The 4411 talks success and touring

Chloe Rawlinson 

Local Music Journalist 

With over 40 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify and well over 1 million streams on their newest EP, it’s definitely not far-fetched to say that The 4411 has found success in the indie music sphere. So much so that this winter, the bandmates, Tomas Gerlach and Cogan McBride, were able to pack all their equipment into an SUV and trailer and take a little road trip, playing shows across the Western US on a tour named after their Ep, We Killed the Sun.  

Drummer, Gerlach and Vocalist, McBride started their band as a way to pass time during the Covid pandemic while in high school, carrying their passion for music to their shared dorm at Texas State. It was there that the two struck gold with their 2022 single, “Candy Heart,” getting placed on a Spotify discovery playlist, opening their listener base across the country, as well as a new friend and guitarist, Alan, down the hall from their dorm. 

Before their first “mini tour” through Texas in the summer of 2024, an independent agent, Michael, reached out to the band, offering to help them book touring venues. Since then, Michael has taken on the task of reaching out to venues, allowing the musicians to focus on their music and future plans.  

“We told [Michael] that we were thinking about going out of state, so we told him what states and cities we’d like to go to, and he helped us navigate that situation. So, in turn, we were really lucky with that. You have to keep doing what you want to do as much as you can, and then eventually things will align,” McBride said. 

Though the band was adamant about making their winter tour happen, with the end of the fall semester coming up, planning and practicing around the band’s schedule proved to be a difficult task. 

“The tour started on January 4, so that means we had to leave on the third. We all wanted to be with our families for the holidays, so we had practiced last for the tour on December 14. Nick, our bassist, is in the Texas State Marching Band, and they had the bowl game on the third, and we didn’t know that until a couple weeks before. So Nick played in Dallas, and then had to fly to Denver himself to meet us,” McBride said.  

Through a terrifying amount of dense fog, the bandmates’ friend, Thomas, drove an SUV with a trailer full of the band’s equipment for 17 hours to Denver for their first stop. 

“We didn’t have to be at sound check until like 3, so we woke up early and we were like, the five of us have to go out. So, we went to this mini ice skating rink, went out shopping and eating food, just exploring the town, it was really fun,” Gerlach said. 

“We found out on the way [to Denver] that the show sold out. It’s so cold in Denver, and there was still a line outside. We were looking out there like, yeah I would not be standing out there, it’s too freezing,” McBride said. 

“The show was awesome. I was really worried that we hadn’t practiced enough, but I think everyone played super well. We locked in. Afterwards, we were able to meet everyone in the merch line, and it was so cool meeting people that we had only interacted with over social media in comments like, ‘Come to Denver,” we didn’t realize how many people wanted to see [us play],” Gerlach said. 

“It really is a dream come true, getting paid to like, vacation, exploring the city, and getting to share our music. Like, this is unreal,” McBride said. 

At their next stop, Salt Lake City, Utah, the band ran into an issue with their hotel, the room they had booked was not able to sleep all of the crew and store all of their belongings. However, the show the next day was worth all of the trouble. 

“The show was sold out at Kilby Court, which is a legendary venue. In the green room, we could see all of the acts that had played there before us, like The Backseat Lovers, that’s where they’re from. Our openers were saying that even local bands couldn’t sell out this venue on a Monday. We ended up playing “Kilby Girl” with our openers, and it was so much fun. That was my favorite show out of the ones we played. It was unreal, the energy there, you can’t hate that feeling,” McBride said. 

After stopping at the canyons in Salt Lake City, the band soaked in the beautiful drive to Phoenix, Arizona for their next show, staying in an apartment made from old shipping containers for the night, waking up to breakfast made by their photographer, Parker. 

“At sound check we realized it was like a 300 person room, so we were worried that it wouldn’t feel like that many people, but I think there were close to 180 people there, it was another awesome show. The Phoenix show had a lot of older people there. It’s interesting when you play the same show for different audiences in different areas, the vibe is so different,” McBride said, 

Unfortunately, the band had to make the decision to reschedule their Los Angeles show for the summer due to the wildfire taking place at the time of the tour. With that rescheduling, The 4411 was able to head back to Austin, preparing for their last show in their hometown, stopping in El Paso to visit their bassist, Nick’s family. 

“We had gone back to classes for a week, but it didn’t even feel like school had started. Like, we were still on tour,” McBride said. 

“I really like any show in Austin,” Gerlach said. “It’s special, like wow, we’re in our hometown, we get to end the tour with this big bang. It was so much fun, there were a lot of friends and family there. My mom invited a bunch of people, so I was seeing family friends that I hadn’t seen in so long, I didn’t even know they were coming.” 

After the tour, the band is already back on the wagon, trying to get more music out for their fans, evolving their sound even further. 

“The plan is to release one or two singles, really introduce our new sound, taking our time with it, but we’re graduating soon. It’s kind of scary thinking about how this is real for us now. It’s the dream to really go all in and make it work,” McBride said.  

It was also recently announced that the band will be performing as an opener for West 22nd on Friday, April 11 at the Scoot Inn in Austin. 

The 4411 has music available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music, you can follow them on Instagram @4411.band.