Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange)
More about this event
Download the Bindle Mobile Health App and verify your vaccination and/or test status to expedite entry to the venue.
Holler on the Square is a festival-like series of concerts at HI-FI and HI-FI Annex spanning September 12-19, 2021. Join us for 8 days of live music with performances taking place in both venues, all week. Check out the daily schedule, full lineup and get your tickets now. All shows are individually ticketed.
ARTIST PROFILE | Watchhouse
"By the time 2019 came to its fitful end, Andrew Marlin knew he was tired of touring. He was grateful, of course, for the ascendancy of Mandolin Orange, the duo he’d cofounded in North Carolina with fiddler Emily Frantz exactly a decade earlier. With time, they had become new flagbearers of the contemporary folk world, sweetly singing soft songs about the hardest parts of our lives, both as people and as a people. Their rise—particularly crowds that grew first to fill small dives, then the Ryman, then amphitheaters the size of Red Rocks—humbled Emily and Andrew, who became parents to Ruby late in 2018. They’d made a life of this.
Still, every night, Andrew especially was paid to relive a lifetime of grievances and griefs onstage. After 2019’s Tides of a Teardrop, a tender accounting of his mother’s early death, the process became evermore arduous, even exhausting. What’s more, those tunes—and the band’s entire catalogue, really—conflicted with the name Mandolin Orange, an early-20s holdover that never quite comported with the music they made. Nightly soundchecks, at least, provided temporary relief, as the band worked through a batch of guarded but hopeful songs written just after Ruby’s birth. They offered a new way to think about an established act.
Those tunes are now Watchhouse, which would have been Mandolin Orange’s sixth album but is instead their first also under the name Watchhouse, a moniker inspired by Marlin’s place of childhood solace. The name, like the new record itself, represents their reinvention as a band at the regenerative edges of subtly experimental folk-rock. Challenging as they are charming, and an inspired search for personal and political goodness, these nine songs offer welcome lessons about what any of us might become when the night begins to break.
“We’re different people than when we started this band,” Marlin says, reflecting on all these shifts. “We’re setting new intentions, taking control of this thing again.”
When 2020 dawned, Emily and Andrew hatched a plan to break old habits: For the first time, they’d leave Ruby with Emily’s mom and escape with their longtime bandmates to a cabin on the edge of Smith Mountain Lake, a sprawling hideaway at the foot of the Appalachians. Also for the first time, after a decade of Andrew engineering and producing most of the music the band made, they’d bring help—Josh Kaufman, the producer and multi-instrumentalist who had wowed them with his work alongside the likes of The National and his trio Bonny Light Horseman. There were no expectations. This was simply a full-band retreat with a new friend and co- producer, working together in the refulgent sunshine of grand lakeside windows.
Almost immediately, they realized this wasn’t some audition; they were making Watchhouse. On the first day, Kaufman told Emily and Andrew to imagine this were their first record and to realize that conceptions of how they had worked, recorded, or even sounded belonged only in the past. In a way, Andrew had new permission and space to lean into his vision for what Watchhouse might become.
“Andrew is so confident in what he wants to hear, so full of ideas. Even beyond what we’d worked out together on tour with these songs, he knew what he wanted,” Emily says. “Having Josh in the studio meant Andrew didn’t have to bear the whole weight of getting there.”
Alongside drummer Joe Westerlund, guitarist Josh Oliver, and bassist Clint Mullican, Andrew and Emily indulged novel structures and textures. “Better Way,” a kind-hearted meditation on online meanness, shifts slowly from a bluegrass trot into a spectral marvel before an immersive acoustic drone frames a new future. The gentle harmonies of “Belly of the Beast” eventually turn into a tangle above baying strings, Andrew and Emily guiding each other through the shared perils of whatever comes next.
These songs, after all, started with a fundamental shift in Emily and Andrew’s life. In the first few months after Ruby’s birth, they split the day into shifts: Emily minded Ruby during the waking hours, while Andrew sat beside Ruby all night, watching their firstborn sleep as he quietly strummed strings. In those wee hours, he allowed his writing to wander, capturing the uncanny sense of wonder and intrigue that pervades the darkest parts of night. “If I didn’t have Ruby in my hands, I had an instrument in them,” remembers Andrew. “And watching Ruby sleep, being surrounded by that mystery at night, led to a feeling of magical realism in these songs. I used melodies and ideas I’d never use.”
