Following their time in the studio playing the newly released song “White Explorer”, Columbia-based three-piece Wilson Park Rangers joined KCOU DJ Noah Schmitz one fine evening on the airwaves Saturday, December 9.

The band came together in a way that can only be thought of as truly lucky. Guitarist Eric Kvam and bassist/vocalist Hunter Bailey were friends and roommates pondering on forming a group before taking on the task of finding a drummer seriously last year in early 2023. 

Eric: “Hunter and I have known each other since the ninth grade, we were both like trumpets together in the marching band.”

Hunter: “We’ve been writing songs for like, a year, more than a year and a half, close to two years at this point.”

Eric: “We talked about having a band a long time ago, but I don’t know it just never, nothing ever came up until last summer. We were just like, ‘Hey, let’s write a bunch of songs.’”

Hunter: “Summer 2022 and then early 2023 we decided to get serious about finding a drummer. We’d actually played with some people before but nobody was really the best fit for us. And we got really lucky with Jalen just on the 2025 Mizzou Snapchat story, I think it was his girlfriend who saw the notice for a drummer, right? And was like, hey, you could do this. And then he was the first person who hit us up and you know, we’re like, okay, cancel everything else.”

Breaching the Snapchat college community story is in itself anxiety-producing, especially when the photo the brand uses to find its drummer is a scary basement corner. The spontaneity of time and place was in favor of the Wilson Park Rangers. Jalen Julian took a brave chance on the boys, and just as luck would have it, he became immersed in their sound. 

Jalen: “I almost didn’t, I was scared. I saw the little like, half put together drum kit. I was like, I’ll just go ahead. I’m just gonna branch out, try it. And I’m really glad I did. Because these guys were super talented. I was not expecting much, but I was blown away with them.”

Some of the biggest inspirations for the band include classics like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beach Boys, Talking Heads, and niche smaller bands they know personally. Hunter specifically shouts out Diamond Heads and Tour keys, explaining that even from all their idols the root of their work is nothing other than creating excitement. 

Eric:  “You know, we don’t want to bore the listeners. So I was trying to play something interesting.”

Interviewer: “Is there ever, like just sort of a creative sense of freedom when you’re playing like, ‘I get to do all I’m capable of to make this sound really tight and really good live?’”

Jalen: “I always like to overplay. You know, I’ve been in other groups where they’re like, hey, quit doing  all that stuff, and so I just kind of stick with the two and the four, you know, so it’s nice to be able to kind of have creative freedom, especially since all the songs they’ve wrote don’t have any drum parts. I just get to make them up, which is pretty interesting.”

Hunter: “We do have a pretty set way of doing things in terms of the songwriting process. I mean, usually I’ll come up with the kernel of the song. What I always come up with first is just like a vocal melody and some words. I feel like a lot of people you know, there’s no right or wrong way to build a song but like they’ll start with like a house, like a foundation ground floor and then they build up from there like you know, and then maybe they’ll add the words last or the vocal melody last but I have to grow outwards from a seed. You know what I mean? Then I’ll take it to Eric. He’ll add a chord progression for a different part of the song or like you know a different melody or some sort of bridge or something.”

Eric: “Then we usually work together for a while until we have a full coherence song and then you know, we practice a little bit.”

The three went on to rattle off local acts they love and have taken inspiration from. It is important to them to create a tight environment with the other locals and stress the idea of branching out. 

Hunter: “In terms of local bands, Ruby Lane is one of the best bands I’ve ever seen live, I’ve seen them like eight times, and they just have incredible stage presence. Incredible live energy. So they’re kind of my template for like, what a band in a local venue should act like”

Eric:  “I personally love a lot of genres. Whenever I first heard Laika, I just loved their wall of sound. They’re just so massive sounding. I love like, sort of the indie shoegaze vibe that they have. But again, also Ruby Lane.”

Hunter: “Also shoutout Meghan Boyer band for keeping the instrumental surf rock tradition alive as well.”

Jalen: “Free vise collective band. They’re a big jam band, you know, they kind of just make stuff up as they go. Don’t really have a whole lot kind  planned out. Their show at cafe Berlin when he played with them was pretty amazing. It was [an experience]. I was kind of like in a trance listening to them.”

Thinking about what they do to draw a live crowd to become fans, the group thinks of their own approach to live playing as a little unconventional. They went into explaining their costume design, introduced originally by Hunter, and what really sparked their look. 

Hunter:  “I think we’re already just so weird compared to a lot of local music, for better for worse. Like I just feel like we need to be more normal.”

Jalen:  “I don’t know man, I think just having the suit and tie look is just so goofy, you know, I think it’s just so funny looking, but not in a bad way. Just three guys up there, you know, playing  with suits and ties. It’s just very interesting.”

Hunter:  “I think for our first show, I was like, what if we just wore suits? I think I watched the music video for the Elvis Costello song that we covered earlier actually. They’re all wearing suits. And I was like, ‘Oh, we could do that’.  And I, you know, I think what it really serves to do is kind of just bring us back even more to like the 50s, 60s. Like, Beatles era, you know, black and white suits sort of thing. Either that or just to set us apart in general. 

The references to their 50’ 60’ surf sound culminate when performing live, with seafoam green and pastel pink guitars and white drum kit. The three nonstop name-drop Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and are especially proud to get RHCP comparisons on their single- White Explorer. 

Jalen:  “I had a friend and he was like, ‘Is your band like, person that wrote the song like, super influenced by Red Hot Chili Peppers?’ and I said, “How did you know?” And he’s like, “it sounds. the vocals sound like that. Just the style.” He said [that to me] completely independently of knowing that we were influenced by that and kind of picked up on that just by listening to the song. So that was pretty cool.”

As for what’s on the horizon for the Wilson Park Rangers, the band members spoke of their new music, and possibly some new live sets. They are consistently practicing to improve. 

Eric: “There are so many things you can do to improve, and I don’t want to speak for all of us, but I think we never settle.[Practicing towards perfection] is what separates good players from great ones.” 

The Wilson Parks Rangers White Explorer and newest single Mr. Samsara are both available wherever you listen to music.

Listen to the full live set here:

Listen to the full interview here: