LSU-bred band The Bends returns to Baton Rouge ahead of debut album release

For five months, The Bends practiced the same five covers in Jacob Rhodes’ spare room. They didn’t have a single gig lined up. They didn’t have a record deal. They were just four LSU students playing music together because they liked it. 

Two years later, Hayden Field, Ian Marmande, Rhodes and Chase Perkins are returning to the city where it started, this time in the middle of their first North American tour and with a debut album. 

The Baton Rouge-bred band will play the Texas Club on Sept. 17 at 9 p.m., just one day before the release of If You Insist, its 12-track album through Warner Records. 

“A Bends show in Baton Rouge has a special nostalgia to it, and I’m excited to dive back into that experience,” Field, the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist, says. 

That nostalgia comes from its early years spent playing college bars, fraternity parties and backyard shows around Baton Rouge. In 2024, Field says the band was playing shows around the city roughly twice a week. Now, the Texas Club will be only its second Baton Rouge performance of the year. 

Marmande says he remembers those early shows as a different time for the band. 

“I remember how much of a struggle it was to try and get our friends to show up to our shows in the early days, and how much effort it took to convince people to give us a gig,” he says. “But also how much fun those small little bar shows and backyard parties always were. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to just play on a stage, even if it was playing another band’s song.”  

The band’s first original song, “Makeup,” came during the members’ senior year at LSU. After country singer Zach Bryan shared it on his Instagram story and called it “the song of the year,” it gained significant attention and has since surpassed 10 million streams on Spotify. 

Field says that was the moment a career in music felt possible.

 “I remember thinking, ‘Yeah, my parents are going to get it now,’” Field says. 

From there, The Bends released “Fair Weather” and its 2025 EP, Leeward Drive. The band quickly went from LSU bars to stages across the country.

The fast success meant navigating new obstacles and changes, like crowd engagement and a rehearsed set, but Rhodes remains optimistic about how they’ve handled it. 

“I believe we’ve managed it well, and we work to improve ourselves every day in both the music we write and the performance of it,” he says.

The North American tour began April 16 in New Orleans and has included headline dates, supporting slots with artists such as The Killers and The Red Clay Strays, and even an appearance at Lollapalooza in Chicago.

“When we stepped on stage in front of 15,000 people opening for the Killers, I was pretty mind blown,” says Marmande. 

Before they were putting out originals, the band built its sound around covers from bands like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Kings of Leon, Cage the Elephant and Coldplay. Those influences have made their way into If You Insist, the band’s first full-length album.  

The album’s title comes from a lyric in its opening track, “Off My Chest.” Field says the phrase represents the band’s journey from playing music for fun in college to realizing it could become its livelihood. 

“I’m relieved to finally have a full-length project for the band to stand behind and play shows on behalf of,” Field says, “but if I think about it long enough, I’m really just grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of releasing an album of music to the world—15-year-old Hayden would be psyched.” 

The album explores themes like relationships, restlessness, medication and growing up. At the Texas Club on Thursday, fans can expect to hear a preview. 

“We’re going to be playing a lot of new songs from our album coming out, and I can’t wait to share that with the city where we started it all,” Perkins, the band’s bass player, says.

Returning to Baton Rouge also means revisiting the places and memories that shaped them before music became a career.

Marmande says he remembers playing on LSU gamedays in the tent at Fred’s and at Delta Delta Delta’s “blind tie” party. For Rhodes, selling out the Varsity Theatre on Highland Road was his most memorable experience. 

“The show exceeded all of my expectations, and it’s truly one of the shows that made me realize I want to do this for the rest of my life,” Rhodes says. 

Field’s favorite memory is slightly less glamorous. 

“I’ll always remember the four of us cramped in Jacob’s spare room in Baton Rouge practicing the same five covers for five months with no gig lined up,” he says. “I look so fondly on our beginnings and determination when there was no obvious reason to be so dedicated.” 

The band will continue its tour following the Baton Rouge show, with dates scheduled across the United States and Canada through November. The tour includes stops in cities such as Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Atlanta. 

But before that, Perkins plans to make a stop at one of his favorite Baton Rouge spots: American Market for a Cajun turkey po-boy, something he remembers getting often during his years at LSU. 

Tickets for The Bends’ Baton Rouge show at the Texas Club start at $30.95 and can be purchased here. The Texas Club is at 456 N. Donmoor Ave.