From San Marcos to Austin City Limits – The University Star - Texas News Beep

“There’s a lot of love for music in Austin, but I think San Marcos just had, you know, such an intimate scene that made it like, well, it would be easy just to get your foot in the door and play at the colleges,” McBride said. “There’s a lot of programs that I think just help student bands, like get in front of the college and play music.”

The band started with McBride and Gerlach, who grew up together and eventually found Holmquist, who lived down the hall from the two. They met Speer a year later and formed The 4411. The band members believe it is important to honor and showcase their roots and how they’ve grown, from an EP dedicated to coming of age in San Marcos to basing their name on one of their hometown addresses.

“I think the whole EP has a very coming of age through college [feel],” McBride said. “It feels very connected to who we are and especially the past year that we [were] working on it. So I think with Sunset Calling, you just need to highlight how much fun we had in college as a band, but also just with each other as friends.”

Former Texas State students Nick Speer (left) and Cogan McBride (right) performs at Austin City Limits, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, at Zilker Park. The 4411s are a local San Marcos band that opened the ACL Music Festival.