Getting to Know: Magic Crawfish

Magic Crawfish is an alternative rock band based out of Lafayette, consisting of University of Louisiana at Lafayette students. The band includes Nicholas Broussard, the lead singer; Rex Fanguy, the lead guitarist from Houma; Bailey Linear, a drummer from Destrehan; James Nail, the bass player; and Tyler Whittington, the manager from Ponchatoula . This group became known as Magic Crawfish in October 2015.

How did you all meet?

“Rex and I knew each other prior to college because of high school drumline. Nick and James met each other through marching band at UL, and then, we all met through marching band and drumline my freshman year,” Linear said.

How has the band grown since then?

Fanguy answered, “I thought I had gotten to a plateau in my ability to play the guitar, and being in a band forced me to get better. Looking back on the first song we ever played, ‘Schizophrenia’ by Blue Moon, I was having trouble playing it. Now it looks completely insignificant. I also learned the chords E and C together sound like the words ding dong. When I did that, I knew I was getting better.”

Linear added, “We’ve all gotten better at our instruments and performing in front of audiences.”

What has been the band’s favorite moment so far?

They all agreed it was Lagniappe Day. Whittington replied, “Lagniappe Day is a huge deal at UL. It’s a crawfish boil during finals week in the spring.The whole school shuts down, and nobody studies, so everybody is chilling out. Playing for a campus was probably the most we’ve ever played for. Playing at the Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette was awesome, too, because the bar holds 100, but we brought in almost 200.”

What are some of your dream venues to play?

“Realistically, the Houston Toyota Center or The Loft, which is a stage in Atlanta. The Howlin’ Wolf and the House of Blues in New Orleans are also big for us because they’re local. Our ultimate goal is Madison Square Garden, but that’s probably a little too far away,” Whittington said. Fanguy and Linear also joked, “Woodstock would be cool to play at.”

Besides alternative rock, how else would you classify your music?

“We have a couple of sub-genres we use to describe ourselves. Arena rock, pop rock and sometimes 90’s rock. Alt-rock is our umbrella we use to help our audience get an idea of what we play,” Linear said.

What is your plan as a band for the future?

“Fingers crossed it doesn’t become just a weekend thing,” Whittington said. “Hopefully in a year or two, we could use this band as our only income.”

Where can your audience find your music?

“Apple Music, Spotify, Google Music, and Amazon Music are the places you can go to get it digitally,” Whittington said. “We also just launched our website, magiccrawfish.com, where you can buy physical copies of our CDs.”

Those interested in Magic Crawfish can check out their newest album, Second Friday, on all the services listed above. For the students who prefer live music, Magic Crawfish is scheduled to play at the KNSU hosted “Alley after Dark” on October 30.

Broussard and Nail weren’t available for an interview.