“We’ve been playing together forever,” Taylor Gwynn said. “ … It’s like so a part of the routine at this point that it’s like, I don’t even know what life would be like without music.”
You may know Over Under as Chess champions, but they are also a psych-rock band local to Salt Lake City. Comprised of members Max Moffat, Taylor Gwynn and Jaden Gwynn, Over Under opened for Kilby Block Party on Saturday, May 17.
The band was joined by members Patrick and Daniel McNally from Theoretical Blonde, and they were proclaimed as honorary members. Taylor added that their contributions added “new flavors and new seasoning,” which I would have to agree with. The set was 30 minutes long and I was pulled in from the very beginning. It was as if my head was spinning, and not because of a hangover from the night before.
Over Under has been playing together since a rivalry from middle school became a bonding tie between Moffat and Gwynn. Gwynn was in a band called Wheatgrass with his brother and Moffat was in Weekly Holiday, the “junior high ripper,” Gwynn explained.
“I had to take a walk because I heard him [Moffat] sing and was like, ‘Oh, f*ck, he’s really good.’” Gwynn said. “We were in opposing bands in the beginning, and then I got poached by their band,” Moffat added.
Since then, it’s only been an upwards climb as the band has toured with The Backseat Lovers and releasing music since 2020 with a full-length album in the works. Ahead of the release, they’ve come out with a few singles “In My Head” and “Memory Lane.” They played “In My Head” for the first time live and in front of a crowd, which they cited as their favorite on the setlist.
“Jaden had a solo in the beginning and we hadn’t practiced that, so it was such a treat to experience that,” Taylor said. The band had only been practicing the music in a basement, so to play with the set-up of the Mountain Stage at Kilby Block Party, was a “game changer,” they said.
As a playing artist at a festival like Kilby Block Party, they boil the experience down to “[being] in a band and you get paid to move gear and drink beer. The rest of the time you’re just screwing around on stage.” Whether you believe that to be true or not, it’s what’s given us great music and will continue to for the rest of time.
They hope next time, Sabrina Carpenter headlines the festival. “I woke up at 6:30 AM on a Tuesday, three months ago to be the first person with the Sabrina Carpenter skin [on Fortnite],” Patrick said.
Over Under will be playing an album release show at Kilby Court in July. Be sure to listen wherever you get your music.