Live music is back in full force in West Michigan, and along with that comes a new wave of bands ready to kick off their careers.

There’s no argument that La Dispute’s upcoming show at GLC Live at 20 Monroe on Sept. 28 will be the biggest concert of their entire career.

When Chris Carrabba songwrites, he clears his calendar.

Musicians don’t get the luxury of planning for their big break, but for drummer Spencer York, that was a good thing. When York joined the post-hardcore band Movements a decade ago, he was merely hoping to make a name for himself where he grew up: in Orange County’s local music scene. 

After Mikel Jollett, singer/songwriter/best-selling author, and frontman for L.A. indie rock band The Airborne Toxic Event, finished his memoir, “Hollywood Park,” he didn’t know what he’d write about next.

There’s a cold, hard truth that to have success in the music industry in 2024, the algorithms that dominate the Internet need to work for you. For long-time Grand Rapids band The Crane Wives, they just didn’t, until one day they suddenly did.

When Chicago EDM duo Louis The Child takes the stage at this year’s Breakaway Music Festival in Grand Rapids, expect the unexpected. 

Looking over this year’s list of Best of the West Music finalists makes one thing perfectly clear: live music didn’t just survive the pandemic, it’s back and it’s thriving.

So often in music, like in life, timing is everything. That’s definitely the case for rising Grand Rapids jazz fusion group Pocket Watch.

Sameer Gadhia of Young The Giant didn’t originally dream of being a lead singer.