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Melting brains with Lakewaves Trio on Max Ink Radio

Max Ink Radio · Sat Nov 22, 2025

you found Wisconsin's local music authority. This is MagSync Radio. We are local music.

Lake Waves Trio. It's a Madison-centric group based outfit crafting original music with an

eclective progressive soundscapee instrumentalism might we say experimental and led by Madison

synthesizer graffiti artist keyboardist and pianist Graham Marlow aka Lake Waves tonight. The

trio is a quartet and accompanying Graham tonight is bassist Mamel Mason Ammanstahl,

drummer Will Bailey and guitarist Bruce Wassertstrom. Graham, Mamel, Will, Bruce,

welcome back to MagSync Radio. Thank you for having us again. Graham, before we get to the members

of the band tonight, how did you get start playing music and what's your backstory? I grew up just

north of Green Bay. Kind of an interest in Alaska. Kind of like a rural suburban. We had like

choice schooling so we had like the kids working on the farm was with the Confederate flags in the

truck window and then we also had the girls that drove dad's humored tennis practice so it was like

it was a wide array of economics and yeah opportunity and yeah pretty pretty colorful that way

and I got more serious about music in college or like maybe recognized some gifts and started

working with them around them but I had brothers that were you know playing pro jazz and in some

form for like high school onward and then taking me to a lot of different kinds of shows and stuff

and my parents had really good taste but they weren't necessarily like performers. My dad's gotten into

like guitar building and that in retirement and stuff. Oh wow. Yeah they weren't they weren't really

musicians. Well my mom did a little bit like in church and stuff but they didn't really go the

direction that we did with it you know with book and shows and making logos and that kind of thing.

Now who stuck you in piano classes? My mom pushed for it and then I kind of got the discipline

from my older brothers you know or like we'll sit here until we have like real progress on this

Chopin piece that we're learning or whatever and then I kind of stuck with me I guess

when I got more on my own and on my own time and using different facilities to practice and stuff

like that so. Well Graham what brought you down from Pulaski to the Mad City? I had been in Milwaukee

working on the second bachelor's in the journalism realm and I kind of got to the very end of that

and they wanted me to do grad level tuition which was really super pricey for one semester when

all I really had to do was this law seminar and my capstone. So at that point I just kind of realized

well this didn't have a direct the direct application that I was looking for when I was going to be

finishing it and I just I was ready to be in the workforce and so I was doing like some contract

work with the health department out here survey work based on like how people feel about their

experience in health care and how they feel in their community what are some ways that they think

those things could be improved etc and I got there was also like biometric screenings and stuff

that I administered but like that was a really good prelude into you know like policy work

later on and stuff underwriting and Medicaid and working in housing programs helping people

get placement and things like that so just every day and every household was was really different

and that was more of an experiment I had a few different odd jobs this was like summer 2013

I was trying to figure out if I could you know cobble together living out here and kind of worked

out but I did make a more like full-time turn about six months later into you know like receiving

warehouse kinds of jobs and then I transitioned into like claims work and policy and stuff like

I said so I worked brought you to Mad City and well worked like here I saw that you have a solo

album on band camp a divorce attorney options was the name of the title are you avoid a divorce

attorney by day I was wondering no no I guess a lot of what we do can be kind of onion-esque but

that's a title I had like kind of you know a notebook for a while and then I kind of ran with it

when I had a full collection of solo material that was really ready to be kind of packaged that way but

you know I it's just kind of like a left hook you know you don't like see it come in especially

when you factor in the artwork which was really kind of neo-retro and kind of psychedelic you know

but Jamie did a really awesome job Jamie Brywood from Milwaukee he does artwork for like blue note jazz

artists and stuff oh wow nice he did your artwork yeah yeah I um and I was just happy to be in

his realm of affordability because he does really good work well let's get to some live music from

the mad city with lakeways trio presented by the Aaron Weber group I have a question for you though

