Young local indie rock quartet has Southern charm

Vocalist Keon Masters got the group together last year. All of the members previously played together in other acts together and wanted to do something different. Wylie is the result: a big acoustic rock sound with both gospel and indie influences, self-described as "indie rock 'n' roll with a hint of Southern charm."

The band started gigging last October with their friends, Sequoia Prep School, at the O'Malley's Halloween bash and have been on a successful run since then. They have been in a constant state of recording their own album, and they are scheduled to demo three or four more songs this week. The date of release is tentative, but there are six-song demos for sale at their concerts and songs available for listening on MySpace.

Charleston Scene caught up with Masters to talk about Wylie and its adventures on the live music circuit.

Q: How have Charleston concertgoers taken to your music?

A: People like it, which is funny. We've been in bands in the past where you don't get much response from other people, but people are biting at this. A kid came up to me and told me he learned my song on guitar, and I said, "Why?" But it's really cool!

Q: What do you primarily write your songs about?

A: The songs are very family-oriented. I write a lot about family occurrences and self-occurrences. I write a song and Christian will make the guitar progression more elaborate and the Ryan will format it. It's a really big collaborative effort. I can play guitar, but I'm not skilled at my instrument like my bandmates. I'm a singer, and we all bring a little something to the table.

Q: What's in store for the future of the band?

A: In a year, I want to be touring pretty heavily and have a pretty good Southeastern following. Maybe get on some showcases and some smaller festivals. Hopefully, we'll have a full-length by 2011. We're preparing for an album. We could have gone ahead and done an album a long time ago, but we want it to be all really good songs. We've been selling six-song demos for two bucks, and I think the quality is really good. We're actually about to go back in this week and demo three or four more songs. We like that larger-than-life sound, the Springsteen-esque sound. We also remain kind of quirky. Ryan grew up watching Michael Jackson DVDs and grew up playing in a gospel band. Christian can play anything with strings. They're really great musicians. I'm sure I'm going to be friends with these guys for the rest of my life.

Q: Weirdest band moment?

A: A week or two after Ryan and Christian joined the band together, they realized they were second cousins.