Meet the four men conquering forty acres: West 22nd’s Austin ascension

For a sublime 30-minutes, Earth’s magnetic poles shifted to lay at the center of the University of Texas at Austin’s Main Mall during the Forty Acres Fest on March 25. The campus quad was sparsely populated at the beginning of the festival but instantaneously became saturated with people, signs, and glow sticks pulled in by the magnetism of West 22nd.

Lead singer Logan Madsen kick jumped front-and-center to the biggest stage he’s played in his 1-year tenure in a fortified rock band, mirroring drummer Doug Blatt’s trill into their first song. “Sunburns,” an optimistic, breezy love song that the band only recorded in The Bubble Studio the day before, according to the frontman, who enchanted with his dulcet vocals declaring, “I’ll keep playing out in the sun.” 

Although the sun had tucked itself behind the horizon, warmth spread throughout the forty acres’ makeshift musical sanctum when the winners of the 2023 Battle of the Bands performed their new summertime song “Sunny Jones.” Guitarists Jeremy Ancheto and Gabe Acevedo’s jangly ascensions radiated sun rays. Bass player Nakul Nagaraj smoothly riffs while swaying in the wind and sporting a red leather jacket and vinyl-black sunglasses.

“God, that’s a lot of people,” Madsen said, amazed. “Can you make some noise, please? I really love it.”

And, noise they got. A combined consciousness, disguised as a mosh, engulfed the crowd during “I Hate Sleeping Alone.” Madsen’s visceral tone combined with Blatt’s drumline, pendulating between chaotic to metronomic, evokes the audience to roar, “Wound up in Austin, Texas,” as the night ends in a spiraling drum roll embellished by leaps and hair flips.

“I was always super shy to sing in front of anybody in public,” Madsen confessed at Lucky Lab Coffee Shop on San Antonio Street.

“Surprising, right?” Acevedo chimed. “At the end of our last song, I turned around, and (Logan’s) like, ‘What’d you think of the backflip?’ And I’m like, ‘What?!’” 

The Georgia native’s shyness is imperceptible. Only singing in church choirs, the current finance sophomore had no intention of becoming a performer when entering university; However, a twist of faith would lead to his metamorphosis as one of UT-Austin’s most popular up-and-coming acts.

Acevedo had one ultimate goal throughout his adolescence: start a band. Never able to form one in high school, he attacked the dream in college. A singer-songwriter, the business honors and radio-television-film sophomore went to every open mic night he could find. While performing at the food trucks on 26th Street, the guitarist met his musical twin flame in Ancheta. The two shared a love for The Beatles and ended the night on a promise to play together one day.

Ancheta then introduced Madsen — with whom he occasionally played Steve Lacy covers — to his new musical companion; thus, the jam sessions began at the Callaway Apartments on 22nd Street.

“It was a good time,” Madsen said. “We thought, why not try posting flyers around? Try and find some other people to fill out this band. Some of them are still out today. We still get some texts occasionally.”

It’s true. You can still see “bassist and drummer wanted!” posters for an unnamed band plastered around the UT Tower. Acevedo said they consciously decided not to advertise their open positions on social media.

“For our band, our vibe and the kind of music we make, the kind of person that would want to be part of it would be the type to see a flyer and say, ‘Oh my god, this is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for!” Acevedo said. “It takes a little effort on their part, but it also shows how much they want it. That’s big.”

The posters attracted Jazz sophomore drummer Dough Blatt whose energetic stage presence instantly integrated him into the ensemble. Then environmental science senior Nakul Nagaraj appeared at Acevedo’s doorstep with a bass in hand — puzzle complete. Realizing everyone lived on West 22nd Street, the Street’s name became theirs. Debuting at the Kappa Alpha fraternity in Aug. 2022, they now play at least one weekly show.

Finance sophomore Elena Faulise heard whispers in her accounting class that fellow peer Madsen was in a band. Surprised by this news, she confronted him, and the nonchalant blonde confirmed it, even inviting her to a show that weekend at Tau Kappa Epsilon. 

“They’ve had such an impact (on campus) because indie rock is a growing genre, but they do it so uniquely, and they connect with people,” Faulise said. “When you listen to it, you know there’s nothing out like this. Many people try to do what they’re doing, but they have such an edge.”

Faulise described their sound as a nuanced concoction of indie rock, R&B and folk.

“There’s so many different pieces to it,” Faulise said. “One half of the song sounds different from the other, yet it’s all so connected and smooth.” 

The band’s mentor, Danny Bonilla — a soloist and keyboardist for the bedroom pop band Luna Luna — first witnessed the UT-band in Jan. at a Texas A&M fraternity party. Captivated by their professionalism, stage presence and authenticity, Bonilla used his existing mutual connection with West 22nd’s manager to meet them. Wanting to be someone he never had when entering the industry, Bonilla began offering opportunities and advice to the newcomers.

“They had this innocence to them that I vividly remember when I first joined Luna,” Bonilla said. “They’re all very determined young men. It feels like they’re brothers.”

Backstage at the Forty Acres Fest, this kinship shined. The virtuosic pseudo-brothers manifested luck in a group huddle, a pregame speech and shouting out the lyric “All the way home!” from Briston Maroney’s “Freakin’ Out On the Interstate.” Just like that, the once nervous undergraduates transform into emboldened rockers. After exiting stage right, euphoria took over as Nagaraj spun Madsen around with pure glee as the crowd cheered “West 22nd!” like a sacred hymn.

Bonilla solidified his mentor status when seeing the indie rockers encounter a mishap with a badly feedbacking mic before their set at another A&M show in Feb. Bonilla recounts Ancheta hollering, “Danny, help us!” Going to fix the tech, Bonilla instructed Blatt to play something in the meantime.

“(Blatt) started going off. They all looked at each other and started freestyling. I was like, holy shit,” Bonilla said. “That was that moment. In adversity, that’s when your true colors shine. They came through.”

Despite being a newborn band, they were able to share a stage with Bonilla at Cooper’s BBQ during the 2023 SXSW. Bonilla, a three-time SXSW veteran, possessed five extra wristbands, which he donated to his mentees. So, in exchange for performing one show with him, they could see and meet whomever they wanted.

“We learned so much experiencing that whole event as official artists,” Madsen said. It was such a blessing.” 

“We felt like we belonged there,” Acevedo agreed.

A key piece of Bonilla’s advice to his disciples was this: get on streaming platforms. Now, the guys you could only catch live are preparing to release music on Spotify on April 22, 2023. Their new single “Sunburns” is currently available for pre-sale. 

“Our goal with our songs is to make passive listeners active and be engaged in the songs,” Madsen said. “When the music gets out, it’ll be exciting.”

This article was submitted as an assignment for the Music Journalism course at the University of Texas at Austin taught by professor Raul Hernandez.