Wayland Rock Stars & Stripes Festival Main Stage

Those familiar with the Grand Rapids area may have heard of the small suburban town Wayland which began as a farming community and has now grown into a moderately sized manufacturing area. The area is also the home of up and coming rock band Wayland and the hometown of Wayland guitarist Phillip Vilenski. Vilenski left the city after he graduated back in 2001 and went out to Hollywood where he met Wayland vocalist Mitch Arnold, who also had Midwest roots gained by growing up in Bloomington, Indiana. Vilenski and Arnold clicked and began writing songs together and when they found themselves looking for a bassist for their band the pair recruited their roommate, Mount Clemens' born bassist Dean Pizzazz, who was pursuing an acting career at the time. Five years ago, the band began looking for a drummer and came full circle back to Michigan when they brought in Middleville's Tyler Coburn, who got the job after filming himself playing the band's music. Wayland has been making a name for themselves throughout the Midwest and their vintage rock 'n' roll sound and Arnold's incredible voice have been capturing the attention of all those lucky enough to have caught them live. On Saturday, the band made a stop in Pizzazz's hometown of Mount Clemens for its annual Stars & Stripes Festival which is held in the city's downtown area. Before the band opened the main stage sets, I got a chance to talk to them about their touring, their album and the new music they are currently working on. The band originally began under the name Whiskey Circus but when they went in to record their self-titled debut album they decided to rename it and settled on the Wayland name which has become a tribute to the area that they now all reside in, "It's great. We're in a farmhouse and it's kind of refreshing after LA. We all love it. You know, we survived the Winter!" shared Vilenski. After asking how they ended up playing the Stars & Stripes Festival Pizzazz said that he actually heard about it from an old friend he went to school with, "It was random. One of my friends asked me if I knew about this festival and so I called our agent and here we are." Throughout the weekend the festival showcased a number of popular local acts as well as big national names. On Saturday, Taddy Porter, The Muggs, The Sweet, Soul Asylum and Smash Mouth joined Wayland on stage. Over the years, Wayland has opened for a number of well known names from Slash to Buckcherry to Foreigner and the band says that they have gotten to meet and spend time with a lot of them, "Sometimes you do. Sometimes you get to hang out with them afterwards and sometimes you don't get to see them at all." explained Coburn. They were looking forward to meeting the other bands at the festival on Saturday including Taddy Porter who they had been hearing about and were curious to see since they had heard some similar comparisons, "We'd love to jump on a tour with them." said Vilenski. Arnold went on to add, "We hear they are great and that it would be a good fit." Wayland will be continuing to tour throughout the Midwest over the next couple of months and will be making some stops with Lifehouse including a show at Chicago's House of Blues, "We're pretty happy right now sticking to this area. It's nice to go back to certain areas and see the same people coming out and the crowds getting bigger." shared Vilenski. They will also be playing Sturgis in South Dakota with, among others, Theory of A Deadman, Halestorm and HInder.