It all began with a “join this super cool band” flyer hung in Kresge Hall by Communication junior Makena Carnahan. When Jamie Eder (Weinberg ’23) discovered the flyer and reached out to Carnahan in spring 2023, they clicked at their first meeting.
The two became the band “Widemouth,” whose name came from a symbolic wide-mouth mason jar that Carnahan broke at her first visit to Eder’s apartment, as well as Eder’s “way bigger mouth than people expect.” However, the two still felt something was missing.
“We started singing, playing together, but it was the two of us. We were Widemouth at that point, but we weren’t complete until Levi and Lily,” Eder said.
Bienen sophomore Lily Mitchell picked up the same flyer as Eder and reached out to Widemouth in December 2023. Mitchell took to the drums, and the three began playing basement concerts. They quickly realized, though, that they needed a bassist.
They posted another flyer on campus searching for a bassist and found Weinberg senior Levi Saltzman shortly after. The four, along with Eder’s dog and honorary band member, Cleo, got to work.
“It’s just been so fun and deeply fulfilling. It has made me feel like I’m doing something that fills my cup,” Carnahan said.
The band has played over 30 live shows at bars and open mic events. They have also opened for Northwestern student band Tavern at Evanston Space and at Winnetka Music Festival. Over the summer, they embarked on a six-show tour, which included visits to Eder, Mitchell and Saltzman’s hometowns.
The band will release their first EP “Well,” which is composed of five songs, Friday. “Well” came to fruition after they met Producer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Genualdi at a songshare event in Chicago. Genualdi, after hearing Widemouth perform, offered to produce some of their songs in his studio basement in Andersonville.
Through a mix of drum recordings at Eder’s apartment and recording days in Genualdi’s basement, the album came to life.
“It was cool because it was my first time ever doing a live recording in a studio, and Sam has this really cool setup in the basement of the house he lives in,” Mitchell said. “We were just in this room, and we started with the guitar track and recorded all the way through and then just started adding stuff.”
The group released two singles this October, and was featured in Rolling Stone’s “Songs You Need to Know” in January.
The bandmates say they have surpassed the mere connection of bandmates or friends and are truly “family.” They each describe their experience making music together as “pure joy.”.
“Everyone is super passionate about one thing at Northwestern and I feel like my thing was music, but I didn’t really have a place to fully do that,” Carnahan said.“Then writing with Jamie and the band has just been pure happiness. It just gets more and more fun.”
Widemouth will perform an EP Release Show at Evanston Space Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ClareKirwan31
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