When I first heard “Sit Tight”, it immediately put a smile on my face. It was bright, cheery and full of the kind of warm, carefree vibes we could all use right now. Put in this good mood from this young band called Tsavo Highway, I reached out to them to learn their origins and how the breezy “Sit Tight” came to life.
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The Indy Review: For those who aren’t familiar with your group, can you tell me a bit about when and how you formed?
Tsavo Highway: Tsavo Highway formed in 2023 and went through a couple lineup changes and a few “wait where did that instrument go” moments before we found our final form. By 2025, everything locked in and we released our debut full-length album Circles.
We are a indie rock and jam band based in Western New York. The squad is:
Emily Scripps on vocals
Christian Dobosiewicz on guitar
Peter Kern on guitar
Brian Calisto on bass
Brian McMahon on drums
and our newest full-time member
Evan Laedke on keys
We love big grooves, loud guitars, and watching crowds start dancing without even realizing it.
IR: What were some of your core musical inspirations?
TH: Tedeschi Trucks Band is a huge inspiration for us with the soul and musicianship. We also love the improvisational freedom and community vibe of the Grateful Dead. You will definitely hear some Led Zeppelin influence in the guitars. Emily brings in a little Sara Bareilles energy with the way she writes and sings. And we really love the colorful, feel-good thing that Couch does too.
If we had to label ourselves, we would say indie rock jam band. But really we just write feel-good music. Or as Peter calls it, self-help music you can dance to.
IR: On Groover, you said this was the first song you wrote all together as a band. Prior to this, what was your writing process like?
TH: Before “Sit Tight”, one or two of us would build most of a song and then bring it to the band to finish. That worked fine, but the idea was already pretty locked in by then.
Writing together from the very first spark gives us way more directions to explore. Someone throws out a new twist, someone else reacts, and suddenly the song is something way cooler than the original idea. It is more fun, more chaotic in a good way, and it feels like the most real version of who we are.
IR: How did the full-band collaboration help bring this track to life?
TH: “Sit Tight” started because Christian was messing around with this playful guitar lick and we all just jumped in at the same time. The bounce came together instantly, melodies found their place fast, and everyone was laughing because it felt like the song was making itself. A fun fact is that when we play it live, we actually add in a country jam in the middle of it that’s not in the recorded version.
Funny thing is, Evan wasn’t officially in the band yet when we wrote it. When we recorded the song, we asked him to put keys on it and he filled every sonic gap we didn’t even know was missing. Now that he’s a full member, it doesn’t feel like “Sit Tight” without him.
IR: The track has a wonderful sunny vibe. Did you set-out to write an upbeat track like this?
TH: Not even a little. We took new band pictures earlier in the day and so were goofing around while doing that and then went back to our practice space and kind of all just showed up in a good mood and let the music follow. Some days the vibe is “tired from work and sadness.” This day was “windows down and smiles.” The song basically told us what it wanted to be.
When you see the band picture that will be attached to this article, it was taken just a few hours before we wrote “Sit Tight” and you can tell we were all “jolly” for a lack of a better word lol (just remember Evan isn’t in it yet as he wasn’t part of the band yet 😦 )
IR: The song is rather meta, being about you singing a song for your audience. What inspired that lyrical path?
TH: Emily was having a full brain-glitch day. The ideas were not idea-ing. So she just started writing about exactly what we were doing: performing a song that didn’t fully exist yet. It started as a joke and then became the whole point. The message is basically “We’re here to take you on a ride as we figure out this song… so sit tight!, thanks.” LMAO
IR: Is the song a stand-alone single, or will it be part of a future album or EP?
TH: “Sit Tight” is a stand-alone release. We put out our debut album Circles in January 2025 and now we are writing toward the next album. “Sit Tight” showed us how fun collaborative writing is, so we def want more of that on the next full album.
IR: What are the band’s plans for the remainder of 2025?
TH: We’re closing out the year with some really fun shows. We’re playing in Ithaca and New York City mid November, which we’re super pumped about because traveling with this band is always an adventure.
Then we head home to Buffalo for a big show called Jamsgiving. It’s a multi-floor, all-night music party happening Thanksgiving Eve at Pearl Street Grill & Brewery. There are twelve bands taking over three floors. There’s a canned-food drive at the door so people can help support the community while they’re out having fun, and all the proceeds go towards WNY Drummers for Homeless People. There are prizes. There are jams. It’s basically Buffalo’s music scene throwing a giant pre-holiday celebration together and we get to help run the whole thing.
After that we’re focusing on releasing more new music and lining up some festival and mini tour dates for next year. We want to keep growing, keep traveling, and keep getting new cities to dance with us.
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So if you’re in the NY area and are free, be sure to catch the band at one of those shows, and listen to “Sit Tight” in our A Single Sit-Down Playlist.
The Indy Review 