{"id":194528,"date":"2026-03-04T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/?p=194528"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:46:07","slug":"localized-gracemaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/music\/interviews\/localized\/localized-gracemaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Localized: Gracemaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s rock this joint! Kilby Court<\/em> isn\u2019t ready for the hardcore hellstorm that\u2019s about to be unleashed! Join us for SLUG Localized<\/em> on Thursday, March 19 to see heavy-hitters Gracemaker<\/strong><\/a> and Nadezhda<\/strong><\/a>, with Macana<\/strong><\/a> as our haymaker opener. Be there or be square, dweebs! Grab your tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

At the intersection of heavy catharsis and spirited, creative spunk lies Gracemaker, a four-piece outfit of Utah hardcore veterans who seek to continually expand not only their musical exploration but positionality within the local scenes they occupy.<\/p>\n

\"The
For Gracemaker, music is more than just an opportunity to flex creative muscles and have fun. Photo: Logan Sorenson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Founding members Matt Wiley<\/strong> (guitar) and Nicholas Bat<\/strong> (vocals) were familiar with each other from a distance from social overlap in the local music scene for nearly two decades before starting a project together. \u201cBatty just reached out to me randomly,\u201d Wiley says. It wasn\u2019t long before bassist Darren Watts,<\/strong> a friend of Bat through work, signed on. (Watts coined the band\u2019s name, inspired by a piece of drum hardware that looked akin to a Skyrim<\/em>-esque weapon with which to bludgeon someone.)<\/p>\n

Gracemaker now features Charles Bogus <\/strong><\/a>behind the kit, who had come to know Wiley over a decade prior when Wiley was a member of the hardcore band Starvist<\/strong><\/a>. While a musical collaboration between the two never came to light at the time, Bogus posted that he was in search of a band to play drums in, while Gracemaker was serendipitously seeking the right percussionist to round out the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this [band], anything\u2019s on the table\u2026 not limiting ourselves to anything has been freeing.\u201d<\/h3>\n

Gracemaker\u2019s bandcamp bio summarizes the ethos of the group as \u201ca collaborative effort between friends as a means to push not only themselves as musicians but what they could bring to the table bending multiple genres and influences.\u201d After years of playing in bands shoehorned into the hardcore genre, the members of Gracemaker embrace the thrill and challenge of going beyond genre. \u201cFor this [band], anything\u2019s on the table\u2026 not limiting ourselves to anything has been freeing,\u201d Bat says. \u201c[It\u2019s] sometimes frustrating but very fun and silly at the same time\u2026 when you have all these goofy ideas like, \u2018there should be a samba breakdown,\u2019\u201d he adds with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\"The
The members of Gracemaker are a band of brothers. Photo: Logan Sorenson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A key aspect of this approach is the utilization of varied instruments in both recordings and live performances. Bat played the tambourine between screams when I first saw them live, and Bogus tells me the group is headed on a Southern Utah songwriting retreat with an arsenal of instruments \u2014 including a trumpet and mandolin \u2014 in tow. Saxophone solos, an established horn section and keys all come up in the brainstorm of what might be in their future releases. To sample the genre-bending stew boiling in the cauldron that is Gracemaker, listen to \u201cCharm,\u201d a track which the members agree serves as a summation of their sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all push each other to do things to the best of our ability\u2026 everybody is pushing you to be the best at what you do.”<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This openness to the new and unconventional creates the necessary push out of the collective comfort zone. \u201cWe have parts that are jazz-leaning a little bit,\u201d explains Wiley. \u201cWe\u2019re doing things outside of what you would normally hear in a hardcore band [like] any of us have been in before\u2026 you don\u2019t know how people are going to react to that sort of thing.\u201d Gracemaker embraces the uncomfortable, using it to push its members to grow to new heights. \u201cI think we all push each other to do things to the best of our ability\u2026 everybody is pushing you to be the best at what you do,\u201d Wiley says.<\/p>\n

A collaborative, authentic and analog approach to songwriting allows Gracemaker to weave unique musical webs informed by each member\u2019s ideas, but never dominated by any one. \u201cWhen it\u2019s a collective thing, it\u2019s way more powerful,\u201d Wiley says.<\/p>\n

For Gracemaker, music is more than just an opportunity to flex creative muscles and have fun \u2014 it\u2019s a necessary part of who they are. \u201cIf I go too long without [making music], it has a negative impact on everything in my life\u2026I have to do it,\u201d Bogus says. Wiley echoes this sense of necessity, emphasizing how the surrounding community creates a lifeline for many. \u201cThe community around [music] has been so important to me that it makes me, even now \u2014 being old and married and paying a mortgage \u2026 going to shows and having a band play a song that connects with you is the best thing there is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more past Localized<\/em> interviews:<\/strong>
\nLocalized: SWARMER<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nLocalized: Seeking the Sun<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the intersection of catharsis and spirited, creative spunk lies Gracemaker, Utah hardcore veterans who seek to expand positionality within the local scenes. … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":194821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[13054,323,355],"tags":[2114,27318,26970,6585,27319,27317,5760],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194528"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}