Bend native Beau Kuther returns with indie band Smallpools

“I absolutely maneuvered it to happen,” he said in a phone interview. “I called our booking agent (and said), ‘We’ve got a Friday night off after Salt Lake City with two days off in between. Let’s play Bend.’

“He said, ‘Are you serious?’ and I was like, ‘Dude, let’s do it. I promise you it’ll be worth it.’”

Such enthusiasm could only come from a native son. Indeed, Kuther grew up in Bend, where he played in bands — most memorably the progressive rock group Kaddisfly — often alongside his brother Kelsey. In fact, the Kuthers put together one of the first concerts at the Domino Room when it opened in the early 2000s.

They convinced the then-owner of the venue to host a benefit show with a diverse bill.

“We wanted to do a whole mix of music so we had a couple of punk-rock bands and Kaddisfly was more on the hard rock side. (Another band) was kind of, like, reggae-rock,” he said. “We put together all these different genres and plastered the town with posters, and it worked. We ended up packing that room.”

On April 26, Kuther will return to the Domino Room with Smallpools, the band he formed with vocalist Sean Scanlon and guitarist Mike Kamerman in 2013. Originally based in Los Angeles, the trio made a big splash early on with the hit song “Dreaming,” then released its full-length debut “Lovetap!” in 2015. “Pretty darn delightful,” gushed Allmusic.com about the album, comparing Smallpools to The 1975 and Passion Pit.

In 2018, the band collectively moved to Nashville, where it recorded and released its sophomore effort, “Life in a Simulation,” and toured heavily before setting aside 2023 to prepare a new album.

“We wanted to really focus and write a cohesive body of work and come out with a bang this year,” Kuther said. “We definitely took some time and now we’re putting it out into the world and it’s connecting (with people).”

He’s talking about Smallpools’ new EP “Ghost Town Road (east)” which came out April 5 on the group’s new label, Nettwerk Music Group. It’s short — five tracks and 16 minutes long — but it packs a serious punch, blending high-energy synth-rock and unshakeable melodies with arena-ready electro-pop and unabashed nostalgia for the good ol’ days of the 1980s and ’90s, including lyrical references to “Risky Business” and “21 Jump Street” and Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing.”

“The world has changed so much, (so) it’s kind of an ode to our childhood and our past, like, ‘This is what we grew up with and what we thought was cool,’” Kuther said. “That was all purposeful, you know? Because those (things) are special and they stand the test of time, and that’s what we’re trying to create: Music that stands the test of time.”