“I kinda do it wonky” - Elijah Whelchel
Waxpool, the Denver local band, has been playing shows since November 2025. The group met as teachers and found their common love for music. Elijah Whelchel, 30, the creator of the project, is the lead guitarist and vocalist. Elijah’s solo project slowly became something much larger than anything he expected.
Elijah grew up heavily influenced by music, starting in concert bands as a kid and going the DJ route in college (due to limited space for instruments). He hadn’t touched a guitar from senior year of high school until two years after graduating college. Elijah never went to school for music. He majored in History and got his masters in Secondary Education.
Later, he started diving into the world of producing, learning software like Logic, where he would slowly introduce “real instruments” into the mix. He had been working on his solo project for a while but had put it “on the back burner” for some time before returning to it. Although he never committed to the idea, he says he would always make his way back to it somehow.
“I never took lessons,” he said. The love for guitar came through practice, trial and error.
Waxpool at Skylark Lounge
Photo credited to Grace Maruska
“It’s been some steps and plateaus, take a break from it, but always coming back to it. It’s not one big thing, it’s years of little things.”
The start of it all, was one night where Elijah’s friend from the band Social Cig, who had a show at the Skylark Lounge, had said to him, “Hey, I know you go to a decent amount of shows.” That’s when Elijah had the idea to play live, but the band didn’t exist yet. Elijah told his friend Jack Salyers, he would teach him how to play bass if he got a bass guitar, and he ended up agreeing to this offer. Yara Kaadan was introduced to Elijah as a piano player, but he thought she would be good at playing the drums. “You can keep rhythm,” he said to her.
At the time, only three or four songs were written, which wasn’t enough to play a show. It was crunch time for Elijah. He said the only song that wasn’t ready was “Getting Stale”. He said that he had to streamline the process a bit, but they were finally prepared for a live show. The first show was November of 2025, where the band doesn’t remember much. Elijah said they “blacked out” just trying to get through it. The next show, they felt a bit better because they knew people were there to see them.
Waxpool at Porch Fest 10/3/26
Photo credited to Walker Lynch
The band has rehearsals acoustic rehearsals in their apartments, and occasionally before a big show, will find a rehearsal space. Jack and Yara live close to each other, which made it a bit easier to practice.
As the band started becoming more active on social media, some videos were reaching larger audiences. A lot of posts were about Denver and promoting live shows, with their songs playing in the background. The band has over 800 followers on Instagram. One video that the band posted got over 150k views. Elijah said some videos do better than others, but lots of fans reach out to buy tickets and even ask for guitar tabs.
“I like this song are there tabs for it,” fans said through Instagram direct messages.
“No, but I’ll send you a video,” said Elijah.
Waxpool at Lost Lake
Photo credited to Walker Lynch
The first EP came out on May 29th, all songs written and recorded by Elijah. With help from the band, Elijah brought the songs to life in a live music setting.
Elijah’s musical inspirations range from bands like Future Birds, to Say Sue Me. Skeggs is a large inspiration as well as other Australian bands. He also mentioned that fans say they sound resembles Fontaines D.C. and Wonder Horse.
“Those bands are sweet,” he said.
When the topic of genre was brought up, Elijah described their style as Indie Alternative, but at the same time, “very middle of the road.”
In terms of Elijah’s writing process, he said it always starts with the guitar. He describes his writing style as “wonky”. Starting with the lead guitar and working up to a bass part, then drums, and lyrics always coming last. He is always asking himself “what can I make that isn’t too hard; what would be pretty straight forward?” He describes the writing process as having ebs and flows. Over the summer, he had been more focued on practicing rather than writing, so once the shows die down, he will be able to work on putting more songs out.
By the end of November, early December, some new songs will be appearing. “Two singles, finishing up with a five song EP,” Elijah said.
Waxpool at Porch Fest 10/3/26
Photo credited to Walker Lynch
Elijah expressed that there are several goals for the band in the coming months. First, have a headlining show in Denver, selling at least 100 tickets. Next, getting picked up by a touring band. The closest they’ve come to that was being picked up by Wim Tapley and the Cannons for four shows in Colorado. Although they have had some great experiences, they are still looking to grow in the community and across the country. It’s all about trying to piece together the “hard parts".
They had been offered to open for the band Shure in Boulder, but it ended up falling through. Another band that Waxpool has become friends with is Tiny Tomboy.
“We’re in the conversation,” said Elijah.
It has been great for the crew to make friends with other local bands, and find their place in the music scene. While there’s no manager for the band, Elijah said that they aren’t big enough to need a manager yet, but it’ll be a topic of conversation later on as the band grows.
In the meantime, you can support Waxpool by following them on social media, listening to their EP “I Love It Here”, and attending their live performances.
The latest live show was Denver Porch Fest, which was very successful in the community.
Photo credited to Walker Lynch
What’s next for Waxpool? Follow them on Instagram @bywaxpool to keep up to date.
