{"id":72554,"date":"2025-12-02T05:55:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/72554\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T05:55:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:55:33","slug":"the-austin-chronicle-presents-people-to-wave-to-a-docu-concert-series-spotlighting-local-bands-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/72554\/","title":{"rendered":"The Austin Chronicle Presents People To Wave To, a Docu-Concert Series Spotlighting Local Bands \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you spend enough time in Austin\u2019s music scene, you eventually meet a band that feels like a long-running inside joke with amps. New Strangers<\/a> \u2013 the post-punk trio of singer-guitarist Kyle Carpenter, drummer Nick Stout, and bassist Benton Kaufman \u2013 very much boast that brand of magic. They\u2019ve been playing together for so long that calling them \u201cbandmates\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to cover it.<\/p>\n

When I meet the musicians in their practice room, it feels like stepping into a clubhouse. Stout and Carpenter have been making noise together for 15 years, and Kaufman\u2019s been in the mix for a decade. \u201cI was kind of their fanboy and finally got asked to play something,\u201d Kaufman admits. \u201cI started playing music with them so young \u2013 at that time I wasn\u2019t really much of a musician, so I feel like they\u2019ve kind of shaped me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The years of playing together show in their live performance. Onstage at Hotel Vegas last month, New Strangers drew the outdoor crowd in from their smoke breaks with a coiled-tight rhythm section and cutting guitar riffs. For how fast and complex the songs are, the artists hardly looked to each other for guidance \u2013 they seemed telepathic.<\/p>\n

Their setlist is packed with frenetic anthems, but the bandmates say their sound has mellowed out over the years. Getting older and getting sober shifted the way Carpenter writes. \u201cWe\u2019re not as angry,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to sing more than scream at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that they\u2019ve lost their chaos entirely. The band took us down memory lane and recounted some live show horror stories, including their first \u201creal\u201d show, which was a house party at their own home where they got way too drunk right before having to rip through their fastest songs. \u201cWe\u2019re drunk and we have to play really fast?\u201d Stout laughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If their past is endearing, their future is ambitious: New Strangers plans to record their next album themselves \u2013 on tape \u2013 in that same practice room, next year. \u201cI want to roll with that: friends getting together where we play and just recording,\u201d Carpenter says. \u201cThat\u2019s how all of our favorite bands did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This month\u2019s People To Wave To docu-concert captures all of it: the history, the jokes, the growth, and the live electricity. Filmed at Hotel Vegas on Nov. 5, 2025, with additional camera work by Kailey McComas, the performance presents New Strangers exactly as they are: seasoned but not jaded, mellowed but still punchy, a tight-knit trio finding maturity without losing the spark that made them pick up instruments in the first place.<\/p>\n

Austin has watched these guys grow up. Now you can jump on the bandwagon.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

The Austin Chronicle\u00a0Presents:\u00a0People To Wave To is a docu-concert series produced by Kyra Bruce. Find more on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n

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