By Jake Kaufman

One Lawrence band will soon not just be taking Douglas county by storm, but the whole state of Kansas, probably the Midwest, and time will tell, but maybe even the country. Not All There https://www.instagram.com/_notallthere_/ , an Indie rock band started by University of Kansas Senior, Brett Gilgus, is set to come out with their debut single, Time Will Tell, on August 1.

Like all bands, they have a story on how they came together. Some are started in their parents’ garage, others have auditions, but that wasn’t the case for this up and coming group.

“I work at Jazzhaus as a door guy and I started singing karaoke when I was working. The lady who works there said, ‘oh you’re pretty good,” Gilgus said.

Brett went on to tell her that he had a band that would love to set a date and perform at Jazzhaus. But that was far from the truth. Although Brett had people in mind to get a band together, there was no band. It was at that moment he knew he had to act fast and get the group together.

Before he [Brett] knew it, KU graduate, Max Meininger was at drums, Oklahoma State Senior, Will Padek was at bass and keyboard, and Not All There was there.

“I think we needed that little bit of pressure to actually do something. There’s a show that’s booked for a band that kind of exists, and we had to turn it into something,” Meininger said.

With the band together, they started off mostly playing covers at bars around Lawrence, and one time at the rooftop of Corrigan Station in Kansas City. Now, they’re making their own music and taking things to the next level.

“The initial goal was to kind of just play bars, but then we decided it’s more fun to write our own songs, and become actual musicians,” Gilgus said.

In addition to Time Will Tell, the band is coming out with another song, Quarantine my Clementine, a music video and a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the Granada, Bottleneck and Jazzhaus on August 7.

“With quarantine, those live venues have been hit the hardest. Everyone who works there and everyone who is a part of it relies on events, but events haven’t been happening for three, four months. It’s really tough for them to stay alive, so we want to make sure that music in Lawrence is here for years to come,” Gilgus said.

“It’s such an important thing to so many people in this town too,” Meininger said. “Just having a pretty strong interest in the arts, going to participate in something like a concert is something that a lot of people like to do, and you can’t do it right now.” 

Just like all of us who are dying to go to a concert again, Not All There is dying to have a live performance again. The last show they put on was January 21 at Bullwinkles in Lawrence, Kansas, then Coronavirus ended up putting a halt to all other live performances they had lined up.

“We’re really trying to do our best to put ourselves in the best position to hit it hard [explicit] right when all this stuff blows over, and play at bigger venues. This is a great chance to build our following, as far as our original music, because that didn’t exist a couple months ago,” Gilgus said.

They might not know it, but Not All There, in my opinion, is as there as they’ve ever been, and they have corona to thank for it. Yes, they would have had more shows, and a handful more people would have heard them for the first time, but if it wasn’t for this pandemic, Quarantine my Clementine would have never been a thought.

I had the pleasure to get an early listen to their upcoming singles, and trust me when I tell you this; this song will put them on the map. No song has hit me as strong as Quarantine my Clementine has in a long time. It’s a song that everyone in the world can relate to. A song that not only will make you miss your friends that you haven’t seen in months, but remind you to treasure every moment that you have with the people you love, because you never know when the last time you see them will be.

Just like the name of their debut single, time will tell if this band captures people’s hearts. But if there’s one thing certain, Your Culture Vulture will keep you up to date on their music, and their crowdfunding campaign. #SaveOurStages