Exploring how musicians come together to create

Story by Logan Schrieber

The bar suddenly goes dark. A magenta light flashes, and a wave of sound swallows everyone inside overlapping melodies, emotion radiating from each note. Four silhouettes appear — the one and only Magenta Wave.

As the lights flash, the silhouettes become more pronounced. The bassist grins; the drummer flails his arms and head around like the drum set owes him money; the guitarist’s long hair drapes as he grunges through his strings. Then a man steps up to the microphone, and the band becomes one.

How are these four sentient individuals able to come together to create a piece they can all happily call their own? If it took four people to make “Magical Mystery Tour,” then the answer must be rooted somewhere in collaboration, and it seems like Magenta Wave may be on their way to discovering it. Guitarist Taylor Mastin said that finding chemistry is always the group’s number one priority, while the second is always being open to feedback and not taking rejected ideas personally.

“We’re always open to try people’s ideas,” Mastin said. “If it doesn’t work out, it’s cool, it’s whatever. At the end of the day, we all want to do what’s best for the song. We all love each other. It’s coming from a place of love. We’re just all working on this thing that we really care about.”

The chemistry is clear and visible as the band members interact with each other, sitting on their couch under a massive Black Sabbath poster inside their welcoming home in Seattle. Laughter fills the room as they reminisce on basslines that were more funny than funky. Upon entering their space, you feel an immediate sense of calm, hope and love. If anyone should be in a band together, it’s these guys.

Between work and living life, creating new songs has taken a back seat as they mostly practice what they would like to play for shows. That’s why living together gives them extra time to jam out, which is where most of their song creation starts. Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Grayson Thompson said that many songs start right in their living room, all of them brainstorming ideas together to see what works.

“You’ll just feel it. Then we all kind of feel it. We just know,” Thompson said. “The four of us are putting our heart and soul into something and that’s what it is. We’re trying to make the best quality song and display an emotion. So we have to work together.”

Drummer Kellen Larsen and bassist Nathaniel “Landy” McCurley make up the band’s rhythm section. Once a melody is configured, Larsen and McCurley find the right grooves and beat to complete the song.

“It’s really interesting seeing [Mastin and Thompson] work together because there are always moments that are fun for me as a drummer,” Larsen said. “I’m trying to create a feel. I watch these guys do an acoustic jam. [Thompson or Mastin] has a guitar in their hand and one of them will be like, ‘Love that chord progression, play that again.’ Then the other will hop on guitar and work with it and [Thompson] will start trying to figure out a vocal melody.”

Growing up all around the country with many different influences in life has led to the band members having different, unique perspectives on songwriting and life. However, they all share at least two common perspectives: Music as expression is something that is almost as necessary as food or water, and the simple joy of sharing music can bring many different outlooks together to create something cohesive.

“We all came from different aspects of life and view things differently,” McCurley said. “Music really brings us together and our love for music is all the same and based in emotional expression. That’s where we really come together. The more we live together and the more we grow together, the easier it is for us to tap into that more spiritual connection through music.”

Having the same goals keeps the band in rhythm. Each member wants the group to play on the big stage, and they all take every chance they get to spread their music.

Around the end of 2022, Magenta Wave’s former vocalist had moved to Los Angeles to pursue music school, leaving the band on hiatus. They were left questing for a new direction, unsure how to move forward – they wanted Thompson to join due to his phenomenal voice, but he was already in another band.

Then Thompson’s former band went their separate ways. He decided to take up Magenta Wave’s offer to jam, and they had a blast, leading them to play a small concert together shortly after. The new Magenta Wave was officially formed a few weeks later. They were on a roll again, ready for a big comeback.

“It was a perfect natural progression,” McCurley said. “Like, everything worked out as it was supposed to.”

They made the move from Bellingham to Seattle in September 2023, and have since made their house a home of eager musicians. With their eyes on the prize, the members of Magenta Wave are determined that their bonds will help get them to their destination. They all know exactly what they want.

Not every musician has the same goal of making it big — some play just for the fun of it. Alejandro Albright-Reveles, a second-year music student at Western Washington University, is a saxophonist and bassist for several Bellingham acts. Albright-Reveles has to balance multiple pieces of music, playing just about every other night of the week with different bands.

