Musicians don’t get the luxury of planning for their big break, but for drummer Spencer York, that was a good thing. When York joined the post-hardcore band Movements a decade ago, he was merely hoping to make a name for himself where he grew up: in Orange County’s local music scene. 

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• Movements

After Mikel Jollett, singer/songwriter/best-selling author, and frontman for L.A. indie rock band The Airborne Toxic Event, finished his memoir, “Hollywood Park,” he didn’t know what he’d write about next.

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• The Airborne Toxic Event

There’s a cold, hard truth that to have success in the music industry in 2024, the algorithms that dominate the Internet need to work for you. For long-time Grand Rapids band The Crane Wives, they just didn’t, until one day they suddenly did.

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• Patty PerShayla

When Chicago EDM duo Louis The Child takes the stage at this year’s Breakaway Music Festival in Grand Rapids, expect the unexpected. 

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• Belknap Park

Looking over this year’s list of Best of the West Music finalists makes one thing perfectly clear: live music didn’t just survive the pandemic, it’s back and it’s thriving.

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• Best of the West

So often in music, like in life, timing is everything. That’s definitely the case for rising Grand Rapids jazz fusion group Pocket Watch.

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• Pocket Watch

Sameer Gadhia of Young The Giant didn’t originally dream of being a lead singer.

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• Young the Giant

The right soundtrack can take even the best road trip to the next level. So venture through our handpicked playlist of some of the most exciting artists in West Michigan when you decide to head out of town for something new this summer.

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• Playlist

No one is more surprised by the seemingly overnight success of country-rock outfit The Red Clay Strays than the band members themselves.

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• Touring Music

"We got robbed this morning,” said Max Rainer, lead singer of Wilderado, the day of our interview.

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