Woolbright, an indie emo band from Davie in Broward County, has been a fixture in South Florida’s 'do-it-yourself' music scene for nearly a decade. From recording and releasing their music, booking tours and playing festivals around the country — these musicians have done it all.
The band consists of Candice Maritato (vocals, guitar), Josue Vargas (lead guitar), John Peloso (bass) and Gabriel Jean (drums). They’ve captivated audiences with their brand of emotional and vulnerable alternative rock.
With the band's activity remaining at a moderate level since a hiatus during the pandemic, they told WLRN they are excited to pick up pace again. They just wrapped up their first headlining tour in a couple of years and are working on releasing a new album.
South Florida plays a large role in the band’s music. Community is important to them, especially as they travel across the country.
“It keeps you kind of sane sometimes … it really brings you back home when you're feeling homesick on the road. It's something to look forward to,” Maritato said.
For them, there's something about South Florida that gives bands and musicians an innate rhythm and sound that makes you want to dance regardless of the genre.
“I feel like there's an attitude in the music itself that's super Floridian,” Vargas said. “I don't know how to say it but it's almost like an essence that's there just from growing up here and just being around everyone here.”
READ MORE: How Daymé Arocena left Cuba and found a freeing new sound in Afro-Caribbean pop
The band is also deeply rooted in South Florida's energetic music scene as individuals, through other local acts.
Vargas has a solo project called Lando and the Infinite Sadness. He also plays with Seafoam Walls and the Venezuelan group Zeta. Jean plays drums in the prog-rock band Elders. Maritato has been hopping on tours for bands in-state and out-of-state, playing guitar or bass as needed.
As they turned their focus back to Woolbright, these other projects gave them a new perspective that they are bringing into their new album and live shows.
Maritato said when playing with other bands she isn't always singing, and that has helped her stage presence.
"I'm used to just singing and playing and moving, but never anything too wild … Woolbright to me is, 'I I'm here to say something,'" she said. "But playing with other bands, I've been able to gain my own identity on stage and my own identity in these different bands as well as individually.
New spaces, new sound
Woolbright used to have consistent practice spaces, such as a former venue in Davie called The Barn. They recorded their first album, Busybody Lazybones in a studio. But their new album has been recorded entirely at home.
Not having a set space has allowed them to explore their sound in a way they haven’t before, they told WLRN.
“It’s been fun exploring that side of us as a band, just making our ideas on the go and seeing what's cool and what feels good to us, as opposed to, like, the prep prior,” Vargas said.
Maritato writes all the lyrics for the band, and she says she puts all her emotions and feelings straight onto paper. The writing is quite similar to that for their 2017 debut album, their EP Carousel in 2021 and the upcoming record — it all comes from what is happening in her life.
It creates candid songs that don't hold any punches, drawing out all her melancholy or anger. This also draws it out of her audience, she says.
“I've been writing lyrics for the last year for this album … and I'll look back and listen to some of the songs I wrote and go, 'Oh, I've been feeling this way for a while,'” she told WLRN. “It's like my body knows and my mind knows … This album, everyone's getting dragged, including me.”
But for the new album, she's playing with repetition — repeating passages like a chant or a mantra. She says this has helped her process certain situations in her life and she hopes it can help others as well.
Woolbright's latest, as-yet-unnamed album will be released later this year. You can get more information on the band here.
