The EP releases on May 29.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhelchel started Waxpool, which he named for a road near an apartment where he lived in northern Virginia, during COVID as a solo project, and then released a handful of singles in 2021. Last summer, he roped in bassist Jack Salyers and drummer Yara Kaadan to make a full band.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very, very, very DIY,\u201d Whelchel says. \u201cWe\u2019re making CDs of our EP for the show that we\u2019re burning in my apartment, as well. If we can do it ourselves, we\u2019re gonna do it ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group had its first show last November at the Skylark \u2014 another key watering hole for Denver bands \u2014 when \u201ca buddy of ours was helping book a show, and I, like, half-joking, half-serious, was like, \u2018Oh if you guys need another opener, let me know,’\u201d Whelchel recalls.<\/p>\n
In fact, another opener was needed. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, shoot. So I\u2019ve never performed before,’\u201d he says.<\/p>\nThe EP will be celebrated at the hi-dive and CDs will be available.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThus, the recruiting process. Salyers had never even played an instrument beyond Guitar Hero, and Kaadan was a pianist. But somehow, they managed to get the hang of their new instruments before the show. Another friend opened up his garage so the group could practice, and many more friends showed up for the concert. It worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I just blacked out for the thirty minutes [of performing],\u201d Whelchel says with a laugh. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a village,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe have a lot of people within our network of friends that have been very helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show at the hi-dive will be waxpool\u2019s fifth time performing live, but the band has plenty more gigs booked for the summer, including a slot at Blucifer\u2019s First Rodeo, the musician-run festival hitting Broadway in July. And the band has already worked up what\u2019s been a well-played and well-received setlist that Whelchel says will take the audience on a journey. In his years as a solo act, Whelchel had written a lot of original material that his bandmates were able to learn.<\/p>\nThe hi-dive show will mark waxpool\u2019s fifth performance.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cFor us, it\u2019s been pretty fun, because now everybody kind of knows what to expect from us,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we\u2019ll play one cover, like \u2018Fell in Love With a Girl\u2019 by the White Stripes.\u201d<\/p>\n
For inspiration, Whelchel looks to groups like Beach Fossils, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett. \u201cIf you listen to each individual part of their songs, it\u2019s very simple,\u201d he says. \u201cBut once you put them all together, it works super well. For a lot of our songs\u2026they might not be the most complicated in the world, but they complement each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the members of waxpool play music because they love to \u2014 it\u2019s as straightforward as that. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to have these crazy long guitar solos and crazy production,\u201d Whelchel says. \u201cI mean, maybe down the road, that might evolve. But right now, we\u2019re trying to just make it kind of simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
The earnest quality is refreshing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re three friends playing music in a garage,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to be something we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waxpool, 8 p.m. Saturday, May 30, hi-dive, 7 South Broadway. Tickets<\/a> are $12 in advance, $15 at the door.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.westword.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waxpool performing at Lost Lake. Cole Abid Elijah Whelchel is sitting in his home office, which also happens to serve as a mini-music studio for his band, waxpool. \u201cAll the stuff that we put out is all recorded in my apartment,\u201d he says. That includes waxpool\u2019s upcoming debut EP, \u201ci love it here,\u201d which releases […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2434557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[379470,24104,22366],"class_list":["post-2434556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-concert-previews","tag-local-music","tag-rock-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Denver-band-waxpool-gears-up-for-hi-dive-headlining-show.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2434556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2434558,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434556\/revisions\/2434558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2434557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2434556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2434556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2434556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}