Nicole Wilder
Hi! My name is Nicole Wilder and I’m a professional musician and theater artist working mainly in the Twin Cities. I went to the College of St. Benedict, where I studied English and Ancient Greek and Theater, and that’s where I met the friends who formed my very first band, Spencer McGillicutty! Here is a music video for one of our songs, Regards. After I finished at CSB, I decided that I loved school so much that I wanted to keep going! I decided to get a Master’s Degree in Theater from Miami University in Ohio, where I studied directing. Oxford, Ohio is a twelve hour drive from MN, but I loved singing with Spencer McGillicutty so much that I drove home every month to play shows with them! Then, when I finished my Master’s Degree, I moved into a house in Minneapolis with the band and we played lots and lots of music together for many years.
I’m still friends with all of them, but they live all over the country now and are working on other things, so I joined a new band a couple years ago called Maple & Beech! I knew the people in this band from high school and college as well. I’m really lucky to have so many friends who love music! Here is a song that I co-wrote for the band Maple & Beech, called OK. Maple & Beech released some albums together and got played on the radio and did interviews and played a lot of shows and it was awesome! But then the pandemic happened and live music shows pretty much stopped, which was very sad. Plus, Maple & Beech has a lot of people in it, and it wasn’t really safe for us to get together in the same place and make music together. But we did record this song together even though we were apart!
The pandemic was a long, lonely time for someone who is so used to making music with friends all the time! Thankfully, my friend Bubba was also excited to start making more music so he asked me if I wanted to start a country band with him. We both quarantined for a couple weeks, and then I went and lived at his house for 3 weeks, and we wrote and recorded a whole new album together, called Love & Other Troubles! One of my favorite songs from that album is called Crushin’. We’ve been playing outdoor shows pretty much every weekend, and it is SO FUN to be in front of an audience again. It’s exciting to see that people are starting to know our songs and be able to sing along at our shows.
Other than that, I’ve been directing plays and musicals in Minneapolis for the last 12 years. I’m directing a musical right now that I also wrote! It’s called “Escape Pod Echo” and it takes place in outer space. I also sing in a wedding band called Fred Savage and the Unbeatables. We sing cover songs that people love to dance to! When I’m not doing music and theater, I am cuddling my dogs Daisy and Hubert, or playing with my nieces Romy and Mira who live in St. Joe. I’m so excited to meet all of you and share our love of music together!!
I’m still friends with all of them, but they live all over the country now and are working on other things, so I joined a new band a couple years ago called Maple & Beech! I knew the people in this band from high school and college as well. I’m really lucky to have so many friends who love music! Here is a song that I co-wrote for the band Maple & Beech, called OK. Maple & Beech released some albums together and got played on the radio and did interviews and played a lot of shows and it was awesome! But then the pandemic happened and live music shows pretty much stopped, which was very sad. Plus, Maple & Beech has a lot of people in it, and it wasn’t really safe for us to get together in the same place and make music together. But we did record this song together even though we were apart!
The pandemic was a long, lonely time for someone who is so used to making music with friends all the time! Thankfully, my friend Bubba was also excited to start making more music so he asked me if I wanted to start a country band with him. We both quarantined for a couple weeks, and then I went and lived at his house for 3 weeks, and we wrote and recorded a whole new album together, called Love & Other Troubles! One of my favorite songs from that album is called Crushin’. We’ve been playing outdoor shows pretty much every weekend, and it is SO FUN to be in front of an audience again. It’s exciting to see that people are starting to know our songs and be able to sing along at our shows.
Other than that, I’ve been directing plays and musicals in Minneapolis for the last 12 years. I’m directing a musical right now that I also wrote! It’s called “Escape Pod Echo” and it takes place in outer space. I also sing in a wedding band called Fred Savage and the Unbeatables. We sing cover songs that people love to dance to! When I’m not doing music and theater, I am cuddling my dogs Daisy and Hubert, or playing with my nieces Romy and Mira who live in St. Joe. I’m so excited to meet all of you and share our love of music together!!