Scherler Sundays 01: Null State, Waves Crashing, Annie Schultz, The Cold Sweats, Fastener

New Olympia Showcase

in conversation with John Winter of Null State

Live performances and interviews from Olympia artists Null State, Waves Crashing, Annie Schultz, The Cold Sweats and Fastener. Recorded July 12 and July 19 2022 at Scherler Sundays in Olympia, WA. These are highlights from those days; if you would like to hear the unedited recordings they are being made available via patreon.com/LowProfile at any support level. These are my first interviews in front of an audience, and all of the guests are up-and-coming musicians in the Olympia scene. Presented by Three Magnets Brewing Company.

Null State’s sonic adventure fascinates me. I know little to nothing about the artist behind this beautiful music, other than I can really chill out to it and it’s been happening right under my nose for years. It’s sultry bedroom pop in its rawest form. Postmodern folk ballads played over earnest guitar and synth arrangements, recorded on equipment that sounds just shitty enough to hit that sweet spot. I feel almost voyeuristic when I hit play on their latest record, 2019’s Misguided Ventures, and I can’t wait to see them perform.

Anyone who’s been paying attention to the re-emergence of the local music scene knows that Waves Crashing is one of the hardest-working bands in the game these days. Their on-the-nose band name lands the oceanic quality of their music, re-imagining the blurry shoegaze sound of the early 1990s into a contemporary context. With an array of self-produced singles over the past two years and headlining LoveOly Music Fest this past summer, the band premiered their debut EP 'Sea of Wires' last November on DKFM Shoegaze Radio. The band's newest material, a 3-track maxi single titled "high/low" released on April 15th and features the mixing of engineers James Aparacio (London) and Kurt Roy (Seattle).

Annie Schultz is a talented new singer-songwriter on the scene to watch out for since her first live performance last summer. She commands with a blend of rawness and delicacy, thought-provoking lyrics, and a keen ear for melody, with a sound rooted in the Pacific Northwest. I’m excited to see where she goes from here, and thrilled to have her on board for this concert series.

The Cold Sweats might have been the first local rock outfit to reintroduce Olympia to live music when they played on the Cryptatropa rooftop last summer (now that’s what I call social distancing!). This power pop trio is LOUD, their songs are super catchy, and their tapes are great, too. Kudos to the Cold Sweats for this very last-minute appearance filling in for the Mona Reels!

I had the privilege of witnessing Fastener’s first public performance, when they volunteered to be the “Guinea pigs” for our Scherler Sundays equipment test run. This brand-new Olympia quartet features group vocals and face-melting guitar solos, delivering a nostalgic indie/pop punk vibe. Be the first kid on your block to get into it! They haven’t made any recordings before this. Scope this live video shot at Le Voyeur:

All recordings on this episode were engineered, mixed and mastered by Robin Carmosino. Check out his musical world on IG @robincarmosino