{"id":12400,"date":"2019-02-13T09:55:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T15:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/?p=12400"},"modified":"2019-02-18T17:25:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T23:25:14","slug":"forward-wisconsin-music-book-spencer-wells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/forward-wisconsin-music-book-spencer-wells\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisit a decade of Wisconsin indie music with “Forward”"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you don\u2019t know The Bon Iver Myth by now, let me give you a primer.<\/p>\n

The year is 2007. Eau Claire native Justin Vernon retreats to his father\u2019s hunting cabin and emerges months later with a monster of a debut album: For Emma, Forever Ago<\/em>. Suddenly the music world at large has its eyes on Wisconsin, where a vibrant music scene is buried under several inches of snow.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this scene that photographer Spencer Wells, also a native of Eau Claire, has captured in his new book, “Forward<\/a>.” Wells moved to New York after graduating from UW-Madison, but he quickly found himself homesick. Not just for the state, but for the eclectic blend of sounds that came along with it. He was soon making multiple trips home throughout the year, mostly to check out shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get bogged down in New York, and it gets very hectic,\u201d Wells said over the phone from his home in Brooklyn. \u201cIt was really relaxing to be back. It was exciting. That\u2019s sort of when I was in my element, hanging out with people I know and people whose work I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Forward"<\/p>\n

Wells has spent more than a decade \u2014 since he was in high school \u2014 photographing Wisconsin\u2019s music scene. The pages of “Forward” are filled with a wide array of artists, from rappers to folk singers to avant-garde instrumentalists. It\u2019s representative of a small but tight-knit group that refuses to be categorized, at least musically.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s diversity in the kinds of music being played,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it\u2019s localized enough that people are still cross-referencing each other. There are a lot of interesting collaborations that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Forward” itself is a collaboration for Wells, made with San Francisco by way of Janesville designer Matt Riley. In fact, Wells goes a long ways to dispel The Myth that Wisconsin\u2019s finest musicians are bearded hermits who make solitary albums in cabins.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople definitely do stay inside, but people stay inside together,\u201d he says. \u201cThey collaborate and go to various venues and shows, because it\u2019s dark at 5 o\u2019clock and there\u2019s nothing else to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.E.<\/p>\n

The six artists featured in “Forward” are each paired with essays penned by various figures from the state\u2019s artistic community. Among these is Chris Porterfield, the Milwaukee musician behind the band Field Report. He wrote the essay that accompanies photos of his bandmate, Thomas Wincek (also of All Tiny Creatures and Volcano Choir, among others).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just started crossing paths maybe 10 or 12 years ago,\u201d Porterfield says of Wells. A couple years ago, Wells called Porterfield and asked him to write a companion piece to some photos he had taken of Wincek.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I forgot about it for about seven months, and (Wells) would have to check in with me to remind me to turn it in,\u201d Porterfield self-effacingly says.<\/p>\n

But he is quick to praise “Forward” and what it aims to achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about ‘Forward’ is that it contextualizes all of these people who are making things in their own universe. There was a period where there were a lot of people in Wisconsin just doing good work. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s unusual, but I think it\u2019s pretty cool to have a snapshot of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there wouldn\u2019t even be that interesting of a scene to contextualize, says Wells, without the people listening to the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne value that Wisconsin inherently holds is patience, to be experimental and come out with these ideas that aren\u2019t the first thing everyone\u2019s thinking of. But there\u2019s also a patience in the audiences to listen to something new and give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Forward” is an unparalleled look at the state\u2019s musical community, sure. But at the same time, it restates a value so intrinsic to Wisconsin that we once sold bumper stickers<\/a> declaring it: You\u2019re among friends.<\/span>\n

“Forward<\/a>” will be available online Feb. 19. Spencer Wells will discuss the book at Madison\u2019s lower bar from 5 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 13<\/a>, with performances by Thomas Wincek (solo set) and Kainalu (DJ set).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you don\u2019t know The Bon Iver Myth by now, let me give you a primer. The year is 2007. Eau Claire native Justin Vernon retreats to his father\u2019s hunting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5155,5151],"tags":[5161,3070,8593,19,8166,8168,54,8595,8592,8594,1671],"yoast_head":"\nRevisit a decade of Wisconsin indie music with "Forward" - The Bozho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spencer Wells has spent more than a decade photographing Wisconsin's music scene, and the pages of his new book are filled with a wide array of artists.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/forward-wisconsin-music-book-spencer-wells\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Revisit a decade of Wisconsin indie music with \u201cForward\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's a book from photographer Spencer Wells.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/forward-wisconsin-music-book-spencer-wells\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bozho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thebozho\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-13T15:55:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-18T23:25:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Forward-fb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Revisit a decade of Wisconsin indie music with \u201cForward\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It's a book from photographer Spencer Wells.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Forward-tw.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thebozho\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thebozho\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Whitcomb\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Bozho\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thebozho\/\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/thebozho\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thebozho\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/logo.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":280,\"caption\":\"The Bozho\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Bozho\",\"description\":\"Seeing things. 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