"Just Let The Music Speak For Itself" - An Interview With Out In Front:
- Breanna Macomber
- 7 minutes ago
- 5 min read
On December 9th, 2025, I had the privilege of reviewing a concert for one of my favorite bands - AJR. This was one of those bucket list items that you don't even know really exists but it was one of my favorite nights that I've ever had. With the past concert reviews that I've done, I've just gone in, did my thing, then got out. With this concert though in December, I was blown away at one of the opening acts for AJR - Out In Front. We don't give enough credit to opening bands and how difficult that job can be. The audience has been waiting all this time to see their favorite band and we don't take the openers as seriously as we should. This difficulty didn't even seem to cross the minds of the three piece consisting of Ryen Wagner (bassist), Isaiah Volk (drummer) and Madie Renner (vocals and guitar). They came out with such confidence and blew the roof off the place at The Aragon Theater with their energy. I immediately started writing about them and when Madie - the lead singer of the band announced she'd be doing a little meet and greet, I knew I had to get their information. Cut to February 24th, 2026, Out In Front performed at The Majestic Theater in Madison, Wisconsin opening for Bryce Vince. I was able to sit down with the band for a very quick interview right before they went on to perform.
Bre: Thank you for taking the time to chat before your performance. I wanted to get an idea on who the three of you are, how you met and how you formed. We can start there.
Isaiah: We met as tennis coaches. I met Ryen playing college tennis and had forced him to get a bass. When he got one, we tried to start a band and it didn't work out. Then, I started working at a country club in LA so I got him a job there. But before that, Madie came in. She invited me to one of her shows but I wasn't really thinking about it. Then a couple months later, she came over to jam and sent me some demos. When I heard them, I could not believe it. This was old stuff that wasn't even polished. Immediately, I had a light bulb moment that we should try and do something since I've wanted to do this my whole life. That was in 2024. We were testing things out as naive as possible and having no clue what is going on.
Madie: Exactly. I'm from Iowa. I went to college in Nashville for five/six years and then after living there, I moved out to LA. It was the classic "just a girl and a dream" scenario. I had no job and no place to place to live. I always loved tennis and I was coaching tennis in college on the side. Never in a million years would I have thought that coaching tennis would lead me to my music career, you know? I didn't really want to go to work but it ended up being the one that changed my life.
Bre: That is so fascinating. I also love the contrast of the genre of music that you guys play since it's punk.
Madie: It's such a posh job but we're the most emo kids you'll ever meet.
Bre: That's so funny. I love that. I wanted to bring up your social media presence. It's very big. I'm curious what your take on it is for a networking and marketing tool and how that's helped you guys.
Madie: I run our social media account. I live and breathe by it. I steal a lot of ideas from so many of my friends and other bands. You just have to be posting everyday as annoying as it can be. The ones that do the best are the ones that are the most authentic though. They're the ones that were shot on an iphone in Ryen's garage of us just jamming or rehearsing. You don't need to overthink it too much. Just let the music speak for itself.
Bre: I know you guys just released a song back in January, right?
Madie: Yeah, "In Another Life"
Bre: Yes! It's been stuck in my head all week I think from those social media posts. It's working. I know this band is very young but you guys already have some incredible stats. Just that song alone has over 100,000 streams on Spotify.
Madie: It's all we do. We just work everyday - 24/8.
Bre: It's awesome. For 2026 - is there anything on the horizon that you guys can talk about at all?
Madie: Right now, we're recording another EP. We have two songs done that we're so excited about. So definitely more music, more touring - another headline tour in 2026. Hopefully more collabs with some other fans.
Bre: Do you have any dream collabs?
Ryen: Hmmm. Dream collabs.
Bre: I know. It's a loaded question.
Madie: We just had our first collab with Bryce which is cool and already opening doors for us. We just love our friends. Collaborating with True North and When The Sun Sets would be fun. Any of our homies from the same region.
Bre: Of course. That sounds like so much fun. Are there any dream venues that you guys want to play within the next year or even in 2027?
Madie: We actually just talked about this.
Ryen: Yeah, we were just talking about this over dinner. Isaiah's wins because he said SoFi Stadium.
Isaiah: Are we talking dreams?
Madie: Dream big!
Ryen: I'd love to play at The Coliseum.
Isaiah: At least at home, it would be a comparison to The Aragon in Chicago. It would be The Wiltern or even The Greek Theater. Those would be crazy for all of us. Even more-so The Troubadour or The Roxy would be fun too.
Ryen: Fenway Park for me.
Bre: Fenway Park would be incredible! You guys are all such incredible musicians. I really was geeking out when I saw you all perform and I had one last question. Where did the band name come from?
Isaiah: I always say this, he's going to love to hear this. I was coaching my student Max Fickman on the court. This is when we were really starting out. He knew we were looking for a band name and we had just some crazy ones. But when I was talking to him, I was coaching him on the tennis court and told him to hit the ball out in front. I literally turned around, he was confused but it sounded good. I asked him how that sounded to him and he thought it was cool. So I stopped our lesson, said give me one second, texted them and I said I think I got it.
Written By Bre Macomber
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