Dealing with a sudden change to your schedule isn’t always easy, but Ryan Lynch and the Mixed Notions don’t mind the inconvenience.
After all, the change is a good one; Lynch’s band, which also includes Stephen Rowley, Scott Freeland and Harry Samoy, won the fan vote at the July 20 Walk the Beat White Lake Festival. As part of its prize package, the band got an invitation to perform at the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival Parade, set for Saturday, Aug. 3. It also received a date at next year’s Arts Council of White Lake free summer concert series and will get 40 hours of studio time at Third Coast Recording Company in Grand Haven.
The Mixed Notions performed from 3-5 p.m. on the deck at Big John’s Pizza, one of the 19 locations that were part of the Walk the Beat festival.
“We’re extremely grateful for the support we got from the community, even with just the couple hours we were out there,” Lynch said. “Walk the Beat is a fantastic organization, and we’re grateful for the opportunity they provided, and that gratitude extends to the people who voted for us.”
Lynch originally hails from Ann Arbor but does have a White Lake area connection; as a teenager, he was in a choir at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. His parents, after taking him to the camp, would explore the area, and fell in love with it so much they bought a plot of land in 2015 and built a house on South Shore Drive in Whitehall.
“I’ve been going up to Whitehall a couple times a month ever since,” Lynch said. “It’s a great town and a great place, with a great downtown. It’s a lovely place and I was happy to be able to perform at a local festival.”
Lynch got together with his bandmates last year but previously played at the original Walk the Beat festival in Grand Haven as a solo act, so he was familiar with the concept. Still, the difference between the festival and performing a concert, which the band has been fortunate enough to do throughout Michigan, was certainly stark.
“It’s definitely not what you’re used to,” Lynch chuckled. “If you wait long enough, you’ll hear the person across the road from you as you’re between songs. I was able to walk over by the Fetch area a little bit and see some of the talent that was showcased in town.”’
The Mixed Notions, Lynch said, assembled through, essentially, a game of telephone. Lynch began playing with Rowley, whom he’s known a few years and met through a friend, as a bass guitarist. From there, Rowley brought in Freeland, the band’s other guitarist and a childhood friend of his, and Freeland recruited a friend of his - Samoy, the drummer. Samoy was in Florida for Walk the Beat so didn’t perform, but the band continues to tour.
Lynch said he was confident his band would put on a good show at Walk the Beat, but with so many acts on the docket, it was impossible to feel strongly about the chances of winning a fan vote.
“I was proud of what we’d been doing,” Lynch said. “We’ve been touring an album we wrote (Stages) across Michigan the past couple months. We were well-rehearsed, but you never know with how many acts there were. It’s certainly a very good feeling and very affirming (to win). It reminds you you’re on the right track.”
The gigs are certainly a huge boost for the group, but the Third Coast recording time will have a major impact on the Mixed Notions as well. Lynch said the group has been working on an EP (in music parlance, an album of about 5-6 songs) it hoped to release this summer. The chance to work on “the best version, to hone those tunes,” using resources it normally wouldn’t have, will likely push the timeline back a little bit but should result in a better product.
The band has aspirations of fully making a living off its music, and its recent statewide tour in support of a debut album has done nothing to change those dreams. Lynch is hopeful the band’s new opportunities given by the festival will push those dreams closer to reality.
“We’d love to start touring outside of Michigan and see the world a little bit through music,” Lynch said. “I’ve had the privilege of doing that in a couple of different ways, but to do it with a guitar, with your own songs, is an entirely different experience, and one we’d love to have.”
