On Nov. 5, the student band Redwall performed their second-largest and most advertised concert in Southlake following their performances at the Relay for Life Festival and other venues around town. 

Redwall is made up of CSHS juniors Bates Pulliam, Dominick (Nick) Esposito, Joe Brickner and Carson Lackey who have been performing together for the past six years, though they have known each other since elementary school.

Pulliam plays the guitar and piano, Esposito plays the bass, Brickner sings and plays the guitar, and Lackey plays the drums.The band changed their name from, “10,000 Stuff” to “Redwall” after a red wall in the band’s practice room at Soar Music School. 

The band plays and performs primarily new rock, or indie-rock music citing Vance Joy and the Brook and the Bluff as their main sources of inspiration and similarity in music style and lyric. Their latest song debuted at the Nov. 5 concert, hinting at a possibility for new music. 

Redwall’s current EP, “Old Stuff” is an album of their older, and initial music. The band’s personal favorites out of their current releases include “Blast Off” and the single “Stranger.” 

“We want to release some newer stuff because it’s stuff that we can know, be more I would say proud of you know, we’ll enjoy playing it more. We feel like we’ve kind of found our vibe more.” 

The band is known for their performances and concerts. Their most recent concert was at Pulliman’s backyard where the band performed for a crowd of 50 to 60 people in the audience. 

The concert, they said, was “really energetic” and admittedly worth the extra preparation and planning put into it. 

Previously, the band has performed at Ridgeview Lounge at Fort Worth, White’s Chapel, and Relay for Life, their first “in town game,” which garnered the largest crowd out of the four performances.

The band members of Redwall have to balance school and extracurricular activities. Members of the band said that the hardest part of being part of a band was “Finding the time to do it.”

“Nick wrestles, Joe plays golf, Carson and [Bates] are in band,” Lackey said. 

Practicing new music, organizing venue details and working on skills and techniques often takes longer than the one hour a week allotted to rehearsal. 

Redwall band member’s favorite part about being a band is their exclusivity amongst students at Carroll, “We’re the only band that people know about,” Lackey said.

The performers say that for them being in a band is, “a way to hang out with [their] friends in a different way” making it a “pretty unique experience,” citing the concert as an especially memorable takeaway that they are “not gonna get to share that with anyone else.” 

The band has two main pointers for upcoming student musicians and bands: “Be friends with the people before you start the band” and to remember that “learning an instrument is not easy and it is not fun.” 

Redwall members contrasted their experience as a band of friends with performing with strangers, affirming the importance of starting out with a close knit group. The members also recalled that not everyone started out playing an instrument.

Lackey said, “you don’t all have to play the instruments, it’s just about wanting to make music. The end goal, I feel like, is to have fun.” 

In order to make music band members have to be invested in learning and playing an instrument. 

Redwall members said that “it’s not fun, like the beginning of learning instruments”, adding, “so you can tough it out for like a few weeks.” However, they add, “the reward is insane. Being able to play an instrument is really cool.” 

Redwall will perform on Dec. 16 from 7:30-9 pm at the Platinum Music Complex in North Richland Hills. Tickets for the concert cost $7 and can be purchased here. 

More information on upcoming events can be found on their Instagram page at redwalltheband and their music can be found on Spotify here.