BY: LILLY BURRUS
Staff
Blue lights flash and the sound of “Creep” by Radiohead fills the air as Typical Suspects takes the stage at LadyBug on a crisp February night. Ty Waldrop occupies the drums while Parker Fenton holds a bass line during their set.
Waldrop and Fenton first met at an open jam in Chesterfield. From there, the two artists put together the five member band: Typical Suspects.
“I’ve been surrounded by music my whole life. I’ve always wanted to play an instrument, but I never got the chance to until I was a senior in high school,” Fenton said. “I had taken a guitar class to learn how to play, and during that time I started to play the bass. I taught myself how to play from what I already knew from guitar, and after that it was just a lot of practice and a lot of time put into my instrument.”
Waldrop, the band’s drummer, also has a long history with music that has heavily impacted where he is today.
“My parents had a collective taste: My mom was a lot of 80’s pop whereas my dad was a lot more 70’s rock, so I kind of grew up listening to all of that,” Waldrop said. “When it came to actual instruments, that started in sixth grade for me. I started taking private lessons at School of Rock in Kirkwood, and I played in their program till I was a senior in high school. During that time, I formed another band and played around with them, so that’s how I got into the whole gigging scene. Then I formed another band with Typical Suspects.”
While the band plays covers at the moment, that is not their long term goal.
“When it comes to original music we are, in the near future, definitely wanting to do originals. We don’t want to do covers for the rest of our lives. They’re fun – ones that the crowd knows automatically – but we do want to create our whole original sound and identity,” Waldrop said.
Although their setlist often varies, Waldrop and Fenton have their favorites to perform for a crowd.
“When it comes to my favorite song, not necessarily the band’s favorite song, I would say ‘What’s New Scooby Doo,’ cause I sing that one, and get to do Scooby and Shaggy impersonations, so that’s pretty sweet.” Waldrop said.
Fenton, on the other hand, turns to “Kansas” for his favorite.
“My favorite song that we do, and it’s probably a lot of the others favorites, is “Carry On Wayward Son.” Overall it’s a tune that we have down. We could play it in our sleep if we needed to,” Fenton said.
As far as plans for the future goes, the band is all on the same page, hoping to get big and travel a lot.
“Five to 10 years down the road, hopefully we are getting big and playing stadiums. Everybody all has the same vision in the band, and we are all ready to put in the work to make that happen,” Fenton said.
If the band doesn’t work out, Waldrop and Fenton have other plans. Fenton currently attends St. Charles Community College where he studies zoology.
“If the whole music thing doesn’t work out, I plan to open my own conservation for animals and hopefully tie photography into that somehow,” Fenton said.
Waldrop plans to still pursue music but in a different setting.
“When it comes to my future outside the band, I’m working for my associates in arts with an emphasis in music. Then I’ll work on getting my bachelors, and maybe even masters, in music education and teach” Waldrop said.
Typical Suspects can be found on Instagram at typical_suspects_band. Upcoming shows can be viewed at typicalsuspectsband.com.