the first song you do for us tonight it's called punches fly over from princess is this from 1981

for real yeah yeah the right view of like a few words difference from the original headline or whatever

but I was actually trying to find like a something collagey that would work as a piece of artwork

around the band and the music and so I was going through old newspapers and stuff online and

otherwise and I stumbled upon this were these guys got in a fight at prom and they were just like

brawling and I and then they had like the before and after photos to match it so that made it

funnier because they're like I mean they're really decked out like they looked like they were in

like members of weather report and stuff like that just dressed to the nines really funky and

then you get that other image of the brawl and I just I just I found that kind of hilarious and

just kind of like the the vintage found footagey aspect of that appeals to me I guess and

I guess it's part of the aesthetic like it's the woven into the humor of what we do

all right well let's hear it this is a punches fly over from a princess we'll get grandma

behind is is UFO keyboard stand over there it's just this giant all right let's hear you're

listening to live from man city this is lake waves trio and punches fly over from princess

and

It's

Can you hear me?

Is everything all right?

Is everything ok?

Is everything all right?

What's going on?

So do you think this is your way?

Sure, I think it's yours.

Is everybody doing good,

Do you think they where to place?

Why do you want to at least run?

I'm sorry.

Hi!

Alright, punches fly over from a princess.

That is Lake Waves Trio.

You are listening to live from the mad city right here on Maxing Radio.

We're going to hope that this mic works right here.

Let's see if we got a fix.

Graham, you are the sense of the size of graffiti artist.

And tonight we're hearing a lot of sounds to give us some context and visualize what is going on here.

Tell us a little bit about your rig and what it's like commanding a spaceship over there.

I have heard people make a similar comments about what is wrong with that cord.

Is the fact that we're there?

We're going to have to switch.

What can we do?

Live radio right here.

I have had people make some similar compliments or compliment hyphen comments.

And that I'm running a small company up there more or less with the keyboards and the different things that they're doing.

So to dumb it down to someone who is a musician or not, I guess I would just say that my setup is really threefold right now.

Ones, like the performance piano, part of it, your roads.

I'm throwing like spicy and then like tape echo effects and stuff at times when I'm playing some of these vintage keyboards that are built into that.

That's where I'm getting a lot of my organ.

The more like dated 80s sounds that I'm pulling, it's probably out of there but then the freakier synth sounds are coming out there too.

But that's the main thing is the vintage keyboard sounds performance piano.

The core op6 is like a sequencer that also doubles as a synth lead.

So I'm mostly using it as a lead tonight, but I also use it for texture as well.

And I can really get a groove going with the thing by itself.

If you give me five minutes, that's part of what I like about it so much a few years later.

I'm still finding things in there.

And then the core mini log.

I guess with the op6, there's an altered FM synthesis aspect that's unique to it.

But the mini log is more for like the space of your jams and the more textural psychedelic sounds that I'm throwing in as a layer to everything else that's going on.

Kind of like a swirl, if you will.

One band that really influenced me and in our line of work, you know, the fusion stuff.

Oh, yeah.

They would put stuff like that in the liner notes like spirals, comma, synth, comma, claps, or you know, whatever it was.

That was just like, man, like I, they're so far out in outer space with the musicianship.

But they still have this sense of humor about it.

So now what, what new age composers would you say are your inspiration?

Did you have anybody growing up or even classical composers?

But I was thinking to maybe the new age people.

Yeah.

I think maybe just because it was more, more easily found than the other parts of the history and the catalog of like classical and neoclassical and Avon guard and neo Avon,

what all the kind of stuff grouped together over the last 40 years, the academic music, mixing with everything else, I suppose you could say.

But I think I've always been attracted to like anyone who can set up a set of keyboards and a drum machine or just a set of keyboards in general or

John Martin used to do it with guitars, M-A-R-T-Y-N.

He had kind of a trippy guitar set up, but he was also a phenomenal songwriter back in the day.

