San Marcos bands, The Trips and Slick, and Austin band Valice share their journeys in the local music scene with advice on management and networking. Each band emphasizes the importance of connecting to the local scene and getting to know other bands.
The Trips
The Trips is a melodic, upbeat rock band that evolved from mostly playing ’60s covers to finding its sound in a slightly heavier style of rock. Sammy Wells, history senior, is the lead songwriter, rhythm guitarist and booking agent for the band. The Trips started when he and his triplet siblings McKenna and Marshall Wells started playing music for their dad by covering ’60s and ’70s songs.
“We played [the songs] for him one Saturday night, and then we kind of turned that into a tradition every Saturday,” Sammy said.
Sammy said playing shows regularly, social media presence and airtime on local radio stations like KTSW and KZSM were the most important factors for the band’s growth. He said The Trips get hundreds of monthly listeners from these three factors. Sammy also highlighted the importance of going to local shows to talk to the performing bands about their show and future potential shows together.
“Don’t get caught up in your head and stop yourself from doing what you want to do,” Sammy said. “I wish I would’ve played shows earlier and started working on recording music earlier than I did.”
The Trips are playing a residency at The Porch on the second Thursday of each month from March 13 through May 8. It is also lined up to play a show at Texas State’s “Night of Ideas” on April 4.
Slick
Slick is a local rock/R&B band formed in 2022. It includes Adream Kusters, keyboardist, Aidan Guzman, guitarist, Jose Cafaro, vocalist, Aiden Gross, drummer and backup vocalist and Ryan Sabin and Hayes Howard, bass guitarists. The band met in Texas State’s rock ensemble and went through several changes before settling on its current member lineup.
Through these changes, Slick realized the importance of finding team players who could commit their time and resources to this project. It prioritized playing shows and working towards a tour to get its music out there. The band also emphasized how the San Marcos scene allowed it to grow in ways that other cities wouldn’t because San Marcos has a small-town feel while still providing lively crowds and lots of opportunities to play shows.
“The community here is just really fun because we were all starting out at the same time,” Cafaro said. “And even the newer generation of people who are coming here now, they just all want to play and be a part of shows, too.”
Slick said many bands that are connected to San Marcos are also connected to the big city scene in Austin, allowing bands to reach a larger group of people.
“If you just talk to [other local bands], they’ll start asking you to join a show that they’re trying to get set up,” Sabin said.
Valice
Valice, consisting of Ricci Valice, vocalist and guitarist, David Fong, keyboardist, James LeBlanc, guitarist, George Feledichuk, bassist and Ethan Schneider, drummer, is an indie rock band from Austin. It met through the long and deeply woven web of connections the local Austin scene provides after a radio station selected Ricci to play his music with a band at one of its events.
“It really is about networking,” Ricci said, “If you plant 1,000 little seeds, some of them will blossom.”
Since it started, Valice had its share of highs and lows, from its final show of its recent tour with its members decked in rhinestones to the scraped rental van that got the band to where it is now. Valice said to have consistency in releasing music, even if that meant releasing singles over albums, and emphasized having an active social media presence.
During its show at The Porch for KTSW’s Third Thursday and at the River Fest Jams concert, Valice recognized the San Marcos scene had lots of great energy.
“People were just vibing, and we’re like, ‘We should just come to San Marcos more, it feels like the new Austin in a way,'” Ricci said.
