Alternative rock band Red Wanting Blue will pass through Youngstown to play a student-only show at Youngstown State University’s The Hub as part of its tour.
That is, if they make it here.
“There have been a lot of vehicle breakdowns and other stuff. No matter how diabolical they may feel, usually afterwards, we end up looking back on them and laugh about it,” said lead singer Scott Terry. “Usually hardships bring people together.”
The band’s tight-knit relationship started over a decade ago at Ohio University. Terry said the band’s humble beginnings stretch back to 1996, during what he refers to as the “incubator stage.”
“When you’re young and starting, all you know is that you want to be in a band,” Terry said. “We would wake up in the morning, look in the mirror — if there is a mirror — and start the day.”
Red Wanting Blue has toured all over the country and released nine studio albums, including “From the Vanishing Point,” their most recent work.
Band members said they do not have a specific influence, but that they would like to become an influence.
“Certainly we’ve all got artists that we look up to. Everyone has their own personal heroes,” Terry said. “For us, it was most important to go out there and be as honest as we can be and sing about our lives.”
Terry said the band ultimately wants to be the soundtrack to people’s lives.
“We have someone fighting cancer come up to us and say, ‘Your song “Finger in the Air” is my fighting song,’ or someone who is divorced and their life is in shambles tell us that our song ‘Red Rider’ is what gets them up in the morning and gets them moving,” Terry said. “It gives us hope that someone out there needs our songs, and that’s the stuff that really gets us going.”
Terry said he hopes the band will be well known throughout the country, and even worldwide, one day. The fans, he said, are the motivation behind Red Wanting Blue’s success.
“It’s probably the most peaceful coexistence that I’ve ever known,” Terry said about the band’s fan base. “We feed off of their energy, and they feed off of ours.”
Red Wanting Blue’s publicist, Mike Farley, has been working with the band for more than eight years. He said that working with such talented and driven artists makes a publicist’s job easy.
“This band has a very passionate and devoted fan base, and they have done it the right way — building grassroots following in every market they play — for several years,” Farley said. “I feel like they are finally achieving the success that goes along with that.”
Farley said Red Wanting Blue is “one of the best live touring bands in the country, hands down.”
Terry said the band is feeling a lot of love coming back to Ohio. Drummer Dean Anshutz is a YSU graduate, which is one of the many reasons why the band looks forward to the campus show.
“We play a lot of club debuts and music halls where anybody can walk in and buy a ticket, but I think what attracts us to play at YSU, or any college, is that we are notorious in that area,” Terry said. “It’s exciting to potentially reach out and meet new young fans.”
Terry said shows at universities have special kinds of audiences that can decide on their own if they like what they hear.
“Institutions for higher education always seem to be breeding grounds for creativity and open minds,” Terry said. “It’s a good place to get fans, and I think that’s why a lot of the reason that a lot of bands start in college.”
Red Wanting Blue’s members said they are looking forward to visiting Ohio, the state in which they originated.
“We’re feeling a lot of momentum right now, and we’ve been feeling a lot of love from Ohio,” Terry said. “They’ve really helped push our band into a lot of new places. We’re feeling more and more endless.”
Terry, who said he could fill a novel with all of the stuff that the band has experienced, sees a bright future for the band, whose members collectively vowed to be “lifers” in the music industry.
“I hope that we’ve collected enough in karma over the years. I feel that we’ve earned whatever stripes there are to be earned,” Terry said.
“Youngstown was one of our earliest stomping grounds, and it’s awesome to know that we’re making people in Youngstown proud.”
