Meet one of the indie bands performing at this now sold-out music festival in Tri-Cities

Just over a year ago, four young men with a passion for music were trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Today, those same four guys bask in the attention of local groupies, pack shows at Tri-Cities venues and are in the midst of preparing for their first music festival.

The group, which calls itself easyday, consists of 20-year-old guitarist Luke Vesely, 20-year-old drummer James Bruce, 19-year-old bassist Griffin Durham, and 20-year-old guitarist and vocalist Chase Krank.

The band will be part of the Uptown Get Down festival, the first full-scale music festival to come to Tri-Cities. The event will showcase more than 40 artists, headlined by Afroman, on June 3.

An evolution of sound

Krank is currently recovering from surgery and will not be at the festival. But he is one of the band’s founding members, along with Vesely. The two wrote songs together during the summer of 2021. They eventually started recording music, coming to the realization that they wanted to be more than some buddies who jam together — they wanted to be a band.

Thus, easyday was born. Before long, they added Bruce and Durham, bringing more complexity to their sound. Each member has layered, complex taste in music and they’ve each had different musical careers, which can be heard in what each of them bring to a song.

“We hope to challenge ourselves to make as broad and as much music as we can, so that everybody can enjoy it,” Bruce said in an interview with the Herald.

While easyday says they don’t necessarily have a ‘sound’ the band fits into, they all agree one of their biggest inspirations is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They say the band’s layered tunes inspire them to also have a unique sound, while still having at least one song for everyone, regardless of their music taste.

“I don’t want to say that we’re doing the same thing, but we’re trying to start our own sound,” Vesely said. “The best way for us to accomplish our own sound is by not defining ourselves to any sound.”

The band members all agree that they “hate the box.” They love to keep expanding their sound, challenging themselves and growing as a band.

The band is also entirely independent, recording their own music, designing their own merchandise, updating their own website and social media accounts and so on. The four members do everything aside from photography, which is handled by Hannah Harrington. They say Harrington “gives as much as they do” when capturing images of performances.

The first easyday song written by all four members together has not been released yet, but will be performed at the festival.

easyday’s musical history

Each band member has a long history around music, with at least part of it taking place in Tri-Cities.

Durham has lived in Tri-Cities for his entire life. He loves the Uptown Shopping Center, as he’s grown up around it and performed there. He says he loves playing in Tri-Cities and seeing new faces in the audience with each performance.

Vesely lived in Tri-Cities as a young kid, before moving with his family. They moved back to Tri-Cities during his eighth grade year, and in high school, he developed the deep, complex love he has for music.

Bruce also moved in and out of Tri-Cities. As a military kid, he relocated often growing up. But when he lived in Tri-Cities, he became good friends with Vesely. Both loved music and would take part whenever they could, whether it be through the school band, binge listening to music or low-key jam sessions.

While they had talked about bands plenty of times, by the time Vesely and Krank started easyday, Bruce lived in Michigan. But he moved back in 2023 and joined the band, drawn back to the Tri-Cities for its community, music scene and his existing connections.

“All of the best experiences in my entire life, hands down, have come from Tri-Cities,” Bruce said.

All members said the community in Tri-Cities has been so helpful and instrumental in their musical journeys. They say the growing music scene in the area is open to all, as long as they know where to look.

“We’re really looking forward to help bring back life into the music scene around here,” Durham said.

Like many other artists in the festival lineup, easyday believes the Uptown Get Down will be a turning point for the Tri-Cities music scene.

Behind an easyday performance

The first three easyday shows were all packed, despite a temporary drummer for the first and no drummer at all in the second. By the third show, easyday was what it is today.

The band kept performing, filling out venues like The Emerald of Siam and Caterpillar Cafe. While they say this gave them a bit of an ego, it wasn’t long before easyday was brought into the Uptown Get Down festival lineup, meaning the boys are now playing at a different level.

“We thought we were hot stuff filling out these venues, and now we’re playing on this stage where we’ve never seen this many people, much less performed for this many people,” Vesely said.

The festival has officially sold out of tickets, according to festival organizers. Around 1,200 people are expected to attend Uptown Get Down.

But the band could not be more excited for the opportunity. When asked about the anticipation, the band members described their emotions as “excited, anxious, elated and emphatic.”

There is also the fact that easyday takes a similar approach when performing as Flea, the bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is famous for going all-out on stage. He’s gone on the record saying he does this because people work hard for the money they spend on concert tickets, and he wants to deliver for them. For easyday, they say they perform with energy and enthusiasm regardless of the ticket price, too. They say they hope everyone in the audience walks away with a reason to watch them perform again.

“We don’t care if it’s a $5 ticket, a $20 ticket, a $200 ticket,” Bruce said. “People work hard to come and pay and enjoy the music. We want to give them music they can enjoy.”