Patience has paid off for Overlook.
City natives Carson Bull, Colin Christenson, Sam Bellavance, and James Haines formed the band as high school students in 2016 and were booked to perform at the 2020 Middle Waves Music Festival. But after the 2020 festival was canceled, they played the waiting game.
“It was two years of silence, then an email saying, ‘You have a spot,’” Bellavance said.
“We had been reaching out, and nothing had been sent back us,” Haines added. “But then it was great that they got back to us and honored it.”
That wait is over, and they’ll be taking the St. Marys Stage today at 7:30 p.m., followed by another city native Lauren Sanderson at 8:30 p.m., and half of the OutKast duo, Big Boi, at 10 p.m. Local group Debutants gets things started at 5:15 p.m. Joey Valence & Brae were scheduled to perform at 6:45 p.m., but had to cancel due to travel issues, and local singer Addison Agen will fill the void.
Over at the free stage, DJ Lübs kicks things off at 5 p.m., followed by swimming[into]view at 6:15 p.m., Squirrel Cage at 7:15 p.m., Necromoon at 8:15 p.m., and Happy Landing at 9:15 p.m.
On Saturday, shows on the paid St. Marys stage begin with Kiwi Jr. at 12:30 p.m., followed by Timeshares at 2:15 p.m., *repeat repeat at 4 p.m., Rosie at 6 p.m., The Ike Reilly Assassination at 7:45 p.m., and Young the Giant at 9:30 p.m. At the free St. Joseph Stage, Atomic Sharks open things up at 12:15 p.m., followed by Tofu at 1:15 p.m., Los Galaxy at 2:15 p.m., Tuesday Atlas at 3:15 p.m., Mic Strong at 4:15 p.m., Thematic at 5:15 p.m., Uncle Muscle at 6:15 p.m., Rogues & Bandits at 7:15 p.m., and Stay Outside at 8:30 p.m.
After playing with Uncle Muscle, guitarist Kellen Baker joins his other band, Namen Namen, at Flashback Live for the AfterWaves party, taking the stage at 10:45 p.m., followed by DJ Lübs.
“I’m going to be there early to see the festival, then plug in for Uncle Muscle, then get off stage, hang for an hour, and get to AfterWaves,” Baker said of his busy day, which will close with a unique Namen Namen show.
“We’re playing a little longer than normal, so we’re going to throw some curveballs, play some stuff we haven’t played before and stuff we don’t normally play,” he said.
For Overlook, who released their first self-titled EP in 2018 and first full-length album in 2020, instead of sitting around waiting to hear from Middle Waves, they packed up and headed to Nashville, Tennessee, in January.
“We’ve been playing on Broadway, playing covers just to hang out and sell our brand, but we’ve been doing our own shows down there, too,” Bellavance said.
Before Thursday night’s show at the Brass Rail with Home Phone, Namen Namen, and Sweet Pill out of Pennsylvania, Overlook’s last show in the city was Dec. 23 at the Tiger Room.
“We got a bunch of equipment, threw it in the car, and came up,” Haines said about hearing about the Middle Waves booking. “We booked a show with Namen Namen and Home Phone so we could hang with our friends.”
“It’s like vacation, where we get to play shows and see family,” Christenson said.
But living in Nashville means friends aren’t too far away, being a popular stop when bands are touring.
“That’s the beautiful thing about living in Nashville,” Haines said. “All of our Fort Wayne friends stop by to play, then it’s like, ‘Oh, you need shelter and food? Come on over, and I’ll cook up some pasta!’ And I love being that guy.”