By Lily Wellen, Special to OnMilwaukee   Published Feb 10, 2017 at 8:36 PM

Wake up, travel, perform and go to bed. Cloud Nothings live this day by day as they make their trek on their latest tour. Lucky for fans, one of those stops is at Milwaukee's own Turner Hall Ballroom this Sunday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m.

"I’ve never heard anything about Milwaukee," said lead singer and guitarist Dylan Baldi, as he talks about their first official show in the city. In the past, they have played at 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, but never got a chance to explore the city or perform at a venue.

They have performed all around the world – including their favorite, Fuji, for the Fuji Rock Festival, where they "were surrounded by this insane mountain range." The band's also made several sold-out stops in Chicago, but this weekend is the first time Milwaukee will get a chance to see what this on-the-rise indie rock band is all about.

Before the band hit the road for a single tour, however, the phrase "Cloud Nothings" was just one of many potential band names on a list, along with others like Cat Killer. Baldi eventually took it off the list, however, and made it have a purpose. He headed off to college, met some people and turned all of this into a new band.

From there, once they established themselves as a group and began to create and play music together, it didn’t take long for them to break into the music scene and get their first gig. "We got an offer to play a show," Baldi explained, and simple as that, their journey into the spotlight began. Once they played their first show – at Market Hotel in New York – they continued to build off their momentum, releasing albums and touring around the nation.

Like most burgeoning rock bands, however, it took Cloud Nothings a bit to really take off. "We did tour for years before anyone cared about it," Baldi said of their early years, constantly traveling and playing venues in the hopes of adding at least a few fans to their base every night. As they got more and more well-known, the whole experience became "unreal" for them. "It's at the point it's our job," Baldi mentioned about the band's growth, "and that's more than enough for me."

When the band's not on tour, Baldi uses his free time to work on music as much as possible – and drink a lot of coffee – making it easy for them to keep putting out albums. Their latest, "Life Without Sound," debuted just this year and will be heard at their upcoming concert. According to Baldi, the band put this album together naturally, "just writing songs and it came together." The album features songs like "Up to The Surface," "Modern Act" and "Enter Entirely," Baldi's favorite because, "There is no chorus. There is no part that repeats."

If the promise of seeing an up-and-coming band's first true gig in the Cream City isn't enough to get you to the show – complete with opening acts Moon Bros and Dramatic Lovers – Baldi said that "[you] should come to the show, if [you] want to see something crazy." Do what you want with that rising curiosity. 

The Sunday night show will be presented by 102.1 FM and 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. Tickets are still available and can be purchased here.