Long-lost relatives, for instance, gather with him around the crib in communion during “Lonely Love Affair,” mentoring him through this staggering upheaval. He expresses the fears of a new father, alleviated by the possibility and goodness he sees in his sleeping baby. These songs allowed Marlin and Frantz to take the chance Kaufman proposed because they’re about the value of doing exactly that, of trusting in grand acts borne of personal uncertainty.
Likewise, Emily’s dual turns here as lead singer are absolute breakthroughs, equally wrought from the confidence of past success and the excitement of present energy. As Emily coolly considers the ups and downs of mere existence, “Upside Down” pirouettes from the country thump of Neil Young in 1971 to the surging epiphanies of Radiohead a quarter-century later. Andrew wrote “Beautiful Flowers” after crashing into and presumably killing a butterfly with his car—this quiet triumph is a history of the automobile that doubles as a poignant chronicle of the modern tragedies and miracles we normalize. It reckons with climate change and the fatal side- effects of our industrious, industrialized nature with beguiling humility. Emily delivers all this with a gospel conviction, astral horns slowly unspooling beneath her as a reminder of the fragility at work.
With harmonies so easy they sound like kitchen-table talk, Andrew and Emily sail through “New Star,” an ode to the self-sacrifice and renewal of trying to create something, like a child, that might make the world better. Revolutionary kindness, social responsibility, collective understanding: These simple but staggering ideas are the unseen threads of Watchhouse, a miraculous expression of measured domestic protest.
In our era of recalcitrant typecasts and incessant cultural churn, it is rare to witness anyone press ahead into the unknown while holding fast to what’s best about their past, too. That’s what Watchhouse have done with their self-titled debut. Emily and Andrew have discarded neither their tenderness nor thoughtfulness; instead, they’ve enriched those essential qualities by submitting to the risks of new sounds, structures, and inputs. They’ve embraced surprising notions that make their steadfastness stronger.
It will be tempting to summarize this record as Watchhouse’s inevitable parenthood record, or maybe the one where they got a little strange, or maybe the one where they change their name. It is, instead, a record about growing up without growing old, about experiencing the world and letting it change you, whether through the mystery of a newborn or the vagaries of improvising or the comforts of familiar and wondrous love. Watchhouse is a perfectly rendered link between their longtime allure as Mandolin Orange and an unwritten future as the band Watchhouse, one that’s only as hopeful as we can imagine it might be."
READ MORE >>Supporting Acts
SHOW BY SIMILAR ARTISTS
About HI-FI Annex | Indianapolis, IN
HI-FI Annex is an open-air ALL AGES venue located in the back parking lot of The Murphy Arts Center. The main entrance to the venue is located on St. Patrick Street across from the church. All shows end by 10 pm.
Getting Around the Venue
Frequently Asked Questions About HI-FI Annex | Indianapolis, IN
What are the age restrictions at this venue?
HI-FI Annex shows are always all ages, with a handful of exceptions when a 21+ restriction is in place. Bring the whole family!
Check the individual show listings at hifiindy.com to view if there are age restrictions for your show.
HI-FI Annex requires a valid ID for admission. For guests who will be consuming alcoholic beverages, a valid state or government issues ID is required. Everyone will be carded during check-in. Expired and temporary ID’s are not accepted.
Can I upgrade my to VIP seating?
The Sidestage Lounge VIP access offers a premium exclusive viewing location with an up-close and personal view of the stage. It features a private bar with a full selection of cocktails, beer, and wine. While the Sidestage Lounge is an all-ages area, you must be 21+ with a valid ID to visit the bar. Additionally, it provides a comfortable seating area with tables and couches, as well as dedicated outdoor restrooms for your convenience. Click here to reserve your spot in the Sidestage Lounge.
What items are permitted or prohibited at this venue?
Our security staff performs a thorough screening of all bodies, purses and bags entering the venue. All guests will go through security screening to ensure no weapons or non-permitted items enter the venue. Screening may include metal detection and/or wanding.
