Interview: The Seasons Are Changing for The Bends

Transitioning from college town shows to festivals like Austin City Limits, members of The Bends sat down with Afterglow to reflect on their roots and look to the future of their fanbase.

Written by Janie Bickerton

Photo courtesy of DC9

Southern twang meets indie rock with The Bends, a four-piece of LSU alumni who made a lasting impression with its first major festival performance at ACL Weekend Two. Formed by four friends in 2023, the rock band has branched out from playing sets at frat houses across the south to opening for The Killers and Sun Room — all before the release of its debut EP, Leeward Drive, in Aug. 2025. Composed of frontman Hayden Field, bassist Chase Perkins, guitarist Ian Marmande, and drummer Jacob Rhodes, The Bends has garnered over 160,000 monthly listeners and showed Austin City Limits the beginning of a remarkable music career.

Afterglow: First of all, I want to say congratulations on your new EP, Leeward Drive! How would you describe the record to new listeners?

Field: [It’s] just a culmination of what four people in college, and then leaving college, have experienced [plus] making fun music.

Marmande: It feels like a group of 22 year old guys in a room making [music], playing a rock song.

Which song from the new EP was your favorite to record, and why?

Perkins: “On a Roll.”

Marmande: I had a blast making “On a Roll.” It just rocks.

What about “On a Roll” made it your favorite?

Rhodes: Very spontaneous how it came out. 

Marmande: We ripped it. We were making demos in a studio, and we played through it. We were like, ‘Yeah, it sounded pretty dang good. Let's do it again.’ And we did it, and we were like, ‘That's the record.’ It didn't have to be changed whatsoever.

Y’all are recent LSU alumni now hitting the road together on your first headline tour. How has your college experience and your Louisiana roots shaped your sound and your songwriting?

Field: I think being at LSU there's, you know, young relationships. I think that theme is kind of throughout a lot of the songs on the record. [As for] Louisiana, people like to have fun [there], so we like to have fun with our music and make songs that people can have fun listening to whether it's in the car or at ACL.

Y’all opened for MJ Lenderman this past week, and you’ve played with The Killers over the summer. How does opening for a headliner compare to your college town shows? Which do you prefer?

Marmande: Opening sets are a good time, depending on how the crowd is. The college shows are fun, but we're kind of moving past playing [those] parties. [We’re now] playing real venue shows, so I'd say the opening sets are pretty darn cool. [We can] win over new fans. 

Field: That opportunity is nice to have fans that might not know you, but we can gain some new fans in that situation.

Do you anticipate that playing at a festival will be any different? What do you hope to get from this experience?

Field: I'm hoping it'll be even more fun, and I think we'll enjoy it. 

Marmande: I think so. I just want to gain new fans and be able to come back to Austin next time and sell out whatever club we play.

Let’s talk influences. You share a name with a seminal Radiohead album and your sound fits perfectly into the canon of indie-rock legends like Kings of Leon and Cage the Elephant. Who would you say your influences are, and how do you honor those influences while also crafting your own distinct sound?

Field: Yeah, my favorite band is The Strokes. We love Cage the Elephant. When we started out just playing college bars and parties, you play a [lot of] Kings of Leon songs and everybody loves it ... so [we’re] kind of seeing that and being like, ‘they got something right there’ … They're definitely an influence on us. And I think it's a culmination of all our different influences, where we're from, our experiences, and all sorts of different music. We’ve got to make it our own.

Lastly, what advice do you have for friends looking to make music together?

Field: Have fun with it. Don't overthink it. 

Rhodes: Just do it. 

Perkins: Just do it!

Marmande: Practice. Go hard. You gotta get out there and be tight and play a lot of shows as well, and then you get the chemistry together as a band.

You can listen to The Bends on Spotify and Apple Music or check out their Instagram page to get future updates.

This interview has been edited minimally for clarity and length.