If you’ve ever seen the members of local band Off World at Andy’s or in a dimly lit house show, you know their energy as a group is undeniable. Even off the stage, the progressive rock group remains visibly passionate about connecting with the community through their music.

“There’s playing for yourself, playing for your bandmates, and playing for your audience, and I think there’s definitely an interplay between these,” drummer Adan Garcia, 32, said.

Off World began practicing together around 2010, but band members have trickled through over the past eight years. Currently, the band consists of bass player Brian Morgan, singer and guitarist Devin Miller, drummer Adan Garcia, and guitarist Kyle Downs.

The band has played multiple shows locally from house shows to J&J’s basement. Morgan, 28, joined the band around 2 years ago after some coaxing from Garcia. “Adan called me and [said] ‘Man, just come check it out please’ and I showed up and I was blown away,” Morgan said. “I’m like ‘Okay, yes. I will gladly play the bass in this band.’”

Garcia has been playing drums for Off World for around 4 years now, though he has been playing in bands for around 9 years. He noticed immediately the unity and talent that the band encompassed. Though Downs was the only member who graduated from UNT’S music program, whereas the other members took different routes, he appreciated the similarities and differences between the university and Off World.

“That’s what I liked about being in the [music] program but also playing in Off World because I had so much experience with both sides of Denton music,” Downs said. “[With] all the college stuff and all the stuff that was happening at house shows, it’s nice to have a mix of the very formal and very informal.” “Getting together with these guys was really cool [because] I felt like we had a really good package all around,” Garcia said. “[I’ve] been in bands that are really jam-style but don’t really have a good vocalist though. When I heard Devin I thought, ‘Man that’s great, I want to play with that guy.’”

The band brings energy to the stage through their musical ad libs that they incorporate throughout their sets to keep things fresh. “We work into every show where it’s a good chunk of time where none of it is pre-planned and no one has any idea of what’s going to happen before it starts,” Downs, 27, said. “We’re just riding the energy of the room.” Morgan agreed that while this spontaneity can be uncertain, there’s no greater feeling than interacting with the audience.

“You never know how [the crowd] is going to respond, and next thing you know everybody is just looking up at you guys and just loving every minute of it,” Morgan said.

The band is currently working on mastering their second album, though this will be the first one with current band members together. For this album, they are passionate about bringing their energy on stage to the album for a more genuine experience for listeners. “We wanted to make it sound like it does when we play live, so we recorded all the music together and then we just did a few overdubs afterwards,” Miller, 29, said. “So it’s got the energy of a live show.”

The album will be released by the end of the summer, though they might drop one or two songs before then. After the album release, the band hopes to tour their new songs and share their collective passion for music with audiences.

“In the moment, we’re all like an organic thing,” Garcia said. “There’s no better way to describe it than just love.”

Photos by Grace Bell
Header image design by Mallory Frenza