Driven by their determination to reach the ACL stages before graduation, the indie rock five-peice passionately achieved their goal, becoming the first all-current-UT-student band to do so at their 1:30pm set on Sunday of weekend one.
West 22nd flyers fluttered on light poles within the bustling streets of west campus as the group of University of Texas at Austin sophomores practiced for their first college party gigs in fall 2022. Two jammed-packed years later, their navigation of the music industry and original indie rock hits rewarded them an overspilling crowd for the Austin City Limits Music Festival in the Titos Tent.
“Everyone thinks we’re just like ‘Oh, yeah, no big deal playing ACL, but we’re not.” said lead guitarist Jeremy Ancheta. “We’ve been working really hard. It’s been a long time coming.”
From the beginning of the band’s formation, they repeatedly hustled trying to rock recognizable venues in the Live Music Capital until they received an early set at Hole in the Wall. Directly after the show, Gabe Acevedo (rhythmic guitarist/vocalist) and Logan Madsen (lead vocalist) began writing music.
Acevedo said pushing their original music from the start and always trying to sell tickets allowed them to become more than just a college band. Their EP and premier single “Sunburns,” now standing at nearly two million streams on Spotify, skyrocketed the charismatic five-piece to stages around the country.
“You gotta love your music,” Acevedo said. “That enthusiasm will feed off onto other people and they’ll start buying in.”
Since last winter, West 22nd persitently declared themselves to ACL promoters C3 Presents by emailing the Live Nation events teams up to three times a month. They informed them of their successes by listing updates on rising ticket sales, streams, and new music. The UT students built connections with C3 venues like Stubbs along with popular Austin venues like Empire Control Room & Garage and Mohak where they sold out their EP release show indoors.
“Be strategic about what venues you play and how you perform at those venues,” Acevado said.
Playing over 50 sets within the past year,West 22nd co-managers and fellow UT students, Conner Kanaly and Olivia Knox made it all possible. Every semester brings new adjustments as they rebuild the booking calendar working around seven course schedules.
“We plan dates, announcements, releases, promotions, drops, and all that stuff well before I think [the boys] know that we’ve been talking about it,” Kanaly said.
As West 22nds turned heads with their admirable uprising, UT faculty noticed them and gave them opportunities to play stages with well-known artists through university held sets. They strummed alongside American country band Midland at Longhorn City Limits, opened for Remi Wolf at 40 Acres Fest, and even played South by Southwest UT in March where they received their spot on the ACL festival lineup after stepping off the Antones stage.
“We’ve developed connections with a lot of the administration that really echo that sentiment that [the university] is representing great music in Austin,” Acevedo said. “We’re very lucky to go to UT.”
West 22nd’s out-of-state followers stream their music online or watch their popular jam session TikTok videos but Ancheta said packing their bags and traveling to cities like Dever and LosAngeles to perform shows legitimized the band as one trying to expand themselves.
“It’s definitely helped us cultivate those [larger] audiences and make them real fans,” Ancheta said.
As their whirlwind of a double life comes to a close, working tirelessly to pursue West 22nd while simultaneously earning a degree, the group successfully fulfilled their festival dreams all before graduation in the spring.
“Olivia and I have been with them from the shows where there weren’t 300 people in a room and I mean, it blew both our minds so it definitely was a moment of happiness, joy, and little too much,” Kanaly said.
West 22nd isn’t taking any breather after making ACL history though, they’ll be in the studio recording their new album in preparation to bring it live on their 22 show tour in May 2025. After they get those degrees of course.