The View On 10th: Crawfish Boil With Surprise Guest Band ‘Mainland'

By Julia Dunn on May 5, 2016

This article is brought to you by The View on 10th, a dynamic community steps away from Baylor University campus in beautiful Waco. To learn more about The View on 10th, please call us at 254-252-6900 and visit us here.

On April 8, The View on 10th held their first annual crawfish boil for residents and their friends. Salty Dog Sports Bar & Grill provided the crawfish, Amazon Student gave out some great freebies, and the band Mainland provided the musical entertainment.

via The View on 10th Facebook page

The band Mainland has gained popularity recently for its dynamic musical tracks that have drawn more and more listeners into their fanbase. Described as “ecstasy and sorrow, post-punk and pop, east and west, the ‘Outcast’ EP by this eclectic band has been considered perfect for when you’re ‘caught in the middle’ and need a ‘soundtrack to moments of freedom and darkness.’”

“Taking a nod from society’s fellow black sheep (think David Lynch, William Eggleston, and Depeche Mode), Mainland returns with a collection of new tunes and an enigmatic call to arms. A diverse mix of vintage aesthetics and modern pop songwriting/production, Mainland draws from a range of influences to form one unifying anthem loud enough for all of life’s outcasts,” as stated in the band’s biography.

Who is Mainland?

The band consists of frontman Jordan Topf (vocals, guitar) along with Corey Mullee (guitar, synth), Alex Pitta (bass) and Dylan Longstreet (drums). The band members explained that the name “Mainland” stems from the idea of longing for home, an idea to which they all relate.

In 2013, the band released their EP entitled “Girls Unknown,” and the next year they came out with a second independent release, “Shiner EP” (produced by Spoon’s Jim Eno). Mainland developed their sound and reputation, receiving praise from NYLON, SPIN, Interview Magazine, BrooklynVegan, Consequence of Sound and Rolling Stone. At the same time, Mainland played with Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Colourist, Drowners, Strange Talk, and shared festival stages with The War on Drugs, Of Montreal, and Torres.

After a great success with their “Shiner EP,” Mainland signed on to 300 Entertainment (Meg Mac, ASTR, Alex Winston, Young Thug, etc.) and moved out of their home studio to the west of California for a recording gig at Fairfax Recordings with Kevin Augunas (Cold War Kids, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros) at Fairfax Recordings (formerly Sound City). Since joining Fairfax Records, Mainland has grown to become a well-recognized group through their touring opportunities and online publicity, and their music has expanded a great deal.

Image via Pexels

A spotlight article by Grimy Goods about the band’s Shiner EP proves it is a hit for plenty of reasons.

“Opening track ‘Savant’ really jump starts the EP with seamless surf guitar tones and driving beats. It manages to come across sounding simultaneously polished and raw, a perfect opening song to catch our attention. Need a little release in your life? Let it all go with a deep breath and ‘Shiner’ — chunky bass, a teasing guitar solo and pop groove equals instant head bopper. The EP rounds out with the laid-back, faintly Kinks-reminiscent, ‘Heaven’ — leaving my musical palate clean and fresh, yet hungry for more.”

By far, Mainland’s new single has picked up traction recently for being “a disenchanted tale that was born (surprisingly) under the bright, shining lights of Los Angeles,” according to the band. The single is titled “Outcast” after their EP of the same name, and the track is just one of many other expansive songs which include “A Bit Out of Time,” “Fading Friends” and “Not As Cool As Me.”

When asked about the inspiration for the song itself, Mainland’s lead musician Jordan Topf remarks, “I was walking around Rodeo Drive, estranged from NYC … Maybe it was my current outlook on the struggles I was facing, but I was reflecting on moments where I’d felt like an outcast in life and in a new city like Los Angeles. A city of sunshine and broken Hollywood dreams.”

“From the eclectic bell hits of ‘Destination Weddings,’ to the somber rolling tones of ‘A Bit Out of Time,’ Mainland’s new release is a journey through life’s fun and melancholy moments — the ones that you’d probably like to forget, but never will; they are your purgatory. They are all the beautiful places you’ve been, all the strange places you are bound to end up, and everywhere in between,” says the band’s biography. Mainland has played various shows in Los Angeles in recent years, including in Bryant Park and a 3-show residency at Elvis Guesthouse.

Throughout the band’s career, Mainland’s music has been associated with an indie-rock California vibe; it is memorable and unique enough that listeners can’t get it out of their heads.

According to Noisey: Music by Vice, in the “Outcast” music video,

“We follow a teenage love triangle, a boy and a girl that seem to be together and one boy on the outside, the literal outcast of the video. The outcast boy gets shit on by his friends; whether it’s getting a guitar grabbed from you or your friends demanding you cough up cash to get drunk. But the outcast and the girl find themselves getting closer and closer, until the other boy finds out. And it gets pretty rough.”

Mainland released their “Outcast” EP in December 2015 with Billboard. Their debut album, “Night Trials,” is scheduled to be released in 2016. Listen to Mainland on Soundcloud here.

Looking for a great place to live off-campus within a stone’s throw of campus? Please visit The View on 10th to see our dynamic community in action. To visit our website, please click here or call us at 254-252-6900 to get more information and schedule a tour.

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