Permitted and restricted items may vary by show. Below is a general list of permitted and non-permitted items and activities. Ticket buyers will receive information prior to the show with any updates.
Permitted Items
- Small purse/fanny pack/diaper bag – subject to security inspection
- Umbrellas – small, handheld only
- Strollers
- To-go food from local restaurants
- (1) factory sealed bottle of water or (1) empty, refillable water bottle
- A warm heart & smiles
- Lawn chairs & blankets are only permitted for a select few shows and in designated areas
Non-Permitted Items
For safety reasons, guests are refused entry if they are in possession of prohibited items. Illegal items will be confiscated. If a guest is found inside the venue with a prohibited item, the item will be confiscated and the guest may be ejected from the facility. HI-FI reserves the right to prohibit any item, including items not listed here, from entering the premises if deemed hazardous or disruptive to the event.
- No weapons of any kind: including firearms (with or without permit), knives, multi-tools
- Pepper spray/mace
- Fireworks or flares
- No outside beverages or coolers
- No oversized bags (larger than 12″ x 12″) including backpacks, duffle bags, camelbacks, briefcases luggage etc.
- No drugs or illegal substances
- No laser pointers
- No glass
- No smoking or vaping in venue, designated smoking area outside venue
- No pets or animals – with the exception of documented service animals
- No removable lens cameras or flash photography, tripods, monopods, selfie sticks – unless pre-approved by Event Manager
- No audio or video recording devices – unless pre-approved by Event Manager
- Skateboards, hoverboards, rollerblades, bicycles, scooters – bike parking available outside the venue
- Signs large than 11″ x 17″ or any sign attached to a stick
- Hula hoops, spray paint, silly string
Can I bring a bag into the show?
Yes! You are allowed to bring a small purse or fanny pack, but it may be subject to security inspection.
What’s the parking situation like?
Depending on the day and time, finding a spot can be tricky. On busy show days we advise arriving early to ensure you get a good spot.
Parking is free on all of the surrounding streets in Fountain Square and most parking lots.
The LAZ pay lot directly across from HI-FI Annex (on Prospect St) offers paid parking by the hour and is the closest public parking to the venue.
Rideshare and guest drop-off should take place on the corner of Prospect St and St. Patrick St.
We advise against traveling down St. Patrick St on show days, as it can become congested one-way with traffic coming from both directions.
Bike parking is available outside the HI-FI Annex box office as well as at any of the bike racks on Virginia Ave in front of HI-FI.
What is the camera/photo policy for this venue?
The photo policy for each night is posted at the band’s discretion. This policy can change on a nightly basis. As a general rule HI-FI Annex does not allow any professional photography unless pre-approved by the band. For approved photographers, Photos permitted for the first three songs only. No flash. Media and professional photographers can contact marketing@hifiindy.com to submit a request for photo credentials.
Is there food and drink at this venue?
HI-FI Annex offers a variety of food, snacks and drinks for guests of all ages. Any guest consuming alcoholic beverages must provide a government issued ID and be 21 years of age or older.
Easy Rider Diner accepts pre-show reservations if you are looking for a sit-down meal before the show. Easy Rider Diner is our restaurant connected to HI-FI. Guests who make advance reservations will be treated to a free show poster from that nights show. Posters can be picked up in the diner by asking your server.
Snack Shack
Snack Shack is a concession stand for guests of all ages. Choose from several hot and ready food times from Easy Rider Diner including hamburgers, chicken nuggets, vegan burritos and much more. In addition, Snack Shack offers popcorn, slushies, candy, sodas and water. Snack Shack also doubles as a HI-FI merchandise store where you can pickup t-shirts, hats, hoodies, stickers and more from our venues.
Main Bar
Main Bar is located to your right when you enter the venue. It’s the largest container in the venue and serves up the largest selection of beer, wine, spirits, specialty cocktails and boozie slushies. Guests must be 21+ to enter this area.
Stage Bar
Stage Bar is located on the left when you enter the venue, and is the bar closest to the stage. This location serves a selection of beer, wine and cocktails and is the only bar in the venue that serves draft beer.
Sidestage Lounge Bar
This bar is tucked away on the end of Stage Bar, inside of our VIP area known as Sidestage Lounge. This location serves the same options you will find at Stage Bar, but in a private intimate setting.
