Have you heard of Wave 11? If you haven’t, chances are you will soon. This trio of insanely talented friends, currently based in Grand Junction, CO is one of the groups we are keeping our eye on. We got to catch up with them and see where they’re heading next!
Wave 11 consists of Zack Couron (Strings/Vocals), Derek Suiter (Drums) and Charles Walker (Keys, Vocals).
Here’s our interview with Zack, Derek and Charles!
What made you guys want to get into music?
“I had a really good friend from Hawaii that was super good at guitar and it inspired me a lot to pick one up and learn from him.” – Zack
“My father was a state organist of CNW NorthWest, a church organization that is widely recognized. With him having to travel to a lot of musical events, many styles influenced my spark into singing and playing.” – Charles
“My family made me want to get into music. Majority of my family plays an instrument or sings and it was just always around me.” – Derek
Elaborate on your writing and/or recording and/or playing a show process.
“The writing process for me is a tough one. I’m not one of those people where I can just sit down and write genius stuff whenever I want like Charles. I get inspired in certain moments and I have to pick up a guitar and start singing then hopefully something good comes out of that. The recording process is a bit different, we make sure we have a song locked in the exact way we want it, then we start tracking and add in anything else from there. As far as playing a show goes we usually do a couple things beforehand… For the most part we will all take a shot of Tequila to get stoked, then chant our mantra together, then rock it to the best of our ability!” – Zack
“I’d have to say our writing process comes from simply jamming. We could start with a simple bass line and continue to jam on it to a point where we start to get the juices flowing for a new song. For example, our song “GrandDaddy Funk” was purely a jam that turned into one of our most popular songs. As far as our show process, practice makes perfect and being able to bring that work to stage is all the world to me and I’m sure the rest of the band.” – Charles
“We all usually bring something to the table and everyone feeds into it with their own flare.” – Derek
What inspires you? Who are your musical inspirations?
“My musical inspirations are always changing, I constantly listen to new stuff through YouTube and if there is something I really latch onto then I will probably listen to it 45 times in a week and pick something up from it. Right now I really love the song Habit by The Movement and it inspires me every time I hear it. My long time inspiration will always be Bradley Nowell from Sublime.” – Zack
“Personal experiences definitely play a huge part. For me, I’ve lived really good and really bad. So being able to shed some light on my life story is important because it can relate to someone else that may be feeling the same way. Music is all about being able to communicate in a feeling, memory, emotion, etc.” – Charles
“Other artists’ music is what inspires me. I want to make music that will make others feel the way I feel when I hear something I can’t stop listening to.” – Derek
What’s your favorite thing about working with each other?
“My favorite thing about working with these dudes is the level of wackiness not only on the stage but off as well. It is important to have a good time with the people you work with and we are always laughing about something stupid.” – Zack
“My favorite thing about working with the boys (Zack and Derek) is being able to be myself. I’m an introverted person when I’m not on stage so it’s cool to be able to let loose and create with people like me.” – Charles
“My favorite thing about working with each other is that once we hit the stage, we are all there in the moment, to give the people a good show.” – Derek
Where was the first venue you guys played and where is your dream venue?
“First actual venue we played was Mesa Theater as a duo (Zack & Charles). However, the first gigs we were ever playing were at Applebee’s every single Wednesday night under the name Chuck Jay & Zack. We had our name on the Applebee’s marquis and everything 😂” – Zack
“The first place Wave 11 performed was Mesa Theater, when it was just me and Zack as a duo. We opened up for an artist named Mighty Mystic. And a dream venue would be either the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, Ca. or the Fillmore in San Francisco, Ca.” – Charles
“I don’t remember where we first played together… but a dream venue is Red Rocks” – Derek
What’s coming up for you all next?
“Right now we are working on new music, we have about 6 new songs in the practice routine and we are slated to release a few singles this Summer with hopefully a new album in the Winter or Spring 2021. Also, we are putting a week-long run through all the hot spots in Colorado in July so keep a lookout for that!” – Zack
“Nothing but new levels! Working on our new album and setting up a tour in this lovely state of Colorado.” – Charles
“The next move is to move. Tour a lot more, build relationships, build the brand, never stop writing music, continue to better our show for our fans.” – Derek
Make sure to keep up with Wave 11 on Spotify and try to catch a show if you’re in CO! You won’t regret it.
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