks off Michigan’s summer festival season every year, a longstanding tradition for Volkswagen bus owners in particular.

Rolling out May 22-25 at the Smiling Acres festival site in Trufant, this year’s festival boast a who’s who lineup of Michigan acts, including Nicholas James & The Bandwagon, Dunegrass, The American Hotel System, The Local Commuters, Sweet Dee & The Wild Honeys, Debutants, Roosevelt Diggs, The Wild Honey Collective and Stanley & Quiggle.

The festival’s Wood Stage will feature sets by Loren J. Clarke & Friends, Adam Marth, Caitlin Cusack and more. Weekend tickets (including camping) are $133.60 and available online here. Day passes are $82.60.

“We’re excited to play alongside the other musicians at the festival, too,” Pearson noted.
For The Temperances, who also play the Relax at Rosa noontime series at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids on May 21, the trio project means a lot of juggling of dates due to their other band and solo ventures.

Bus Benefit: Rolls out over Memorial Day weekend. (Photo/Local Spins)

“August, my band has a lot of fun things coming up this summer as well as some other bands that I perform in like Adrian Wright & The Great Let Gos and Austin Benzing Bands. So we’re just trying to juggle everything.”

Pearson is working her solo material, with plans for releasing an EP or album in late 2026 or early 2027. Kaye’s marsfade just completed an EP with plans for releasing that project in late summer or early fall.

Nevertheless, The Temperances are “looking to just continue playing out as much as possible. We have a bunch of shows lined up for the summer and we have this idea of playing a living-room tour and playing songs that we wrote in our living room for other people in their living room,” Vargas said.

This week’s edition of the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase featured The Temperances’ single, “Small Like You” and a live version of “To Believe” recorded by Hunter VanKlompenberg, music and arts manager for The Stray. (View the video below). The show also features tracks by Brie Stoner, Lady Ace Boogie and Jamie Dionne — all performing at the Acrisure Amphitheater public open house on Saturday (May 16) — and DJ Holographic, The Westside, Villainess, Leah Williams, Ritual Howls, Adaboy!, Saturdays at Your Place, Resurrection Blues Band and Christian McBride Big Band. Listen to the radio show below.

PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (5/15/26)