Photo via New Wave Fest
The Diff
The Diff
The sixth (more or less) annual New Wave Fest is around the corner, and while the lineup has shifted slightly each year, the concept remains unchanged.
“We’ve never tried to recreate the ‘80s Milwaukee scene,” says Mark G.E., the festival’s organizer and frontman of XPosed 4Heads, a synth pop act born in that scene. “We try to have a mixture each year of a cover band doing those ‘80s hits’ my band, doing original songs; and something new—often an out-of-town band.”
This year’s cover band, First Wave, returns from the 2023 New Wave Fest with a set G.E. describes as darker sounding ‘80s covers. The new band are out-of-towners, The Diff, playing Cars numbers and a few originals.
XPosed 4Heads have anchored New Wave Fest every year since its 2018 debut (2020 was lost to Covid). The festival has become their local flagship gig, but they have been active on many other fronts with shows around Wisconsin. Among them, Manitowoc’s Sputnik Festival, where according to G.E., “Our crowd came dressed in aluminum tinfoil hats”—referencing the band’s Devo influences—“and a couple thousand people came—they were aliens and we fit right in!”
Photo via XPosed 4Heads
XPosed 4Heads
XPosed 4Heads
This year the 4Heads released a pair of singles that slightly diverged from expectations, “Tricked Out Tailspin” and “Mess Up.” G.E. recalls conversations with keyboard player Kelp Chofs, “We said, ‘Alright, let’s not recreate the ‘80s new wave sound. Could our music be produced in a current sound?’ We revamped our engineering and listened to modern releases. We spent quite a bit of time schooling ourselves on new approaches: How do the drums and vocals sit in this space? What kind of effects are current producers using? It’s not a break with our roots but a way to continue to grow as artists.”
Showmanship has always been integral to packaging the 4Heads’ satirical takes on contemporary life, making them ideal subjects for music videos. The black and white video for “Mess Up” features the band performing in Devo-oid garb against a backdrop of ‘60s brutalist architecture. It has been screened at film festivals across Wisconsin and in Europe, especially, says G.E., in former Soviet Bloc nations. “I guess they could relate to the dystopian brutalism of its aesthetic,” he offers. XPosed 4Heads have received play on Rodney Bingenheimer’s Sirius XM show and other outlets.
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“The New Wave Fest is a big tent. Anyone who likes new wave will hear something they like, including things they haven’t heard before—and it’s an awful lot of fun!” G.E. says.
New Wave Fest is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Cooperage, 822 S. Water St. Doors open at 7 p.m. The fun begins at 8.
"Mess Up" by XPosed 4Heads
