North Carolina Indie Band Leader Connects to Himself, Others Through Music
Having the founder of a band describe their songs as “happy sounding pop music about sad sounding things” might be something that many musicians would be shy to admit.
Not David Wimbish.
Wimbish is the frontman for the North Carolina-based indie-pop band The Collection, the group that he founded with the current lineup about six years ago, after going on a circuitous musical journey upon graduating from UNC-Greensboro.
But with Wimbish’s personal issues, the music he and his band has created adds a therapeutic outlet for him.
“I’ve always written about what feels true to me and what I feel like I’m going through, and I’m someone who has had a lot of mental health struggles and had to do a lot of work in therapy and trying out anti-depressants and things that can help my brain feel a little bit more regulated,” said Wimbish who writes most of the band’s material. “So, I tend to write about what’s true to me and (it’s) those things that are coming into the songs. It’s at least subconsciously motivated.”
That is most evident in The Collection’s upcoming release of their album “Little Deaths.” While the group has been slowly releasing singles from the album for the past nine months, their current tour, which brings them to headline the Pleasantville Music Festival’s Party Stage on Saturday, is helping to promote the scheduled Aug. 9 debut of the full album.
The process of writing and recording the music has been particularly helpful to Wimbish, where the stories in his songs have steadily assisted him as a person, including helping him to get sober after battles with alcohol, among other upheavals.
“It was something I was noticing in my life, that in order to feel real growth in areas of my life, I kept feeling that all these little areas had to be cut away or die,” he said. “It was funny because as I was thinking about the title, I was reminded that the French word for orgasm is little death. It felt kind of beautiful to me that the contrast of what you think in the moment feels like a thing in your life that’s dying away can be a really beautiful thing and leave space for new things to grow.”
The music has also resonated with others who’ve encountered similar struggles in their lives. Last year, The Collection put out a song called “Medication,” about Wimbish’s journey of finding the right balance to help find the right meds. Wimbish said once the song was release, he thought few would care for it, or that perhaps it was too personal.
Then he started to receive strong feedback and it proved to be an awakening, that there are many who have similar struggles.
“The things I’m feeling are things a million people are feeling,” Wimbish said. “I just feel grateful to have a platform to talk about them because I think they’re not particularly unique, but our culture, I think, is just learning how to express those struggles.”
For most of the summer, The Collection is touring on the eastern side of the U.S. By early fall, the group will be heading out to the West Coast.
Playing at an outdoor venue isn’t new for the band; neither is performing at a music festival. Last year, The Collection organized its own festival in North Carolina, and although there was some monsoon-like rain, they were able to perform and finish their set, Wimbish said.
The most joyful part of writing and making music for Wimbish is having listeners enjoy themselves while getting something out of what he’s written.
“Even if my band never gets giant-ly famous, if we can help some people feel less alone, to me that would be like the biggest achievement in the world,” Wimbish said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
