Back in the summer of 2019, Connor and Kendall Wright of Grand Rapids indie duo Cal In Red weren’t thinking about streaming numbers, festival sets, or how to balance a growing music career with adulthood.
They were just two brothers working the same lifeguarding job, eating Wendy’s spicy chicken nuggets on their lunch breaks, and playing Porches’ “The House” religiously at least once a day.
“We had a decent amount of free time that summer,” Kendall Wright said of how Cal in Red started. “We had all this gear, and just slowly started writing and recording songs together.”
The Wright brothers have been making music together in some form for nearly a decade now. The name Cal In Red goes all the way back to their childhood, as it’s inspired by their younger brother Caleb, who was known for frequently wearing red T-shirts in elementary school.
They’ve also landed some pretty famous faces as fans over their decade of making music together.
In their previous project Mertle, the Wright brothers won indie icons The Shins’ first tour van as a prize after submitting a freezing outdoor cover of “Painting A Hole,” in front of their Subaru Outback that had “kicked it for good.” That led Shins frontman James Mercer to follow the band’s music, ultimately singing on the Cal In Red song, “Kitchen,” off their debut album, “Low Low,” released last year.
“When we made ‘Kitchen,’ right from the get I was hearing it with another voice,” Kendall Wright said. “We kind of threw a Hail Mary asking James if he’d sing on it—and he did. That falsetto he does at the end gives me chills.”
Earlier this year, Luke Steele, frontman for Australian electronic duo Empire of the Sun name dropped Cal In Red as one of his favorites, and the band’s mashup of Dayglow’s “Can I Call You Tonight” with their own “Quarterback” has emerged as their top track, with millions of streams online.
Now signed to MINT Booking, and with more than 300,000 monthly Spotify listeners, Cal In Red are set to release their new EP, “The Days,” with a special show at The Pyramid Scheme Oct. 3.
“Kendall and I recorded everything in my bedroom,” Connor Wright said. “It’s a six-track EP.”
But don’t let the modest setup fool you. For Cal In Red, “The Days” represents growth through restraint.
“I think this new EP introduces elements of saturation with the track ‘Los Angeles,’ and a less is more approach on ‘The Days,’” Connor Wright said. “Those are both areas I haven’t been comfortable exploring in the past.”
Kendall Wright said he sees the shift too.
“I’d add nostalgic and introspective,” he said about their sound. “We definitely started a lot more synth and effects heavy. I think the sound is a bit more refined on the new EP. There’s less happening, but the production sounds much more full to me. I guess that’s a credit to Connor’s production.”
Unlike earlier releases, none of the EP’s songs existed before recording began. The duo wrote the title track and “Are You Ready?” just a few months ago, and the last song, “Cut The Line,” they finished just recently.
As brothers, Kendall and Connor say they’ve been competing and collaborating for long as they can remember.
“We keep each other sharp,” Kendall Wright said about being both bandmates and siblings. “It’s a good dynamic of pushing and pulling, actually.”
“Think of me as a control freak, the perfectionist, which is very annoying for him,” Connor Wright said.
“As we get older, I realize it’s a pretty unique experience,” he added. “I feel like we both push each other to be better musicians. Of course there are challenges when it comes to writing and performing… but at the end of the day we’re still brothers by default, which simplifies things.”
That bond has carried them through the slow climb of indie-band life, from cramped DIY tours to self-producing records at home, and it continues to shape their sound.
“Honestly aside from financial and scheduling struggles, the touring experience can be awesome,” Connor Wright said. “To show up in a random city and have a handful of strangers coming to see you is surreal and something we hadn’t experienced years prior.”
Connor Wright recalled a moment at Treefort Music Festival, the five-day indie music event in Boise, Idaho, that crystallized it for him.
“Our second or third year playing Treefort, we played in some room tucked away in the afternoon,” he said. “When we started the set there were maybe 10-15 people watching. I usually play with my head down at the keys, but after 15-20 minutes or so, I looked up to see a crowd of like 100-plus people crowded in this small room. Watching that growth in real time was very reinforcing to believe in what we were doing 2,000 miles away from home.”
After the EP’s release, Cal in Red plan to continue writing, and looking for support tours and other festival opportunities.
Here in Grand Rapids, the band’s biggest show came when they opened for Bastille at GLC Live at 20 Monroe in 2023.
“Our live iterations have changed a bunch the last few years,” Kendall Wright said about their live show. “We’ve played a lot as a two-piece where Connor controls backing tracks, as well as plays synth pads, and synth bass, and I sing and play guitar. We’ve scaled up to a five-piece band before when we opened for Bastille at 20 Monroe. I’d say our most common set up these days is Connor and I playing what we normally do, but with Jonah Yoshonis joining us on drums. That’s been the touring set up the last year and a half or so. Jonah’s awesome, a great musician and great hang as well. Shout out to his project Perren.”
Proudly rooted in Grand Rapids, Kendall rattled off a long list of other local friends and peers he admires, including The Crane Wives, The Skinny Limbs, Silent Spirit, Magical Powers, Steve Leaf, Morgan Haner, Empress Eyes, Luck Plunge, Ficus, Emma Bieniewicz, The Atrics, Benjamin James Childs, Odd Space, Boob Sweat, Hi-ker, Low Phase, Major Murphy, and PHABIES, with the latter two both joining them for their EP release show Oct. 3 at The Pyramid Scheme.
“The Pyramid Scheme might be our favorite place to play in the country,” Kendall Wright said. “It’s the other artists and bands that make this place special. It’s competitive and so communal. There’s a lot of love in it. WYCE does an incredible job of championing West Michigan artists (too).”
Cal In Red “The Days” EP Release
Wsg. Major Murphy, PHABIES
The Pyramid Scheme, , Grand Rapids
Oct. 3, 7 p.m., $15 advance, $17 door, All Ages
Calinred.com, pyramidschemebar.com
