Reno band the Novelists has maintained a healthy following since the release of its debut album Backstory in 2012. Like any legit paperback writer, the lyrically driven pop rock band has kept fans entertained with a regular succession of new material. For a time, there was even a “book club” through which subscribers received “two brand new, professionally recorded original Novelists songs sent … digitally every month.”
In 2016, the Novelists released the album Breaking the Script. And in 2017, the bandmates took their songbook on a national tour after playing the Sail Across the Sun cruise, an open-water music festival organized annually by the band Train.
A few months after returning from the cruise and tour, the band made an announcement about more new developments—this time not for the fans, but for themselves. Drummer Justin Kruger, who’d relocated to Baltimore with his wife, had decided to stop commuting back and forth to play with the outfit. Bassist and vocalist Zack Teran turned to longtime collaborator Miguel Jimenez-Cruz to fill the part.
“Miguel and I play in so many bands together, that when the decision happened that Justin was just going to stay on the East Coast, he was my first thought. … As the bass player in the band, I wanted the solid rhythm section,” Teran said.
For Jimenez-Cruz, it was an opportunity to put down roots with a band.
“For a long time, I was just the hired gun for everything, for a lot of things. … I wanted to put my, I don’t know, experience into something, and I’m super excited just to be here.”
Since joining, Jimenez-Cruz said he’s fallen naturally into the Novelists’ busy schedule, including two cross country tours—one of which kicked off last summer weeks after he came on board—and the recording of a new EP, With Drawl, released in June. Its seven songs explore a sound that’s also kind of new for the band.
“It’s kind of got some Americana, rootsy feel to it—and a little bit more an alt-country sort of vibe,” said guitarist, mandolin player and vocalist Joel Ackerson. “The songs were just finding themselves comfortable in that genre.”
They’ll likely go over well with the audience at yet another new venture in which the Novelists are involved. The band is performing at the first of what’s planned to be an annual music festival in Sulphur Springs, Texas. According to Ackerson, the idea for the Texafied JamFest originated with Texas musicians who, like the Novelists, have played the Sail Across the Sun cruise. It features the North Carolina reggae rock band Simplified.
“It’s Simplified and Texas together as the Texafied festival,” said Ackerson. “I think all of the artists are actually Sail Across the Sun artists. … It’s sort of a homecoming for us very far away from any of our homes.”
The Novelists will have new music to debut for the Texas audience.
According the members, vocalist and pianist Eric Andersen helped the Novelists land a deal to write new music for the re-release of the original Baywatch television series in high definition.
“When the series producer decided to reissue Baywatch in HD, they decided to redo all of the music,” Ackerson said. “So, it’s the original series with Hasselhoff.”
It is expected to be released sometime in 2019 and will feature seven originals by the Novelists written for specific scenes.
“You should see his chest hair in HD,” joked Andersen.