photo by Hannah Altman
Indie band Nevada Color performed at The Beerhive during the first annual Strip District Music Festival. Band members are Point Park alumni Jeremy Westhead, Quinn Wirth, Chris Cichra, Max Kovalchuk and senior sports, art and entertainment management major Adam Valen.
Four Point Park graduates and a current student formed a band that has been growing in popularity since its start in 2012. These five individuals organized and became one when they all left their own bands to join together in a power indie pop group, Nevada Color.
Adam Valen, Max Kovalchuk, Chris Cichra, Jeremy Westhead and Quinn Wirth found that they were able to release music while becoming more close-knit friends.
“A practice a day keeps the mistakes a way,” Westhead said in an interview last Tuesday at their practice studio.
After three years, four EPs, big and small gigs in Pittsburgh and a tour up and down the eastern seaboard, the group has grown. Now bigger, fuller and with a deeper sound, they added more rock and are hoping a big gig at Stage AE will continue its upward spiral.
“I write what I’m experiencing and write what I’m feeling and hope that other people can relate to that also,” Kovalchuk said in an interview last Tuesday. “I try to be very honest with the songs.”
The band finds inspiration from multiple groups such as Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse, The Killers, Jacks Mannequin, The Talking Heads, Two Door Cinema Club, The Smiths and more.
In the summer of 2014, the group decided to go on a one-month tour. They packed up a van, every seat filled and embarked on their journey. The band started in Philadelphia and hit some other east coast states around the area. They then headed up to Connecticut where they met a man who took them to lunch and booked them a gig. Their next destination was New York City, and shortly following, they headed down to D.C. where they would end up celebrating a bachelor party, playing a gig and losing one of their wallets.
The five stumbled into a small town where they had the opportunity to play in a barn for around 200 people. On their days off, they got the chance to sight see and see places such as the world’s largest tree house, Minister’s Tree House in Tennessee.
As the month ended and tour came to a close, the five headed back to Pittsburgh.
“If anything, we were closer after it,” Valen said in an interview Tuesday.
Although they have returned, their work continues here in the city. As their band gets older, things have become more serious with their music. When they look back at where they started their first gig at local Smiling Moose in the summer of 2012, they can see their growth within the past few years.
“We had a half hour set, and we played through our set in 15 minutes. We were so excited to play,” Cichra said in an interview last Tuesday in the South Side.
After developing themselves around Pittsburgh and local areas, they started booking more and more gigs. Just recently, Nevada Color played in the first Strip District Music Festival at the Beerhive, where it was packed and overflowing out the doors.
They are working to release a new EP this spring/summer with brand new songs. They are more than excited to be opening for Cold War Kids at Stage AE on the main stage March 17.
Their music is available to purchase on iTunes and to stream from Spotify.
