With members spanning from California to England, Sunday (1994) met in the middle to start the United States/Canada leg of The Prairie Tour in Nashville, Tennessee. The band only started releasing music last year, starting with "Tired Boy" as the lead single to their self-titled EP in February 2024. Their second project, "Devotion," was released in May 2025. Singer Paige Turner leads the band with sultry vocals and a commanding stage presence, bending the audience to her will. She's backed up by her creative partner and guitarist, Lee Newell, and an anonymous drummer known by both "X" and "Puma." Lola Bates also joins the band as a touring bassist. For being so new to the music industry, Sunday (1994) has made itself easily recognizable by a Southern Gothic aesthetic both visually and lyrically. The band accomplishes this with a consistent narrative: running away from the tortured world around you. The torture in this case is Western religion, with many lyrical passages referencing tenets of Christianity. While performing in front of a lacy, clerical collar, Turner sings about manifesting love through scripture and Jesus' inability to keep them apart in "Stained Glass Window."
In fact, "TV Car Chase" defines many terms that don't affect Turner's affection: nuclear war, her mind and the dinner in the oven. Yet in this tone of desperation and doom, Turner smiles and dances as if she were in paradise. Newell swayed beside her, bobbing like one of the Fab Four, and threw multiple guitar picks into the audience. Puma and Bates locked into their instruments and missed no beats. It's this method of commitment from all members (and Newell's tendency to lurk online) that keeps fans just as mutually devoted. After the show, the band hosted a complimentary meet-and-greet, which most of the audience stayed for. The band also autographed any items fans brought to them, although posters and vinyl were the only items presented. Although it took place on a Wednesday night, the band gave Cannery Hall a full Sunday service and turned the venue into a sanctuary. The Prairie Tour spanned North America until the end of September, including the band's first formal festival appearance at All Things Go in Columbia, MD and New York. The band will start the next tour leg in the United Kingdom in November.
- Ria Skyer
Photos Courtesy of Emily Duncko (For Bell Music Magazine)
