Local students debut new EPs at The Cabin

Last Saturday night a new pop duo made their first Eau Claire appearance, Dekam and Johnson

More stories from Casey Ryan

The Olympic games debate
December 13, 2017
Dekam+and+Johnson+with+their+new+full+band%2C+playing+at+The+Cabin+Saturday+night

Photo by Casey Ryan

Dekam and Johnson with their new full band, playing at The Cabin Saturday night

Senior students from UW-Eau Claire and UW-River Falls performed for the first time at The Cabin this past Saturday night with their own originals and covers of pop music.

Dekam and Johnson is a band based in southern Minnesota and has been playing for more than five years. Students Noah DeKam and Logan Johnson started up a band after they met in high school.

They picked up the rest of their band this summer, adding a drummer and a bass player to their duo.

Patrick Phalen and Robbie Weisshaar joined on drums and bass, respectively. Jacob Teichmeier, Johnson’s roommate, also made efforts for the group by designing the album’s artwork.

Dekam and Johnson recorded their EPs over the summer at Pine Hollow Studio.

Megan Burmood, a senior graphic design student said she liked the duo’s music and overall performance.

“After they played ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince, I think they really captivated the audience,” Burmood said. “They put a unique spin on their music.”

This was their first time playing at the Cabin, and they packed a full house.

The band played a few of their own originals including, “Waves,” “Side by Side,” “West Coast Lover” and “Used to Be.”

The audience was moving as soon as the band played the song “Attention” by Charlie Puth.

“Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton was also a cover they played, which students cheered for.

“I’m glad I came out because this band is really cool,” said Jon VonFeldt, a sophomore business administration student. “I’m excited for the new album to drop.”

During the concert at The Cabin on Saturday they were accepting donations in exchange for their new CD. DeKam said they are recording their album through donations.

“This will be our first full album,” DeKam said. “We have a few EP’s out on iTunes and Spotify but otherwise we are really excited to launch this full album for our audience.”

The whole band is a mix of River Falls and Eau Claire students. They will all be graduating soon and are not sure exactly what they want to do after school. Dekam and Johnson said they will keep the band together and hope to keep producing music together.

Because they are students, Dekam and Johnson said they must pay for the album from donations. They said it is expensive to record in a studio and produce an album while taking on a full semester of classes. The fans have been their base for the funding to be able to record and produce this album.

So far the band has raised $1,695 of their $2,000 goal on GoFundMe. The money raised only covers the costs of recording the album.

Dekam and Johnson have donation pages set up to fund their album on the band’s Facebook page. Their music is also available on iTunes.