Q: Can you talk about your musical history and how this band formed?
A: Saint Suburbia start playing together in 1994 in Austin, Minnesota under the name Best Intentions. That incarnation of the band included Kris Olk, Neil Adams, Wade Anderson, and Jason McEwen. All of the members knew each other from high school. In this iteration Wade sang, Kris and Wade swapped between rhythm guitar and bass duties, while Neil played drums and Jason guitar. At this time, they were a bar band that played a lot around the southern Minnesota area with the greatest achievement of opening for Badfinger in summer of 1996. In late 1997 the band members decided to go their own ways. Over the next 16 years they worked on other various musical projects across Minnesota. Then, in 2013, Kris, Neil, Wade, and Jason got together to start playing music together again, just like the old days except that Wade played bass and Kris guitar exclusively.
Jason left the band in 2014, which paved the way for Daniel Kent to join the band. Daniel traded off lead guitar duties with Kris. In this timeframe, Kris started singing and Neil started playing harmonica and mandolin out live in addition to drums. With this lineup, Kris, Neil, Wade, and Daniel recorded the first album, Road To Nowthen, in 2021. At the same time the band changed their name to Saint Suburbia due to other bands named Best Intentions having released music. Daniel was living in Saint Paul at the time with the rest of the members living in the suburbs, hence the name Saint Suburbia.
Daniel decided to leave the band in 2023 and was replaced by Turner Berg shortly after. Turner manages the rhythm guitar and back vocals. This rounds out the current lineup of Saint Suburbia. This iteration of the band stated recording the latest album, Way Far Gone, in May 2025 with wrapping up in January 2026.
Q: What are some of the themes and concepts on your latest release Way Far Gone?
A: There is not really a theme for the entire since the songs were not written with an album in mind. Each song captures a moment in time where we thought that we had an interesting idea and built that idea into a song. The most blatant example of this is Brother John. This song is based on what the name John means in the English language...Dear John, A John, John Doe…We only missed having something happen in a bathroom. Anyways, it is not a serious song but is fun. Putting On Airs is about not being too good for what some people consider inferior. And of course, the different iterations of songs about love in It’s You, Hold On Part 2, Been Thinking, No, I Know, and For Any Dream. Each of them has a twist on the human emotions of happiness, disappointment, and even being pensive. We did not create a rock opera but fun individual songs.
Q: What drives you to create the kind of music you do?
A: First, fun. We do not make any money doing this so we treat this as a serious hobby, which means fun is the first priority. Each song we do hits this point at least once in a point in time.
Second, we have similar tastes in music. We all grew up with classic rock on the radio and enjoy bands like the Replacements, The Jayhawks, Gin Blossoms, and the Gear Daddies. So we pull ideas and themes from those types of bands.
Third, we all write music. On Way Far Gone there are songs written by each member and a couple as a joint collaboration. This helps bring some variety to the music so we don’t rely on a single person. That helps with not getting stuck in a rut of similar sounding songs. When we say written this really should mean initiated the song because once it is brought to the band the song is always modified through positive collaboration.
Q: What is the recording process like for the band?
A: The band plays live to capture the drums tracks and 95% of the bass track. The guitars, vocals, and auxiliary instruments are all overdubbed on the on the original drum and bass tracks. Some songs we try to add quite a few layers like in Land of Milk and Honey, Putting on Airs, and Hold On Part 2. It is fun building these tracks up and listen to how they grow during the recording process. Then there are other songs that was want a more basic production so they are similar to how you would see them live like Shattered, Been Thinking, and Stolen. The thought with the band is this adds some good relistening variety for the album.
Q: What are your live shows like?
A: To this day we are still a bar band. So, we do a variety of original and cover songs. Depending on the type of show we will do more or less original tunes. The most common night is a 3-hour set that we break up into 2 parts that are about 90 minutes long. Since we are from Austin and in Minnesota the local crowd always like to hear the Gear Daddies and we never disappoint them. We also cover some Prince, Tom Petty, Jason Isbell, and Steve Earle to name a few. Every once in a while, we will get a special musician up to play with us, where the most recent one was Stanley Behrens from WAR. We do our best to keep the crowd engaged because then they are having fun, we are having fun.
Q: What other things should we know about the music? Anything you want our audience to know about?
A: While each song has a single person who writes the lyrics, the music is absolutely a collaboration. Generally, one person (who may or may not be the lyricist) has a rough idea of chord progressions, but everyone adds something to make our songs a true joint effort. Wade can change the cadence or tone of the words, Neil can develop the drumbeat and change the tempo when needed, Kris can add a bridge, and Turner throws in harmonies where they didn’t exist before. Because we do this, we all have pride in—and want to play—all of our songs. We would not function as well, if at all, in a traditional model where one person is solely responsible for creative decisions.