View seating maps for this venue
The majority of HI-FI Annex shows are general admission, standing-room-only. There is a limited amount of seating upgrades available in Sidestage Lounge. Contact the box office to secure a seating upgrade for your show at boxoffice@hifiindy.com. Shows that are reserved or partially reserved seating configurations will have information or purchase options directly on the event listing.
Can I leave and re-enter the venue?
No. Re-entry is not permitted at this venue with the exception of the external smoking area.
Do you offer ADA, handicap or special needs options?
There are 2 handicapped parking spots in the lot located across Prospect St. closest to El Arado Mexican Grill. The box office handles any special needs or ADA seating requests at boxoffice@hifiindy.com.
Where is the box office located?
Getting tickets to our shows is super easy! You have a few options, depending on how you like to roll:
Online: Grab your tickets in advance from our official websites, hifiindy.com and mokbpresents.com, or through our trusted ticketing partners tixr.com and seetickets.us.
In Person: Swing by one of our three convenient box office locations around the Murphy Arts Center building and grab tickets with no service fees:
HI-FI Annex Box Office: The box office is located at the front entrance off of St. Patrick St.
Main Box Office at Virginia Ave Mercantile: Located at 1043 Virginia Ave Suite 2 (between Easy Rider and La Margarita). Open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm.
HI-FI Box Office: Found at 1043 Virginia Ave Suite 4 (at the main entrance to HI-FI). Open only on show nights, starting 1 hour before published show times until 10 pm.
I lost something at the show. Who do I contact?
Have you misplaced something during one of our events? Don’t worry, we’re here to help reunite you with your belongings! While we can’t take responsibility for lost or stolen items, we’re committed to assisting you in any way we can.
Found items are securely stored at our Virginia Ave Mercantile & Box Office until they’re claimed. Please note that items lost during late-night events might take until the next morning to reach our lost and found. We know you might be eager to retrieve your belongings (like that phone you’re pinging outside our door at 6 am), but our team typically wraps up late-night events and may not be available until later in the morning.
For lost items, please follow the outlined process rather than popping into Easy Rider in the early hours. They’re open early, but our restaurant team is busy during weekends and can’t assist with lost items during busy service hours.
To inquire about lost items, shoot us an email at boxoffice@hifiindy.com. Mercantile hours are Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm, and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm.
Let’s work together to get your goods back to you as quickly as possible!
What is your refund policy?
What’s Your Refund Policy for Postponed Shows?
If a show gets postponed, don’t sweat it! We’ll shoot you an email to let you know about the change, and if you’re cool with the new date, no further action is needed on your part.We’ll be working diligently to find a new date for the show, and we’ll keep you updated every step of the way. But if you can’t make it to the rescheduled gig, we’ve got your back. You’ll have a generous 30-day window following the announcement of the new date to request a refund.
For those who paid with cash at our box office, just drop us a line at boxoffice@hifiindy.com for further instructions on processing your refund.
Please bear with us as we explore rescheduling options with the tour. Your patience is much appreciated as we work to present the best possible show experience for you.
What’s the Refund Policy for Canceled Shows?
In the unfortunate event of a canceled show, don’t fret! If you purchased your tickets online, your refund will be processed automatically. Just sit tight and allow 3-5 business days for the refund to appear in your bank account.
No need to lift a finger! However, there are a few scenarios where you might need to reach out to our box office:
- If you paid cash at our box office.
- If you’ve received a new or different card since your original purchase.
- If you haven’t seen the refund in your account after 5 business days.
What Happens if a Show Gets Rescheduled?
No worries! If a show you’ve already grabbed tickets for gets rescheduled, your tickets will still be valid for the new date. We’ll shoot you an email to let you know about the change, and if you’re good to go for the new date, no further action is needed on your part.
However, if you can’t make it to the rescheduled gig, we’ve got you covered. You’ll have a generous 30 days from the announcement of the new date to request a refund. Just reach out directly to our box office to kickstart the process.
Beware of counterfeit tickets. How do I tell if my ticket is valid?
