​A Musical Journey From Baltic to Boardwalk

By John Showalter 

john.d.showalter@gmail.com

Over the five years that I have written for High Plains Reader, I have made no secret of the fact that I think that Fargo-Moorhead has its fair share of artistic talent, musical and otherwise. Surprisingly, in all that time I had never gotten around to writing about a mainstay of Fargo music that has been around for over a decade, Baltic to Boardwalk. So when Ryan Hoffart, vocalist for the band as well as a long-time music promoter and current director at downtown musical mainstay The Aquarium, approached me about the band just having released a new EP, I leapt at the opportunity to rectify that oversight.

The lineup of Baltic to Boardwalk consists of the aforementioned Ryan Hoffart, Adam Smith on guitar, Curtiss Hamende on drums, Jack Stenerson on guitar, and Jesse Kepford on bass, with all but Hamende also providing additional vocals. The band got its start in 2009, when they gained a following from the release of their first four-song demo. This would be followed by their debut EP “Glory Days” in January 2011.

From there they trekked across the Midwest, Mountain states, and Pacific Northwest before dropping their second EP “Ghost Towns” in August 2012. In 2017 they released their first full-length LP, “Heathens” in April 2017 and released two singles, “Dinner Table” and “Empty Patriarch” in 2019. The band now has 39 states under its touring belt with no intentions of stopping and has even hopped across the border to play for our neighbors in the north in 2019.

In all, including their most recent material, Baltic to Boardwalk has self-released seven EPs and one LP over the life of the band.

Of course, the global COVID-19 pandemic came along and threw a wrench in any touring plans over the course of 2020. This by no means meant that the band was inactive. “Before the pandemic occurred, we had our next five to six releases planned out already,” said Hoffart. “But after taking a few months’ break to see how this sudden change in our everyday lives would pan out, we buckled down in our practice space and self-recorded 16 songs in a week’s time and some of our best work, period.”

This would lay the groundwork for their most recent project. “Our friend Griffin Landa from The Establishment studio out of Des Moines, who we had worked with on two other releases (Ghost Towns & Dinner Table//Empty Patriarch), was sent all the songs and he mixed and mastered them,” said Hoffart.

“With a set plan of not really saying what the plan was for these releases we started with dropping an EP called ‘Denial’, and releasing the next step of grief every couple months,” Hoffart said. “’Anger’, ‘Bargaining’, and ‘Depression’ all came out in 2021, and about halfway through folks realized what was happening. Ended up being a super good and easy way to keep ourselves in people’s ears throughout a six-to-eight-month span.”

When asked how he would describe the band’s music, Hoffart said, “Whether you see us as a hardcore band or somewhere between screamo and rock, it’s hard to put a specific finger on our sound. One thing for sure is that when people hear Baltic they know it’s us. Whether it’s the sound of the guitars and just the structure of the songs, people know it’s us. The band collectively loves melodic hardcore and is the genre we’re compared to the most.”

The band’s name, of course, is a reference to the board game Monopoly, and according to Hoffart, “Jack had a dream that he was in an indie rock band called Baltic to Boardwalk. Despite what folks say, we are not Baltic to Broadway.”

As for what is on the horizon for the band, Hoffart said, “We hopefully plan on touring a bit in 2022 if the world around us allows it. It’s been extremely hard to navigate through how any musician should handle this word pandemic. Writing and recording is great, but it’s extremely therapeutic getting to actually perform these songs to people.”

____________________

YOU SHOULD KNOW 

Those interested in listening to Baltic to Boardwalk’s music can find it on Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Bandcamp, and Tidal. 

Official merchandise and physical cassettes are also available on their website BALTICTOBOARDWALKBAND.COM.