Pre-Destined Friendships, Front Row Punches, and a Sold Out Show
My favorite musical origin story.
In the spring of 2023, we were planning a Wilmah show at Baby’s All Right. It was the first show where I would be an official member of the team and I was excited. The band was randomly put on a bill with another up-and-coming group called Cab Ellis. At that point, none of us had heard of them. Some of us (me) didn’t know what to make after listening to their discography on Spotify. But Wilmah and I went to see them play at a house show in Brooklyn and halfway through the first song I was undoubtedly and utterly sold.
As the months went by we all got to know each other in the crowds of shows or at crowded bars. Greg started playing with Wilmah as well and added a new layer of sound to the group. In May of 2024, the two bands re-united for a second time at Baby’s All Right and the annual Cab/Wilmah show was established.
By then, one of my best friends (hey Ronnie!) had joined the Cab team. We originally met and bonded over music so to be on similar professional journeys brought us closer in new and wished for ways. I suddenly had someone to bounce ideas off of, solve questions with, and perhaps most importantly, someone who truly understood why dedicating yourself to a group of Brooklyn musicians you believe in was worth it. When I started with Wilmah, I didn’t know anyone else. Especially not someone who did the type of work I did. Now, I have an extremely talented partner and one of a kind friend. I like to think it was meant to be.
Everything kicked up a notch when Wilmah joined Cab on the road last summer. We hit Philly, Buffalo, and Cleveland during an incredibly hot week in July. It was the first time I’d been on the road and to be there alongside my two favorite bands was the most ideal scenario. Staying in a Cleveland Airport-adjacent Motel 6 with hair in the shower and smoke in the air was not. However, walking into a Cracker Barrel unshowered and asking for a table for 14 really bonds you in a memorable way.
A week wasn’t long enough and the two bands toured together again last fall. This time Wilmah joined the run in Memphis and went along to Bowling Green, New Orleans, Birmingham, and Raleigh. The drives were longer but the experience was more than worth it. Both bands were testing new music on this run and it felt nothing short of an honor to hear both sets back to back night after night. Almost a year later and it’s still hard to put into words what that trip meant to me. It was a fulfillment of a dream alongside a level of talent I felt fortunate to know. I could talk more about the venues, or the southern food, or our night out in New Orleans (actually, better not) but we did our best to sum it up in the tour vlog (of which I think I’m 75% of views.)
Why have I been recounting history? Because last Monday night was the 2025 installment of the annual Cab/Wilmah show. This time, at a sold out Mercury Lounge. The setlists may have changed but the excitement to play together remained the same. Wilmah welcomed a new guitarist (shoutout Joey) and debuted a new song called “Everything in the World” (banger.) The crowd packed the room from stage to door and enthusiastically sang back, "I can’t get it up!” and “except all of the time!” in between claps and cheers. Matt had them hanging on each word and I had fun hearing my dad “woo!” next to me.
The Wilmah live performance continues to get better and better. Being in the audience feels like being at a big party where everyone is welcomed and the fun lasts till the early hours. In other words, exactly a place I want to be.
Cab took the stage after for the final show of their residency and live album recording. They played longer than usual and yet the crowd (including me) never wanted the night to end. The setlist had songs off their recently released album and held the audience’s rapt attention from start to finish. The moshing was unavoidable and the energy pulsed off the walls while the ground shook beneath. I was (lightly) punched in the nose as yet another reminder of the sacrifice it takes to man the front row.
It simultaneously felt like the end of one era and the ushering in of the next. Songs that have soundtracked the last two years of my life are phasing out while ones that already accompany some of my favorite recent memories are solidifying their spots. My dad was particularly excited to hear his new favorite “Crumbs of the Crumbled World” and I was proud of how many words he knew in “The East Coast Hold On.”
I spent the later part of the night surrounded by my favorite people celebrating success in our favorite thing. It’s not lost on me how special it is to have these sort of relationships in an industry infamous for surface level connections. What started as a mutual love for music has turned into camaraderie, support, and stories I’ll be talking about for years to come. I’ll always be grateful to the booker at Baby’s for putting these two bands together. And I’ll always be grateful to these bands for giving me the opportunities I’d been searching for. Here’s to future Cab/Wilmah shows. One day at MSG.