When their old band Yesterday’s Hero fell apart, Oak Ridge graduate Nate Welch and his friend Colby Wedgeworth decided to form what is now known as local rock band Bidwell (yes, the band is named after Folsom’s East Bidwell Street). After garnering serious record label attention, Welch and Wedgeworth decided to complete the band with Josiah Walker, Matty Clark and Bryan Gwin. In 2008, the band released a successful self-titled EP and performed in several cities as a part of the Vans Warped Tour that summer . Bidwell has also performed with bands Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Pepper.

Colby’s early 2009 departure from the band hasn’t slowed Bidwell’s success or its upcoming plans—the band will be going on a West Coast tour with Call the Cops beginning in late February this year. Bidwell is currently working on a new record which is being produced by producers who have worked with The Plain White T’s and The All-American Rejects.