The Waystation
Chicago, Illinois, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1994
Music
Press
"This is what you get when you have good production and good songwriting ...a damn good album." - RollingStone.com
"The Waystation...Take Billy Pilgrim and cross them with The Dave Matthews Band and you would get the sound I'm talking about. It won't be long before they break...But the album. You won't be disappointed." - MTV Online
"The Waystation's full-length debut features complex harmonies and compelling melodies woven around deft acoustic instrumentation. If you're a fan of Guster, Pat McGee or Rockwell Church, The Waystation won't let you down." - Aware Records
I really enjoyed this song, A Way Out by The Waystation. They've got some great words and lovely descriptions. It really, as they say, paints a picture. I think you're close to having something of a hit record here. You guys have a lot of talent. And man, I wish you the best. You keep writing like that and you have no where to go but up. You have my best wishes. - Johnny Sandlin, producer, Allman Brothers
Discography
2011: Threemore
2008: (slight return) EP
2007: downcounting EP
*Includes award-winning song 'Something About You' (ISC Singer/Songwriter Competition, Independent World Music Series, Wearelistening.org, Garageband.com)
2006 re-issue: Throw Your Hands to the Sky LP
*Includes bonus tracks
1999: The Waystation LP
*Over 100,000 downloads to date
1997: Throw Your Hands to the Sky EP
Photos
Bio
Born from dorm-room beginnings and barn-door jams, The Waystation honed their chops playing countless 10pm-2am bar gigs in their college town of Oxford, Ohio. After experimenting with a series of homemade demos and live recordings, the band released Throw Your Hands to the Sky in 1997. Subsequently spreading their wings, the band played their first shows outside Oxford and moved to Chicago after graduation in May 1998.
In Chicago, The Waystation cast off the electric guitars and jam-band sensibilities of their college days to release an all-acoustic, self-titled album in July 1999. Following the release of the album, the band played more than a hundred shows from 1999 to 2001 as a four-piece featuring the unique hand percussion of Alexander Rea.
Highlights of the 1999-2001 period included appearances in Billboard Magazine, and on national TV, as well as four unforgettable shows at the House of Blues in Chicago. Already familiar with grassroots promotion, The Waystation was quick to realize the potential of the Internet for reaching new fans. Generating letters and emails from fans on four continents, tracks from the self-titled album were downloaded more than 100,000 times.
After Nick amicably left the group in August 2001, the band finished out their summer schedule, and then took a break from performing and recording. In 2003, the band began rehearsing in Alexander's attic and soon took the stage for a series of shows in Chicago, which inspired them to work on tracks shelved after Nick's departure. With the recording unfinished, Dave moved to San Francisco. But, after three-years of sessions squeezed into trips back to Chicago, the band released the downcounting EP, which incorporated cues from modern rock radio and included the award-winning song 'Something About You' (ISC Singer/Songwriter Competition, Independent World Music Series, Wearelistening.org, Garageband.com.)
Nick returned to The Waystation in 2008 with the release of the (slight return) EP. Written in 2001, album-opener 'Leave Me Be' was reworked from an electric guitar/bass/drums track into a taut, acoustic number, exemplifying the old-is-new feeling of the EP. But, the new song 'Perfect', recorded with drummer Darren Scorza and engineer Steve Shirk, pointed the way to a fuller, live band sound.
In 2010, the band went back into the studio with Steve and Darren to record a favorite from their college days called 'Faded Child', a four-on-the-floor rocker called 'Overrated', and a brand new song called 'Old Friends'. Finished in 2011, the songs were released under the title Threemore.
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