It’s crucial for all buyers to exercise caution when purchasing tickets from unauthorized sites and ticket resellers. Tixr and SeeTickets are the only two ticket vendors supported at our venues. Unfortunately, this is a widespread issue affecting venues nationwide, and true fans often find themselves at a loss. Regrettably, there’s little we can do in such situations. Since the original transaction didn’t occur through our authorized ticketing partners, we lack the necessary information to assist. It’s disheartening to witness fans being taken advantage of, especially on platforms like Craigslist, Facebook, StubHub, VividSeats, SeatGeek, and others. We are only obligated to honor valid tickets purchased through our approved channels.
Can I purchase tickets in person without fees?
Yes. HI-FI Annex box office is located at the main entrance off of St. Patrick St. The box office is open 1 hour prior to the published door time. Additionally, the new and primary box office is located two doors down from HI-FI Annex in Suite 2. This box office is open Monday through Friday 10am – 6pm for fee-free ticket purchases. HI-FI Annex accepts cash as well as all major credit cards for ticket purchases.
Do you have free WI-FI?
Yes. HI-FI Annex offers free WI-FI during all shows. Simply select the HI-FI Free WI-FI network and you are all set.
Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange)
Start Time: 6:35 pm
HEALTH CHECK REQUIRED: Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours or negative Antigen test with 6 hours.
Download the Bindle Mobile Health App and verify your vaccination and/or test status to expedite entry to the venue.
Holler on the Square is a festival-like series of concerts at HI-FI and HI-FI Annex spanning September 12-19, 2021. Join us for 8 days of live music with performances taking place in both venues, all week. Check out the daily schedule, full lineup and get your tickets now. All shows are individually ticketed.
Buy Tickets
ARTIST PROFILE | Watchhouse
"By the time 2019 came to its fitful end, Andrew Marlin knew he was tired of touring. He was grateful, of course, for the ascendancy of Mandolin Orange, the duo he’d cofounded in North Carolina with fiddler Emily Frantz exactly a decade earlier. With time, they had become new flagbearers of the contemporary folk world, sweetly singing soft songs about the hardest parts of our lives, both as people and as a people. Their rise—particularly crowds that grew first to fill small dives, then the Ryman, then amphitheaters the size of Red Rocks—humbled Emily and Andrew, who became parents to Ruby late in 2018. They’d made a life of this.
Still, every night, Andrew especially was paid to relive a lifetime of grievances and griefs onstage. After 2019’s Tides of a Teardrop, a tender accounting of his mother’s early death, the process became evermore arduous, even exhausting. What’s more, those tunes—and the band’s entire catalogue, really—conflicted with the name Mandolin Orange, an early-20s holdover that never quite comported with the music they made. Nightly soundchecks, at least, provided temporary relief, as the band worked through a batch of guarded but hopeful songs written just after Ruby’s birth. They offered a new way to think about an established act.
Those tunes are now Watchhouse, which would have been Mandolin Orange’s sixth album but is instead their first also under the name Watchhouse, a moniker inspired by Marlin’s place of childhood solace. The name, like the new record itself, represents their reinvention as a band at the regenerative edges of subtly experimental folk-rock. Challenging as they are charming, and an inspired search for personal and political goodness, these nine songs offer welcome lessons about what any of us might become when the night begins to break.
“We’re different people than when we started this band,” Marlin says, reflecting on all these shifts. “We’re setting new intentions, taking control of this thing again.”
When 2020 dawned, Emily and Andrew hatched a plan to break old habits: For the first time, they’d leave Ruby with Emily’s mom and escape with their longtime bandmates to a cabin on the edge of Smith Mountain Lake, a sprawling hideaway at the foot of the Appalachians. Also for the first time, after a decade of Andrew engineering and producing most of the music the band made, they’d bring help—Josh Kaufman, the producer and multi-instrumentalist who had wowed them with his work alongside the likes of The National and his trio Bonny Light Horseman. There were no expectations. This was simply a full-band retreat with a new friend and co- producer, working together in the refulgent sunshine of grand lakeside windows.
Almost immediately, they realized this wasn’t some audition; they were making Watchhouse. On the first day, Kaufman told Emily and Andrew to imagine this were their first record and to realize that conceptions of how they had worked, recorded, or even sounded belonged only in the past. In a way, Andrew had new permission and space to lean into his vision for what Watchhouse might become.
