Sideshow Maestros recently visited the WYSO studios for a live session on Kaleidoscope. The band talked with host Juliet Fromholt about their long musical history together and what's coming up.
The origins of Sideshow Maestros stretch back to the 1980s when Dave Bowman (lead vocals/guitar)
and Derek Wade (rhythm guitar / vocals) began making music together as middle school students in north Springfield. They soon recruited Derek's younger brother Dustin Wade (bass/vocals) and Rob Fenwick (drums). Keyboard player Chris Marks is a more recent addition to the group, which has performed together on and off, under a variety of names, since.
Dustin says that even after a gap in playing music together, the early meetings for what would become Sideshow Maestros were fruitful. "We hadn't played together for like, 15, 20 years. So we said, 'Hey, let's get back together and try something.' And we met at Dave's house and it was like, 'Hey, how are you doing? All right. Now, what are we gonna play?' It was just it right back into it, like, we just practiced last week."
Dave Bowman says that it's refreshing to be able to focus on the joy of music at this point in their lives. "None of us are young in terms of the typical rock band. So to have something that you're just doing for the pure joy of it, with no illusions of like, someday we're going to make the big time...The big time is like, 'hey, let's go play three songs at open stage with Kyleen [Downes] at Peaches right down the road. Or let's go to Yellow Cab and play six songs and like, just pour your heart into that moment of being on stage. It's just so fun, and it's not something you get to do kind of in everyday life."
Sideshow Maestros will perform in Marysville on August 16 at Ramsey's Pizza and Pub. On August 31, they'll perform at the State Theater in Springfield with Factory Line.
