On Jan. 27, Canopy + the Roots welcomed local band Steady the Wave back for a second performance in the space. The setlist contained originals, faithful covers and performances of unreleased tracks.
Their lead vocalist Futch, who spent the night leading the show with high- energy interludes between songs. The band itself coming across as if it had been performing together for years.
Trey Fuller, drummer for the band, comes forth on their history. “About three years ago, I kind of came up with this silly little group in my head. like a ‘if I were to start a band, these are the people that it would be’ kind of thing.” After some deliberation, Fuller realized that this ideal band didn’t have to exist figuratively. In April 2022, Steady the Wave was born with everything but a name.
Fuller credits the name of the group to his wife. When coming up with a name, their inspiration came from bands like Young the Giant and Foster the People, opting for a formula of “adjective “the” noun.”
As for the actual meaning, he states, “Ever seen the ocean do a rip curl? If you’re surfing, once you get inside, you never want to leave. Musically, we’re always chasing that position or feeling. Trying to steady that feeling. There’s a verse in the Bible that also inspired the name, James 1:6 if you wanna look it up. The joke meaning is because “Surfs Up” is my favorite movie.”
This past performance was their second at Canopy + the Roots, the question of how many shows they have actually performed comes to mind. Fuller answers, “technically only three times. Once in Cleveland and twice in Dahlonega.” Although the venue of Canopy + the Roots itself is small when compared to other venues, that doesn’t mean that these shows don’t attract crowds.
The seats were filled with people familiar and unfamiliar with the band, when asked about his thoughts when it comes to turnout for these shows Fuller states, “What’s insane is that we’ve had a pretty decent crowd both times. It’s insane to me that people want to see this chaos.”
Along with everything that goes into actually performing, the band says there are hours and hours of work behind the scenes creating the music they perform. The band itself is composed of five people meaning that the creative process is far different than most, “I usually start the lyrics and send them to the band, they help me proofread or change! Our guitar player Caleb and I live near each other, so next is usually us jamming. After that, we send the idea to the band and meet as a five-piece to stretch it out and come up with things. We all live in different parts of Georgia, so when we do meet it’s all hands on deck.”
Fuller says Paramore and The Band Camino are major inspirations for the band with smaller influences from artists like Lawrence, Juice and Harry Styles. This inspiration is not only felt in their original pieces but in their setlists as well with renditions of Paramore’s “Hard Times” and “Ain’t it Fun” at shows.
Despite only being around for two years officially, Steady the Wave have two singles out on streaming services and new music on the horizon. Follow along with their growth @steadythewave on Instagram.
