Bayonne brought a unique immersive performance to Beer City Music Hall on Sept. 27, giving Oklahoma concertgoers a different kind of live music experience.
In 2016, Roger Sellers adopted the stage name Bayonne and stopped releasing music professionally under his real name. Before becoming an indie pop artist, he had released music under his real name and made folk music. He made this transition to redirect how he was perceived as an artist and separate himself from his acoustic roots. Now, 10 years into his career as Bayonne, he has built a large following, with hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify.
After high school, he went to Texas State University in the Austin area. He studied music theory there but eventually found that formal music study was taking away from the way he wanted to create music. This laid the foundation for the signature style he had spent years crafting.
A Bayonne show offers a different experience and a different style from typical concerts. Most concerts either have a band performing with them or a DJ. Bayonne has a drummer with him on stage, but he creates most of the other sounds himself, serving as the band, DJ and performer. He is an artist that builds a performance from nothing rather than just clicking on play for the song. He uses a looping method in which he records sounds into a machine and repeats them. He then adds more layers until the loops become the full instrumental for the song he performs.
The Oklahoma City performance marked the beginning of Bayonne’s tour supporting his newest album, giving fans an early look at the songs that will make up the setlist throughout the tour. On Sept. 4, Bayonne released the album, Filters. This album follows Bayonne entering a new phase of life and having to find acceptance while facing the grief of losing his father.
At the show in Oklahoma City, he came out and started to play his guitar into his looping device. After finding the rhythm he wanted to begin with, he moved over to the keyboard where he added to the layers he crafted. Once he added all the layers to the song, he began singing his song called “Unexpected” from the Filters album.
“Unexpected” is one of Bayonne’s favorite songs from Filters. When asked what song he would suggest to new listeners, he said this track because he feels that it captures the sound he usually aims for.
“I think that sonically it encapsulates what I’m usually going for,” said Bayonne. “It’s become one of my favorite songs I have written.”
While “Unexpected” represents one side of Filters, another song came from unexpected circumstances in Bayonne’s life.
“January” was written during a difficult time in Bayonne’s life. He recorded the second half of the song’s vocals right after one of his friends unexpectedly passed away. For Bayonne, these vocals were a way to deal with what he was feeling at the time.
“It felt like the best way to process those emotions was through music,” said Bayonne.
The two songs reflect the personal connection throughout Filters. The album explores a new phase of Bayonne’s life and his experience dealing with the loss of his father, giving listeners a more reflective side of his music while maintaining the layered sound that has become part of his signature style.
When Bayonne was asked to describe his music in one word, he chose “colorful.”
That description fits the way his live performances come together. He doesn’t simply play along with a prerecorded track. Instead, he builds the layers of his songs in real time.
After years of developing his sound and performing around the country, Bayonne said the biggest lesson he would give his younger self is to stay persistent.
“The music industry can be pretty tough, and you really have to love it to be able to get through some of the difficult aspects of it,” Bayonne said. “Staying positive and enjoying it is the key. It’s a real labor of love.”