A full-time Western student, Albright-Reveles not only participates in at least five bands, but he is also a member of Western’s jazz band, wind symphony and saxophone quartet. He said that each group has aspects that make his time fun and that he loves to meet new people in the supportive Bellingham community.

“It’s really special being able to meet so many cool people and musicians who have different backgrounds,” Albright-Reveles said. “Musicians, we like to understand each other.”

And there is a ton of emphasis on understanding each other. Albright-Reveles’s face brightened when he got the chance to talk about his passion: he simply plays for the love of music.

Playing for bands like Atomic Affair, who play bluesy rock, or No Mars, an indie rock group, or the jazz group Problem Collective, Albright-Reveles gets to explore multiple genres, enhancing his understanding of music as a whole every time he plays. He even plays live for hip-hop artists like Dank Zalava.

Getting the opportunity to play music is a major factor in why he joins so many other musicians, but Albright-Reveles noted that he also loves playing in front of a crowd.

“The energy is infectious. All it takes is one person to start jumping ... next thing you know the whole crowd is jumping,” Albright-Reveles said. “I feel like if you show love to the people here in Bellingham, they always show love back. It’s a super complex, supportive community.”

Playing with different bands of different genres means that he has to navigate through multiple styles of rehearsal and live performance. Albright-Reveles said that most bands follow a strict rehearsal and song structure, but he enjoys the freeform feel of playing with the Problem Collective, which relies on the improvisation integral to jazz.

After playing together for a while, everyone on stage learns each other’s cues, allowing the other performers to adapt in an instant.

“We’re communicating the whole time,” Albright-Reveles said. “That free-form stuff, it’s all about looking at each other for that communication and making something beautiful in the moment.”

What may also be surprising about the communication between the musicians on stage is that it does get as simple as saying what’s next.

“We mouth it and give them a look,” Albright-Reveles said. “On the spot I’ll be like, ‘A-minor,’ or, ‘D-sharp major,’ and we’ll go to it.”

Albright-Reveles also plays bass guitar for another Bellingham act, Girl Parallel.

Girl Parallel is the not-so-secret alter ego of fourth-year Western student Ramya Rajasekhar, who studies marketing and uses that to her advantage to promote her music to a wide audience. Rajasekhar is the sole creator of Girl Parallel songs, both writing and producing the music. She recruits other musicians to back her during live performances.

Rajasekhar’s goals reach beyond her own music. She wants to help bring more women and people of color into Bellingham’s male-dominated music scene, and her ultimate vision is a future where no one with a passion for music will ever have to feel excluded from collaborative opportunities.

“That kind of does play a little bit into how I don’t feel super invited into the scene,” Rajasekhar said. “But people have been very nice and supportive, and I have a lot of friends that are very supportive of my music. So I wouldn’t say I don’t feel completely unwelcome. It’s just a little bit of an intimidating community, I would say. Everyone’s just kind of closed off, doing their own thing, pursuing their own projects. It’s hard to open your mind to other people.”

Collaboration can be difficult in most realms of life — take merging onto the freeway for example — and music is no different. It’s hard not to be offended when things don’t go your way, or when there are conflicts of ideas. Rajasekhar said that she’s dealt with conflicting ideas in the past due to differences in genres — while many bands and musicians in Bellingham are more rock-based, her music is rooted in R&B.

“Sometimes you gotta accept that it won’t work out with some people, but it’s like the metaphor, ‘as one door closes, another one’s gonna open,’” Rajasekhar said. “I’ve worked to cultivate a community for myself and just bond with people because music should be collaborative. I’m seeking more of that kind of community aspect.”

In Girl Parallel’s infancy, Rajasekhar has started to form that desired community, recruiting local musicians and playing house shows with other bands in the area. She doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

“I’m gonna continue to make myself heard and provide the space for myself,” Rajasekhar said. “I’m really proud of all the work I’ve put in to create a space for myself in this community. I just hope it sets a path for other women of color in Bellingham who are wanting to go into the music scene and just let them know that they can do it even if it doesn’t feel like the community is really encouraging them to.”

From the tangible chemistry of Magenta Wave to Albright-Reveles’s need to play in every band possible to Rajasekhar’s will to push for herself and others, it seems that one thing is clear – musicians are magnetic, and they tend to find each other through a shared desire to improve through collaboration. Music is not created in a vacuum. Like most things, it’s better done in good company.