Courtesy of Biographies
Audio By Carbonatix
Time has a funny way of expanding when you aren’t looking. For the beloved Denton indie outfit Biographies, a brief pause to catch their breath quietly stretched into a seven-year hiatus. After spending the better part of a decade playing shows nearly every weekend and dedicating every Wednesday night to practice, the band reached a natural exhaustion point in 2019. They mutually agreed to step back, rest for six months and regroup.
Then, the world shut down. The pandemic derailed whatever loose timelines they had drafted, scattering the members into the winds of adulthood, career shifts and personal evolution.
Now, as the dust settles on those intervening years, Biographies is returning to the stage as they’re set to play a highly anticipated comeback set at Rubber Gloves on Friday, March 20, as part of the Thin Line Fest. But the band that steps onto that stage will not be the same one that stepped off it seven years ago. They bring with them the weight, wisdom and the creative fuel of lives lived fully outside the rehearsal room.
The Art of the Side Quest
When a band grinds nonstop for eight years, identity becomes inextricably tied to the music. Time away allowed the members of Biographies to discover who they were without instruments in their hands. They spent the last several years driving hard down completely different lanes.
Ed Steele
Lead singer and guitarist Chance Maggard turned his focus toward balancing his academic and professional life, earning a master’s degree along the way. Surprisingly, he found that the skills forged in crowded dive bars translated perfectly to the corporate space.
“I learned a lot of what I do every single day in my professional life from being in a band,” Maggard tells the Observer, pointing specifically to the art of collaboration and learning when to let others take the spotlight.
Bassist Michael “Mikey” Slusarski fed the local community in a much more literal sense. He launched the wildly popular Tomato Pizza food trucks, slinging slices outside East Side Bar in Denton and the Buffalo Hirsch Truckyard in Lewisville. Meanwhile, guitarist JD Perry pivoted from a post-2020 job in Western clothing manufacturing into the dynamic world of Dallas sports podcasting and multimedia broadcasting at Haymaker Network.
Guitarist Ethan McClure immersed himself in a different kind of visual rhythm. For the past five years, he has worked in the art department for film and television productions, specifically as a set dresser for Taylor Sheridan’s massive projects shot across North Texas. He also hit the road as a stage decorator for Marc Rebillet — better known to the internet as Loop Daddy. Traveling across the U.S. and Canada as a witness to the behind-the-scenes machinery of big-budget live music gave McClure a profound appreciation for the ecosystem the band had left behind. Seeing diverse music scenes in every state reminded him that what Biographies had built in Denton was genuinely special. It pushed him from a spectator’s standpoint back toward the desire to perform.
Drummer Kollin Weaver perhaps underwent the most profound personal transformation. Admitting he felt like a “shell of a person” prior to 2020, he used the break to build a family, get married, father two boys and dive deeply into his faith. He sees the band’s enduring connection as a product of sheer grit.
“I feel like all of us here have a really good work ethic, and that’s what made the music really consistent over the years,” Weaver says.
Keyboardist and singer Katie Slusarski navigated her own path alongside her bandmates, contributing to the collective growth that defines their return. They didn’t just wait out the clock. They actively built joyful, fulfilling lives independent of the band.
Reclaiming Wednesday Nights
So, why now? The simple answer is the yearning for the brother-and-sisterhood the group fostered. As priorities shifted and responsibilities mounted, the band realized just how rare the consistency of community becomes as you get older. They had spent every Wednesday together for 10 years. They missed their friends.
The reunion didn’t start with grand ambitions of a comeback tour. It started with a desire to hang out. They acknowledged a mutual truth: They love playing music and want to play it only with each other. They made it a priority to reclaim those Wednesdays just to be present in each other’s lives again.
Getting the musical engine running, however, required some maintenance. Coming back together meant shaking off seven years of cobwebs. At first, finding the balance between catching up as best friends and putting in the work as a band proved difficult. Because nothing was a given anymore, they had to communicate differently.
“There was definitely a lot of rust on the hands coming into it,” McClure admits.
Yet, after a few practices, the old magic began to spark. When all six members finally stood in a room together again, the muscle memory kicked in. They picked up exactly where they left off, but armed with a new confidence. Standing in a room with the people they care about most, playing the songs that defined their twenties, proved to be an immense mental boost.
The Thin Line Ahead
Even during their silence, Denton never really let Biographies go. Their music has stubbornly refused to fade away, remaining in steady rotation on local radio stations, including KXT. That lingering sonic footprint proves that their meticulously crafted indie rock still resonates with North Texas listeners.
When Biographies takes the stage at Rubber Gloves for Thin Line Fest, expect a performance fueled by a healthier, more mature relationship with creating art. Maggard notes that having the space to appreciate music without the pressure of “making it” has entirely changed his perspective. They aren’t trying to force anything; they are simply showing up to do what they love. They know it wasn’t easy to get back here, which makes this Friday night feel all the more important. They have learned how to juggle the heavy, beautiful responsibilities of life. Now, they get to share the results of that growth with the city that raised them.
Biographies is set to perform at 9:20 p.m. on Friday, March 20, at the outside stage of Rubber Gloves. Thin Line Fest is free to attend, but attendees must register for a festival wristband in advance. A $10 donation is encouraged.