“Andrew is so confident in what he wants to hear, so full of ideas. Even beyond what we’d worked out together on tour with these songs, he knew what he wanted,” Emily says. “Having Josh in the studio meant Andrew didn’t have to bear the whole weight of getting there.”
Alongside drummer Joe Westerlund, guitarist Josh Oliver, and bassist Clint Mullican, Andrew and Emily indulged novel structures and textures. “Better Way,” a kind-hearted meditation on online meanness, shifts slowly from a bluegrass trot into a spectral marvel before an immersive acoustic drone frames a new future. The gentle harmonies of “Belly of the Beast” eventually turn into a tangle above baying strings, Andrew and Emily guiding each other through the shared perils of whatever comes next.
These songs, after all, started with a fundamental shift in Emily and Andrew’s life. In the first few months after Ruby’s birth, they split the day into shifts: Emily minded Ruby during the waking hours, while Andrew sat beside Ruby all night, watching their firstborn sleep as he quietly strummed strings. In those wee hours, he allowed his writing to wander, capturing the uncanny sense of wonder and intrigue that pervades the darkest parts of night. “If I didn’t have Ruby in my hands, I had an instrument in them,” remembers Andrew. “And watching Ruby sleep, being surrounded by that mystery at night, led to a feeling of magical realism in these songs. I used melodies and ideas I’d never use.”
Long-lost relatives, for instance, gather with him around the crib in communion during “Lonely Love Affair,” mentoring him through this staggering upheaval. He expresses the fears of a new father, alleviated by the possibility and goodness he sees in his sleeping baby. These songs allowed Marlin and Frantz to take the chance Kaufman proposed because they’re about the value of doing exactly that, of trusting in grand acts borne of personal uncertainty.
Likewise, Emily’s dual turns here as lead singer are absolute breakthroughs, equally wrought from the confidence of past success and the excitement of present energy. As Emily coolly considers the ups and downs of mere existence, “Upside Down” pirouettes from the country thump of Neil Young in 1971 to the surging epiphanies of Radiohead a quarter-century later. Andrew wrote “Beautiful Flowers” after crashing into and presumably killing a butterfly with his car—this quiet triumph is a history of the automobile that doubles as a poignant chronicle of the modern tragedies and miracles we normalize. It reckons with climate change and the fatal side- effects of our industrious, industrialized nature with beguiling humility. Emily delivers all this with a gospel conviction, astral horns slowly unspooling beneath her as a reminder of the fragility at work.
With harmonies so easy they sound like kitchen-table talk, Andrew and Emily sail through “New Star,” an ode to the self-sacrifice and renewal of trying to create something, like a child, that might make the world better. Revolutionary kindness, social responsibility, collective understanding: These simple but staggering ideas are the unseen threads of Watchhouse, a miraculous expression of measured domestic protest.
In our era of recalcitrant typecasts and incessant cultural churn, it is rare to witness anyone press ahead into the unknown while holding fast to what’s best about their past, too. That’s what Watchhouse have done with their self-titled debut. Emily and Andrew have discarded neither their tenderness nor thoughtfulness; instead, they’ve enriched those essential qualities by submitting to the risks of new sounds, structures, and inputs. They’ve embraced surprising notions that make their steadfastness stronger.
It will be tempting to summarize this record as Watchhouse’s inevitable parenthood record, or maybe the one where they got a little strange, or maybe the one where they change their name. It is, instead, a record about growing up without growing old, about experiencing the world and letting it change you, whether through the mystery of a newborn or the vagaries of improvising or the comforts of familiar and wondrous love. Watchhouse is a perfectly rendered link between their longtime allure as Mandolin Orange and an unwritten future as the band Watchhouse, one that’s only as hopeful as we can imagine it might be."
READ MORE >>Supporting Acts
About the Venue
Upgrades: The Sidestage Lounge VIP access offers a premium exclusive viewing location with an up-close and personal view of the stage. It features a private bar, a comfortable seating area, as well as dedicated outdoor restrooms. Click here to reserve your spot in Sidestage Lounge.
Ticket Support: Box Office opens 1 hour before published door time. For ticket related questions please email boxoffice@hifiindy.com.
Parking: Street Parking, Bike Parking