A: Saint Suburbia start playing together in 1994 in Austin, Minnesota under the name Best Intentions. That incarnation of the band included Kris Olk, Neil Adams, Wade Anderson, and Jason McEwen. All of the members knew each other from high school. In this iteration Wade sang, Kris and Wade swapped between rhythm guitar and bass duties, while Neil played drums and Jason guitar. At this time, they were a bar band that played a lot around the southern Minnesota area with the greatest achievement of opening for Badfinger in summer of 1996. In late 1997 the band members decided to go their own ways. Over the next 16 years they worked on other various musical projects across Minnesota. Then, in 2013, Kris, Neil, Wade, and Jason got together to start playing music together again, just like the old days except that Wade played bass and Kris guitar exclusively.
Jason left the band in 2014, which paved the way for Daniel Kent to join the band. Daniel traded off lead guitar duties with Kris. In this timeframe, Kris started singing and Neil started playing harmonica and mandolin out live in addition to drums. With this lineup, Kris, Neil, Wade, and Daniel recorded the first album, Road To Nowthen, in 2021. At the same time the band changed their name to Saint Suburbia due to other bands named Best Intentions having released music. Daniel was living in Saint Paul at the time with the rest of the members living in the suburbs, hence the name Saint Suburbia.
Daniel decided to leave the band in 2023 and was replaced by Turner Berg shortly after. Turner manages the rhythm guitar and back vocals. This rounds out the current lineup of Saint Suburbia. This iteration of the band stated recording the latest album, Way Far Gone, in May 2025 with wrapping up in January 2026.
Q: What are some of the themes and concepts on your latest release Way Far Gone?
A: There is not really a theme for the entire since the songs were not written with an album in mind. Each song captures a moment in time where we thought that we had an interesting idea and built that idea into a song. The most blatant example of this is Brother John. This song is based on what the name John means in the English language...Dear John, A John, John Doe…We only missed having something happen in a bathroom. Anyways, it is not a serious song but is fun. Putting On Airs is about not being too good for what some people consider inferior. And of course, the different iterations of songs about love in It’s You, Hold On Part 2, Been Thinking, No, I Know, and For Any Dream. Each of them has a twist on the human emotions of happiness, disappointment, and even being pensive. We did not create a rock opera but fun individual songs.
Q: What drives you to create the kind of music you do?
A: First, fun. We do not make any money doing this so we treat this as a serious hobby, which means fun is the first priority. Each song we do hits this point at least once in a point in time.
Second, we have similar tastes in music. We all grew up with classic rock on the radio and enjoy bands like the Replacements, The Jayhawks, Gin Blossoms, and the Gear Daddies. So we pull ideas and themes from those types of bands.
Third, we all write music. On Way Far Gone there are songs written by each member and a couple as a joint collaboration. This helps bring some variety to the music so we don’t rely on a single person. That helps with not getting stuck in a rut of similar sounding songs. When we say written this really should mean initiated the song because once it is brought to the band the song is always modified through positive collaboration.
Q: What is the recording process like for the band?
A: The band plays live to capture the drums tracks and 95% of the bass track. The guitars, vocals, and auxiliary instruments are all overdubbed on the on the original drum and bass tracks. Some songs we try to add quite a few layers like in Land of Milk and Honey, Putting on Airs, and Hold On Part 2. It is fun building these tracks up and listen to how they grow during the recording process. Then there are other songs that was want a more basic production so they are similar to how you would see them live like Shattered, Been Thinking, and Stolen. The thought with the band is this adds some good relistening variety for the album.
Q: What are your live shows like?
A: To this day we are still a bar band. So, we do a variety of original and cover songs. Depending on the type of show we will do more or less original tunes. The most common night is a 3-hour set that we break up into 2 parts that are about 90 minutes long. Since we are from Austin and in Minnesota the local crowd always like to hear the Gear Daddies and we never disappoint them. We also cover some Prince, Tom Petty, Jason Isbell, and Steve Earle to name a few. Every once in a while, we will get a special musician up to play with us, where the most recent one was Stanley Behrens from WAR. We do our best to keep the crowd engaged because then they are having fun, we are having fun.
Q: What other things should we know about the music? Anything you want our audience to know about?
A: While each song has a single person who writes the lyrics, the music is absolutely a collaboration. Generally, one person (who may or may not be the lyricist) has a rough idea of chord progressions, but everyone adds something to make our songs a true joint effort. Wade can change the cadence or tone of the words, Neil can develop the drumbeat and change the tempo when needed, Kris can add a bridge, and Turner throws in harmonies where they didn’t exist before. Because we do this, we all have pride in—and want to play—all of our songs. We would not function as well, if at all, in a traditional model where one person is solely responsible for creative decisions.