But in my case, it's anyone who can sit down and kind of be a one-man band to an extent.

I've always been really attracted to that or just being able to sit down and improvise at a really high level like Keith Jarrett.

He would just sit down and some of those sold like millions of copies just because he tapped into something special there.

Just the idea of like sitting down and being able to really emote at a high level.

So a lot of times I lead you like repetitive structures, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream.

There we go.

Let's see, John Adams with the piano stuff, he would write in odd signatures, but he also had like a, or were the unique sense of like scenario.

So he'd have like multiple pianos doing multiple kinds of things stacked on top of each other.

So I'm going to like a Charles Ives, you know, where he'd set up a marching band going one direction and like a string quartet,

sitting or moving in the other direction in a different key.

And then where they lap over each other has an interesting, like that's an experience by itself, you know, just.

I've always been really attracted to guys like that, especially when I was having to do like homework assignments on music history over the years.

Well, let's get to meet your band tonight and start with bassist, Mamo, Aminstal.

Mamo, you play in a few different bands around Madison.

And tell us how did you get started in music?

I started really when I was a kid, my dad always had a mandolin in the guitar.

I'm going to stand up here.

Yeah, get a seat.

Pardon me.

It doesn't go.

That's fine.

Kind of like me, you know, sometimes we get the only hit the bottom for you.

Just don't get back up again.

But no, I started my dad, my dad always had a mandolin in the guitar and a house.

And so I kind of like, you know, realized from an early, early age that you can make music at home.

And you know, it's not out of reach.

You know, you see people on MTV when you're eight years old playing, you know, deaf leopard doing,

you know, weird guitar stuff or something like, oh, I can never be your rock star.

I'm maybe not, but you know, you can have some fun playing music.

That's right.

And so really, I really got started when I played, I chose upright bass in the sixth grade orchestra.

I wanted to play trumpet, but he was like, no, we're full up.

No more trumpets.

We're done.

It's all about the bass.

And my uncle plays in the Eugene Symphony Orchestra out in Eugene, Oregon.

And I kind of always loved the bass.

Just kind of, you know, I always kind of liked what he did.

I tried to play electric guitar for a while and some lead and some country bands.

And I just went back to bass primarily.

Nice.

And what other bands are you in currently around around?

I know you play in a couple.

Yeah.

I actually just joined the Fish Tribute Act fun, which is.

Okay.

Sure.

It's very cool.

I have a lot of them.

That's right.

Yeah.

Come out and see us for Hippie Christmas.

Nice.

And then I also am in Dogtown Hollow, who was up for the Midwest Country Music Organizations,

Americana Act of the Year last year.

Right.

And we're going up there again.

Hopefully, to be nominated was great.

Hopefully we get to sit up on their stage next year and maybe accept an award, who knows.

But it's great to just meet up with those people and play music.

And then shorten the mail.

I play Bluegrass guitar and that.

Nice.

Yeah.

So I try to keep busy.

You do.

Where do you get those glasses?

You always have a good player.

Glasses.

I got these.

Oh, jeez.

Is it Steinhauer's?

I'm a university.

Wow.

Yeah.

You always have the coolest glasses.

I don't know where you come from.

Thank you.

You know, I went in there and I was like, what's the weirdest pair?

Found them.

That's the one I want them.

That's right.

Oh, that's awesome.

She's like, we just put that up this morning.

That's like, yeah, I don't get another pair, I guess, because I'm taking these home.

Well, let's get back to live music from the Mad City with Lake Waves Trio presented by the

Aaron Greberg group.

The next song you have for us tonight is called California's Zephyr Train Leaves One Behind.

Let's get right to it.

This is Grand Marlow.

Lake Waves Trio.

You're listening to live from the Mad City on Maxine Gradyo.

And I've got some life on my side Voltage.

So I'm going to play a song for you tonight.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.

See you next time.

Bye.

