The Go Rounds embarking on first tour in seven years

By Enrique Olmos and John Sinkevics
LocalSpins.com

Summer 2019 was the last time Michigan psychedelic pop and rock band The Go Rounds toured beyond some weekend runs.

Since then, the world has changed, and so has the band.

The current lineup of the Kalamazoo-based band — which includes Drew Tyner, Charlie Millard, Sam Woldenberg and Parsons (with guitarist Mike Savina joining the band for some select shows) — have been chipping away in the studio since January on a new album.

After performing for the Irish Off Ionia pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Grand Rapids earlier this month, the Kalamazoo-based band has geared up for an extensive tour of Michigan and the Midwest.

The Go Rounds play Milliken Auditorium in Traverse City at 7 p.m. Friday, March 27, Rosza Center in Houghton on April 3 and Calumet Theater in Calumet on April 4, followed by shows in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.  

The Go Rounds return to Michigan on April 10 to play The Livery in Benton Harbor, with subsequent tour stops April 11 at The Avenue in Lansing and April 30 at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo. Get links to tickets and the full schedule online at thegorrounds.com.

Frontman Graham Parsons said he feels like he’s looking at touring “through a new lens” after taking time off from relentless touring and feeling “pretty much 100 percent excitement” to get back on the road.

Indeed, the recent Grand Rapids show had Parsons and his bandmates smiling and laughing cheerfully as they unleashed their distinctive, effects-laden rock and pop on stage. 

“When we were touring heavily, sometimes we’d get home, do basic maintenance and mostly just rest and recover and then you’re back out again,” he recalled.

“But now there’s been all this time to really reorient to what it means to play music, not just with a band and with other people, but in rooms filled with strangers or with fans who know and love our music. So I’m really thankful for the sort of fresh perspective.”

At one point, before taking a break, the band was playing upwards of 130 shows per year.

“It’s not that I was consciously unhappy. It’s that I was living in a more unconscious way,” he said. “I wasn’t noticing myself missing the moments of joy.”

Parson also has experienced his share of loss since 2019: His brother passed away in 2020 and his good friend and musician Gitis Baggs died after a long battle with cancer in 2025.

“There is a huge void and a huge sadness in it. But I’ve gained a lot of strength and in many ways I feel a lot of gratitude. I’m less afraid of showing up for others,” he said.

“I’m immersing myself in what others have going on. It’s just a great practice in life in general and it gets us out of the trappings of our own sort of mundane struggles, which are gonna be there regardless of whether we focus on them or not.”

Parsons, who says he likes to “tinker around the house,” garden and spend time with his parents, his partner and her son.

“I manage a community garden in Kalamazoo and I’m starting a community nursery initiative where we’ll have events where people can come and learn about certain native plants and also take a plant home with them,” he said.

“It’s the concept of planting a tree. Symbolically for me, it’s how I think about art, too. Thinking about legacy or thinking about ways that you could impact people and spaces and communities beyond your body and beyond your time on earth. Planting something that bears delicious fruit is one of one of the most radical and compassionate things you can do for people of future generations. I think it’s the same with music, you know, I think planting those seeds, creating things that live on beyond us.”

— Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.