Alan Holmquist was loudly strumming his guitar in his dorm room when childhood best friends vocalist Cogan McBride and drummer Tomas Gerlach heard him across the hall. Used to writing playful parodies of familiar songs, McBride and Gerlach took a leap of faith and knocked on his door—not to complain, but to join. A year later, bassist Nick Speer joined what is now The 4411, inspired by Gerlach’s parents home address where the band developed its warm, nostalgic indie-rock sound that now echoes through the Austin music scene.
After playing during the first weekend of Austin City Limits, the band has now fulfilled a long-time goal and “a dream come true.”
One day before the band’s ACL performance, McBride said: “I’m just trying to take it all in and be present in the moment and feel every lyric that I’m going to say and every chord that is going to be played. Being present in the moment is what I am trying to think about going into it.”
In the past year, the band sold more than 5,000 tickets, bonding with fellow Austinites after every show.
“We really pride ourselves on just that organic growth in meeting with the fans after the show and connecting with them and that’s kind of how you grow your audience to where we have it now,” Gerlach said.
The band described a unique blend of confidence and naivety as essential to their growth after years of taking intentional steps into its newfound success.
“We were very ambitious—extremely—a little over the top,” Gerlach said. “We were heads in the clouds, just like ‘We’re going to be the biggest band in the world’ but we didn’t have the skill to back it up. I think that ambition pushed us to improve ourselves and now we have that skill.”
The band has been composing more energetic tracks like “Sunset Calling” and “Austin,” creating greater excitement in local audiences during every live performance.
“Every time we play a song that’s meaningful to us, ‘Austin’ has to be on a good spot on the setlist, and it’s just the best city in the world,” McBride said.
All members, newly graduated from Texas State University, shared a video on Instagram with the caption “We just graduated and instead of getting a day job we are going on tour.” The band now looks forward to creating a new album.
“I think we have a lot of ambition and inspiration as things pick up. It (songwriting) inspires us more and more everyday. We love every bit of it. The hard times. The good times,” McBride said. “We’re trying to write the best music we can, put it out and hopefully that manifests in this album we’re working in.”