After 20 years, Steadfast Tin Solider will take to the stage on July 5, 2025, at HQ, 112 Depot St., La Grande. (Steadfast Tin Soldier/Contributed Photo)

Concert is July 5 at HQ in La Grande

LA GRANDE — While Steadfast Tin Soldier’s last public performance was 20 years ago, the band members are excited to return to the stage in La Grande, their hometown.

Steadfast Tin Soldier was born from the friendship of Jed Laurance, Brian Wallis, Gus McIntosh, Mark Miller and Levi Hug. Friends became bandmates (who were also still friends) before eventually transitioning back to just being friends. In a return to the friends and bandmates era, Steadfast Tin Soldier will perform at HQ.

“La Grande is home in so many ways. Even those of us that moved out of the valley come back often,” Wallis said. “There really is something magic in this place that makes for close-knit community and great art.”

The show is Saturday, July 5, from 7-10 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 or $5 for ages 12 and younger at lagrandehq.com.

“The first 100 people through the door will receive an officially branded Steadfast Tin Soldier kazoo,” Wallis said. “If you know, you know.”

The band consists of Laurance with lead vocals and guitar, Wallis on guitar, McIntosh on bass guitar, Miller with vocals and percussion, and Hug on drums.

Hug, however, will not be playing at HQ in July. He is a few short weeks away from becoming a dad for the first time, Wallis said, so Hug suggested Robert Smith replace him on drums for the show. Smith was Hug’s stand-in back in the day, so he knows all the songs. Plus, he lives in La Grande.

Wallis said that the folks at HQ, including co-founder Chris Jennings, have created an incredibly welcoming space for out-of-town artists and locals alike.

“Getting a chance to play that venue specifically is special since it feels like we’re getting to play in this new space,” Wallis said. “It feels a bit like time travelling back and forwards at the same time.”

How it all started

Their friendship all came down to a little bit of luck.

“We all grew up in La Grande, and met when we were kids,” Wallis said. “All our parents used to go to the same small church and we were all close in age, so we just lucked into being lifelong friends.”

Later, the church needed a worship team and five lucky teens happened to be the only ones who knew how to play instruments. Wallis said they sounded “truly horrible” for the first year, but everyone at church was encouraging and never tried to make the group anything other than “odd and happy teenagers.”

They even sang “I’m a Believer” by Smash Mouth following the release of “Shrek” as a worship song.

“We hit a point in 2002 where we had written some songs that just weren’t worship songs and were definitely more band songs and so we formed Steadfast Tin Soldier and started playing anywhere that wanted us, which was everywhere from a classic car show in Portland to a rock festival in Boise,” Wallis said.

Hug, in addition to keeping the beat on drums, was also the band’s unofficial manager. He raised money in the fall of 2004 to record an album and the band released “Eucatastrophe” in May 2005.

Steadfast Tin Soldier is a pop-rock band whose music runs the gamut “from unrequited love songs to songs about hope in the face of the end.” The five friends would often sit around talking late into the night about whatever was on their minds. Then, the next day, one of them would write a song about it.

“The music reflects those late-night conversations with friends about where our lives were lived and where our lives are going,” Wallis said.

But life — as it so often does — got busy. The five band members found themselves pulled in different directions. They didn’t so much break up, Wallis said, but rather simply transitioned back into a group of friends.

These days, Laurance works as a visual effects artist in Los Angeles, Wallis is a stay-at-home dad raising two daughters in Los Angeles, McIntosh owns a business in La Grande, Miller is a manager at a local firm in La Grande and Hug can be found around the world as a missionary.

“Tough to all be in the same room, but earlier this year we just decided to make it happen because the album was turning 20 and we all missed being loud together,” Wallis said.

While the five friends gathered for McIntosh’s birthday 14 years ago and jammed out, the July show will be the first time Steadfast Tin Soldier has played publicly since August 2005.

“We are all really excited to be making music again, but also much older and wondering whether we can actually play a full set of songs with anything close to the same level of physicality we used too,” Wallis said. “Hopefully, adrenaline and caffeine can compensate for 20 years of time?”