After building a strong following at Cal Poly through several campus concerts, campus favorite and pop-rock artist Tyrone Wells hopes for his dedicated fans to turn out Tuesday night when he returns to San Luis Obispo to play tracks off his new album “Remain.”
Wells’ first trip to the area was to play a Cal Poly University Union hour concert three years ago. Ever since then, his campus fan base has grown enough to perform at a larger venue.
“I think we were just surprised to see the kind of turn out that we had,” Wells said, of his first few shows. “We just decided we definitely have people that know the music so we need to come out and play a real show.”
Wells, who has appeared on television shows like One Tree Hill and Wildfire and played for several movie soundtracks, counts college students as one of his most popular demographics as well as one of his favorite groups to play for. The majority of his shows are played at university and college campuses around the country.
“It’s one of my favorite gigs to pull up to a new college and play,” he said. “I think your college years are where you really start exploring different types of music fall in love. We meet a lot of people that become fans and end up passing our music around and that’s good for us.”
Wells’ Downtown Brew appearance will be his first time playing in San Luis Obispo at a venue other than Cal Poly. Still, he hopes that his Cal Poly fans will be among the audience.
“We’re excited to play in San Luis Obispo because we know we have fans there but because maybe we’ll run into some new people that haven’t heard the music, too.”
Wells was born and raised in Spokane, Wash., before moving to California for college. He says that many of his influences come from church, where he grew up with his father as a preacher. However, he says that lately his influences come from just about everywhere.
“I grew up listening to gospel, and stuff that’s kind of R&B influenced, soulful gospel stuff is kind of what I was gravitating toward … as long as it has soul and vulnerability, I typically like it,” Wells said.
Wells said that his everyday experiences are the ones usually documented in his work
“I just write whatever I’m feeling at the time or thinking about or considering, those things find their way into the songs,” he added.
Wells’ broad range of influences shows up in his music, which includes elements of pop, rock, R&B and folk. His fans say that this is what makes him accessible to so many types of fans.
“(Wells) has a broad appeal,” said music senior and Associated Students Incorporated events student manager Mike Annuzzi.
Annuzzi explained that Wells’ Cal Poly performances have made him score among the highest on surveys asking who students want to return to campus.
“He appeals to a large demographic both age and musical influence or taste, interest, that kind of thing too,” he said.
Annuzzi, who has built a friendship with Wells and his band over the course of their performances at Cal Poly will perform with own his band Avanti to open the show Monday night. The band, consisting of six members, all of whom attend or have graduated from Cal Poly, plans to release its first album this summer. Wells says he’s excited to play with the band, most of whom are students at Cal Poly.
“I just hope that we have a good turn out from both the college and community and I’m just excited to share the music with whoever shows up.”
The Tyrone Wells and Avanti show is May 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Downtown Brew. Tickets for the all-ages show are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. They are available at ticketweb.com and Boo Boo Records.
–Ashley Ciullo contributed to this report.