The Bends: Bayou Band Rewrites College-Rock Playbook

The young Louisiana band is turning a college-party reputation into a launchpad to garage-rock stardom far from the traditional cover-band circuit. 

Written by Caroline McConnico

Photos by Caroline McConnico

Somewhere in Athens, Georgia, there’s a blonde girl with an almost dead phone, a three-word request pressed to her head: Sex on Fire. Leaning into the microphone, the fire-headed lead singer quips with a southern drawl, “Why not one more?” 

The air swelled with beer-soaked sweat as a fraternity brother shoved the band towards the exit. The energy snapped when the smirking guitarist riffed the Kings of Leon anthem as he shook the sticky party barn floor and sent the undergraduate audience into a frenzy. The frontman sweeps to the edge of the stage, flashes a determined grin and lets the audience have it. 

The Bends, four Louisiana natives with a taste for loud guitars and louder crowds, crave nights like this. 

“Anybody can be a cover band,” says lead singer Hayden Field. “You gotta try and separate yourself in a few key areas, which is mainly stage presence and trying to curate an awesome time as performers.” 

Part southern garage-rock, part college-town mythmaking, these LSU alums now push beyond their cover-band roots. The kicker: They are only 22. 

The quartet’s formation evokes a movie-scene serendipity. Lead guitarist Ian Marmande and drummer Jacob Rhodes grew up together in Houma, Louisiana. They found bassist Chase Perkins in a dorm hallway practicing for another band. Field came last, recruited for his expert reputation in a songwriting class.

“I had always dreamed of [starting a band], growing up with a huge love for music thanks to my family,” Marmande said. “When I got to college I knew it was something I had to do.”

A frat-boy fantasy and a few rusty instruments took the band to their first shows in party basements, cashing out around $2,000 per gig. Now, they share a manager with country music star Zach Bryan. Cage The Elephant’s Brad Schultz even produced one of their originals.

But what seems like luck is backed by undeniable talent.

Field’s gravelly vocals cut through the noise of a packed room, carrying hints of Grohl and de la Rocha. Marmande’s lead guitar pulls eyes towards the stage in a magnetic spectacle, while Rhodes and Perkins provide driving rhythms and an inventive spirit, blending their strengths into a cohesive, singular sound, both catchy and cathartic. Together, the band oozes Oasis-like stage presence and authentic, boyish charm.

The Bends can deliver the classic college covers. They can also end the night with Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name,” leaving a Greek-life crowd stunned. Their appeal is their unpredictability coupled with a kickass attitude and rocking stage presence.

Their original songs from their first EP, “Leeward Drive,” transmit what is best described as college vulnerability: Raw and unapologetic. Field’s lyrics poeticize situationships with lines like “Now I walk around looking backwards / Just hear me out, tell me after / You loved me best when I was not around,” in “Makeup” and “Our lies caught in the wind / With a million ways it could go / 'Cause I'll wait for your name on my phone / I'm thinking, I'd be doing better on my own,” in “Weekend Love.” The words are carried by fast driving chords, giving the songs an indie head bob.

The group’s chaotic energy hasn’t just pulled in fans, but also drawn collaborators who’ve helped define their sound, including fellow LSU alumni act Better Than Ezra. The group’s lead singer Kevin Griffin collaborated with The Bends to write another EP track, “Virginia.”

“It was great picking (Griffin’s) brain, and asking about the business and creative side of stuff, including touring,” Field said. “Just by the way he carries himself, he is having fun with it, and told us not to take anything too seriously, because it can get nerve wracking.”

Photographer and close friend Kaylie Cross watched the band sharpen their identity through her lens. After first connecting with the band while photographing a Battle of the Bands in Baton Rouge, Cross shot one of their upcoming shows.

“We just kept working together and eventually didn’t stop,” Cross says. “They’ve given me opportunities I didn’t even know I wanted. I love what I do, and I love doing it with them.”

Cross describes The Bends’ visual identity as something that grew naturally; four personalities wrapped in an indie-alt rock shell. She recalls the night Field attempted his first stage dive. “It was halfway successful,” she says, “but the pep talk beforehand and watching it actually play out was so hilarious.” Crowd-surf attempt number two, she adds, looked perfect, and is one of her all-time favorite shots.

“There's probably a time limit on how many fraternity parties we’ll play,” Field said. “But, you know, they're fun. I don't think any of us mind. But we want to play bigger shows, and I'm sure that'll change the environment a little bit.”

Whether the countdown stems from their talents or livers, The Bends are capitalizing on their momentum, having just finished cutting an album this past winter. It’s the next major step in a trajectory that’s proving to never write off the frat band. The Bends aren’t the overwrought Ivy League act many picture when imagining a university band — They are what college in the south sounds like.