The Travel Guide is back from year long hiatus

Nathan Alspaw

The Travel Guide is now Tim Cote on drums, Beau Harris on guitar, Caleb Drummond on bass and Thayne Coleman on guitar and vocals.

After a year’s hiatus, local rockers The Travel Guide are back playing gigs ­— even after changes with their lineup. The guitar-driven indie-rock band has existed in some configuration since 2010 and now has a new drummer and guitarist.

Kristyn Chapman and Will Erickson are no longer with the band. Now, members include Tim Cote on drums, Beau Harris on guitar, Caleb Drummond on bass and Thayne Coleman on guitar and vocals.

Although the band has seen several members step down over the years, Coleman, a founding member, describes relationships as being mostly on good terms now.

“You play music with people for five years and throughout the ups and downs of touring and things like that and feeling like you have to work really, really hard to make a tiny amount of progress and it can kinda wear on things and strain friendships and relationships,” Coleman said.

The Travel Guide is focusing on playing all-ages shows and getting back into the music scene with their most recent performance at The Backbeat at Midwest Drum on April 21.

“We’ve been focusing most on playing all-ages shows. We had the bar scene going for a while but when we came back after that long of a break, it felt like we’d dropped into a completely different music scene.” Coleman said. “To me, I’ve always wanted to make stuff that could be for anyone anywhere. It still has my identity — where I come from imbued into, but in a way that’s still relatable.”

Bailey Tredway, who attended the show at The Backbeat, approves of their new sound.

“The last time I saw them (before The Backbeat show) was at Riverfest. It was different, I was really excited to see this new dynamic,” Tredway said. “It was really awesome because (the band members) feed off of each other and it’s a different kind of energy but it goes well into their music and performance and how the crowd receives it.”

Elina Quinones, another fan of The Travel Guide that attended the show, also approves of the new sound and is looking forward to going to more shows.

“I love their new sound. I think they play really well together, the new bandmates. I like the style of the new drummer, I feel like his style fits really well.” Quinones said.

The Travel Guide performed at The Backbeat with three other bands including The Cavves, MILKWAVE and Junior Retreat.

Brandon LaBarge, drummer for MILKWAVE, describes a growing music scene in Wichita and said that it’s always good to see a band like The Travel Guide come back from hiatus because of how long they have been together.

Coleman said that the band is looking to release a single by the end of the summer.