MisterWives

When MisterWives was first presented with the opportunity to support Twenty One Pilots in fall 2014, the New York-based indie pop band was hesitant because it was recording its debut album. That’s when Paradigm Talent Agency’s Mike Marquis stepped in.

“Marquis called us and was like, ‘You have to take this tour.’ … So we took it and our fanbase multiplied significantly,” drummer Etienne Bowler told Pollstar.

“He’s only called a couple of times and every time he does we’re just, like, “OK, we’ll do it!” vocalist Mandy Lee added. “We respect him so much and his opinion. He [has] a heavy hand in where the band is.”

Anna Lee / AnnaLeeMedia.com – MisterWives
Cover photo Oct. 23, 2017

Following the Twenty One Pilots outing, MisterWives did its own headline dates “and our numbers doubled, then tripled, just based on doing one support tour,” Marquis said.

Marquis knew the band was something special from the first time he saw them.

“We went to a show and they blew us away. Mandy, the singer, she’s a star, bonafide.”

Marquis and Matt Galle have an interesting perspective, working with the band both as agents and via their independent label, Photo Finish Records.

“If we could just get people to see this band, we will turn them [into fans] like nobody else,” Marquis said. “That was the strategy for me, laying that on the table for the group and management.”

And it has worked. MisterWives began 2017 by joining Panic! At The Disco for an arena tour and launched its own headline trek in late September in support of sophomore album Connect the Dots.  

While MisterWives exists in the pop world, the music comes to life with 100 percent live instrumentation. The members don’t use co-writers, autotune or any pre-recorded tracks live.

“They’re a rock band. That seems like it’s a rarity, especially in this space. They’re pretty outspoken about it. I’m proud to work with somebody who’s got that backbone,” Marquis said. 

“We never sound as perfect, I think, as a lot of other bands,” Lee said. “That gets in your head, ‘Oh, we’re not as good,’ but people come back [to the shows] and I think [it’s because] there’s this insane energy … that happens when friends play music and the crowd feeds off of that.”