Riding a New Wave into the New Year

For the first time in nearly four years, you won’t need time travel to see this Whitefish ‘80s New Wave cover band. 

The New Wave Time Trippers, who played their final show in February 2022, will be reuniting on New Year’s Eve at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish to take concert-goers back to 1985 before they ring in 2026. 

It was four winters ago when the Time Trippers played the final notes of R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of The World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) at the Great Northern Bar & Grill, closing out a decade that featured hundreds of shows in Montana and beyond. 

“When we broke up we were all getting along famously,” lead singer and guitarist Nick Spear said. “We just felt like it was getting stale and we just wanted to do other projects that we were working on. We had two band members start businesses and two other band members start other bands.” 

Now, the band — which was made up of Spear, Matthew Bussard on bass, Don Caverly on keyboard and vocals, and Marco Forcone on drums — is ready to dust off their time machine and bring a new type of New Wave party to Whitefish this New Year’s Eve. 

“It should be an absolute scream,” Spear said. “It should be really fun.” 

From 2012 to 2022, the New Wave Time Trippers traveled to venues across the state playing a strictly “danceable” catalogue that was reminiscent of the long-running 1980s MTV show called “120 Minutes,” which showcased new, innovative acts in alternative rock and electronic music.

“We have enough of these songs we used to play so people will feel like they’re getting what they remember, but also it’s different enough that it will feel really fresh and really new,” Spear said. 

“We didn’t wanna come back unless it was either wildly better or wildly different from what we were doing,” he said.

One major difference in the New Year’s Eve performance, though, will be the absence of bass player Matthew Bussard.

“We literally hadn’t even been in the same room together at the same time for almost 3 years, not purposefully, just you know, life happening,” Spear said. “Then we’re like, hey, we should think about just doing a reunion show and how hard would it be to get it back together, and our bass player, Matt, said ‘I’d love to, but I’m moving to Charlotte.’” 

Bussard’s absence, however, helped the band get creative in their approach to the multimedia aspect of the show — a signature component of a Time Trippers performance.

Part of what made a Time Tripper’s show unique was the music video elements the band incorporated. Songs were synced up to cut-ups of classic MTV and VH1 music videos that played across multiple monitors. 

The band tapped into these MTV roots to ensure the concert would be a full reunion, Spear said.

“We were like wait a minute; we can’t lose our best-looking band member,” Spear said. “Let’s put him on a TV.” 

For the performance, keyboardist Don Caverly will play bass, while a pre-recorded Bussard will “play” keyboard, which was captured through a mix of green screen and AI image to video technology. Spears described the process of putting together the show as a “technologically heavy lift.”

“We’ve kind of worked it into a plot of the show, so he’s sort of our spirit guide to try to get the band back to 1985,” Spear said. “There are times throughout the show where he guides us and gives us tips on how we might get back to 1985 and away from the hellscape of the 2020s. 

“It’s funny and thoroughly entertaining and we feel like we’re doing right by our original lineup by keeping him in the show at least virtually.”

Despite the changes and new additions, Time Trippers fans can still expect to see some familiar favorites from the band’s decade of performances, from “Jessie’s Girl” to the mandatory black Chuck Taylors.

“It’s a must,” Spear said. “That’s all we wore playing the show… if I’m wearing different footwear, I literally can’t hit the guitar pedals right, like it’s bizarre. I have to have them on.”

The New Wave Time Trippers will play at Whitefish’s O’Shaughnessy Cultural Arts Center, 1 Central Ave., on Dec. 31.  Doors open at 8:30 p.m. Tickets available exclusively through Eventbrite and include a champagne toast.

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