California's Zephyr train leaves one behind.

That is the Lake Waves Trio.

You're listening to Lime from the Mad City on Maxing Radio.

We will be right back.

You found Wisconsin's local music authority.

This is Maxing Radio.

We are local music.

Maxing Radio Lime from the Mad City from downtown Madison.

High above State Street in the WMDX studios.

We are back with Lake Waves Trio.

And it's time to give the drummer some.

Will Bailey tell us how you started playing music.

And what is your backstory?

Well, I started off really loving like punk and metal.

I know you'll appreciate that.

Yeah, I was rocking out to misfits and remones and the clash.

And you know, playing punk rock at the roller rink in high school.

And then I discovered, okay, I like orchestra music.

I like jazz.

I like Latin music.

There's this whole universe of other stuff that I don't know.

So I kind of went on this quest of let's learn everything on the drums.

Let's become proficient in every style.

I kind of became like obsessed with that.

You're not going to be playing jazz at the roller rink.

Roller rink then accept my jazz application.

What was your parents role in your musical upbringing?

They were great because in fifth grade they said you can do study hall or you can do band.

But if you do band, you can only do drums because everything else is full.

You can only do drums.

And my parents were nice.

They said, oh, well, you know, we have this separate porch from the house.

And my parents were pottery.

I actually did pottery for a lot of years before I did.

That's a wonderful time.

But yeah, they were parents were very supportive.

They said, okay, you can get a drums that you can be as loud as you on.

I was very thankful for them.

Wow, that's not something you hear out of parents usually.

They were great.

Yeah, thank you, mom and dad.

Thank you, mom and dad.

Put them into drums.

Do you play other instruments?

Oh, yeah.

Well, actually, I own a recording studio on the East Side, Will Bailey Productions.

And I play piano, guitar, bass, mainly drums.

And I produce and record music out of there.

So, yeah, I kind of been dabbling and learning, trying to learn everything that I possibly can.

A true Renaissance man.

That's right.

How'd you hook up with Lake Wave's trio?

Well, I sort of, my high school buddy had a band in Lake Geneva.

And then when we moved to Madison, I said, let's do a band house.

And we kind of had all my buddies move in.

And Graham was part of that band.

And so we kind of all piled into my house.

And we all, you know, it was a, it was a thing that you do in your 20s.

It didn't last forever, but it was fun.

And so I played with Graham on my first Madison band.

I moved from Lake Geneva.

What band was it?

It was what? The Chroma Fones?

Yeah.

Like the Chroma Fones?

Chroma Fones.

Yeah, that was like 2014.

Yeah, that's why I moved to Madison.

So, I've been at it since.

And I've been in a bunch of different groups and been loving it here.

Nice. Why'd you come to Madison?

I went to here because I went to MMI, Madison Media Institute.

To study recording.

So that's why I came here originally.

And then I thought, well, I'll just stay because it's cool.

And there's more going on than Lake Geneva.

That's right.

I'll stay because it's cool.

That's a good enough reason.

Well, let's get back to live music from the man city with the Lake Waves trio

and presented by the Aaron Weber group.

The next song you have for us tonight is called Dance Party

in a deserted parking lot.

Is this a, is this a Kmart parking lot?

Not specific to Kmart, but yeah, that was actually inspired by,

I've been at this company for a couple of years now.

But I knew I was in the right place.

When on day one, I went out for lunch.

And I saw a series of people from the adjacent department like breakdancing

to various stuff.

I was like, that's different.

But that's, you know, that kind of felt like home in a way.

But just like the image of that also just kind of ties in with our aesthetics

and kind of like the whole like flaming lips thing.

You know, like this, this bonkers title.

But then this music experience you really respect.

I guess that's kind of something I've always been going for.

Perfect. Let's check it out.

This is Dance Party in a deserted parking lot.

You're listening to Lake Ways Trio,

live from the man city on Maxing Radio.

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