Finn Wolfhard Swaggers Through His Band Calpurnia's Debut Single

It's been long known that Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard fronts the garage musical group Calpurnia, rounded out by Jack Anderson on bass, Malcolm Craig on drums, and virtuosic lead guitarist Ayla Tesler-Mabe. They've played their share of gigs, including a notable one in Brooklyn back in January that our own Crystal Bell attended and called "a commanding debut."


and possibly of equal importance, they recorded a EP in the studio with Twin Peaks' Cadien Lake James, a master of the laid-back nevertheless punchy sound Calpurnia is right after. That EP is set to drop soon, and on Tuesday (March 7), we got the jaunty first genuine single from it, a swaggering rocker called "City Boy" (co-produced by fellow Chicagoan Andrew Humphrey).





The four-chord saunter finds Wolfhard yelping and singing himself in a circle because the rest of the musical group backs him up with bluesy licks, handclaps, and plenty of background noisemaking. On the band's Instagram, they wrote that they're "super overjoyed of it" and to stay tuned for more news coming later this week.


At that Brooklyn show, "City Boy" featured so much "soulful shredding" from Tesler-Mabe, Crystal wrote, that Wolfhard actually bowed to her once it was over. You could hear the groundwork for such guitar acrobatics on the studio version.


"City Boy" joins "Ralphie" by Post Animal — the musical group Joe Keery records with — because the second Stranger Things-related rock groove to drop recently. My only question is: When's David Harbour's debut because the rollicking keyboardist in some greasy, excellent bar musical group that only plays shows in Midwestern dives? I hope it's soon, for everyone's sake.