Band formed out of loss comes home to Ephrata
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 months, 2 weeks AGO
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | February 26, 2025 1:20 AM
EPHRATA — The boys – and girl – are back in town.
The band Millergold, four of whose members graduated from Ephrata High School, will perform two shows in their hometown this weekend. The first show will be Friday evening at Ephrata High School’s Performing Arts Center, and the second will be Saturday at 12 Hawks Sports Bar & Grill.
“We did Cabaret at (EHS) and really loved music,” said Nate Elliott, the band’s bass player and a 2015 EHS graduate. “We did choir, and then kind of went our separate ways for about 10 years.”
Then in 2023, Nate and his wife Bailey lost their 3 1/2-year-old son Miller in an accident. That was the trigger to pick up music again, he said.
“I hadn’t ever played the bass before,”: Elliott said. “I played piano and stuff, but I picked up the bass and said, ‘We should start a band.’ My wife started writing music Tucker (Merchant, Bailey’s brother) plays the drums, my wife plays guitar and sings, and we got into our basement in Liberty Lake and started jamming on some stuff.”
Besides the Elliotts and Merchant, Millergold includes 2013 EHS graduate Kieran Rolfe on guitar and backing vocals, and guitarist George Brunt, who is the only non-Tiger in the group.
Millergold’s sound is best described as “grief rock,” Elliott said. Most of the songs deal with themes of loss and bereavement, with titles like “Goodbye,” “Missing You” and “Left Behind.” It’s a way of expressing the sorrow of losing a child, Elliott said.
“The majority of our songs are really rooted in trying to feel what it means to lose someone that means the world to you and to deal with those emotions,” Elliott said. “It has been kind of a project about dealing with loss and working through those feelings.”
The band’s name comes from Miller and the fact that he loved marigolds, Elliott said. Miller loved music and wanted to be a rock star when he grew up.
Millergold recently finished recording its first album, Elliott said, which will be released in the spring. The performances Friday and Saturday will showcase the songs on the album, all original. The show at the high school is for all ages, but the performance at 12 Hawks is only for 21 and over.
“People have told us that grief is love with nowhere to go,” Elliott said. “This is us trying to try to put it somewhere. We know that we’re not the only people that have experienced loss and I think that while not everyone’s lost a kid, most people have lost somebody important to them. So I think it really resonates with people.”
Millergold
7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28 at Ephrata High School, 718 Frey Road Northwest. $15 adults, $5 students
7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 1 at 12 Hawks Sports Bar & Grill, 140 Division Ave. S., Ephrata. Tickets $12, adults only
Millergold takes its name from founders Nate and Bailey Elliott’s son Miller, who died in an accident in 2023 at the age of 3 1/2.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Soap Lake lights up with Moonlight Paddle
SOAP LAKE — The surface of Soap Lake was lit up Saturday night by canoes, kayaks, inflatables and paddleboards for the annual Moonlight Paddle. “We had an amazing turnout, probably one of the best I’ve seen,” said Susan Carson, vice president of the Soap Lake chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event. “We had 52 registered vessels and … probably at least another 10 that were just there for the fun. We had people (who) came clear from West Seattle, Wenatchee and Tri-Cities.”
Hanford Reach turns 25
RICHLAND — Sen. Patty Murray visited the Hanford Reach Wednesday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Reach’s designation as a national monument. “Even though a lot has changed over the last 25 years, still one thing that hasn’t changed,” she said. “The Hanford Reach. And that’s a testament, not just to the huge victory we won that day, but also to the hard work that this community has done every year since to continue preserving and protecting the Hanford Reach.”
Biscuits, bacon and buckin’ broncs at the Cowboy Breakfast
MOSES LAKE — The chute opened, the rider came out and for eight seconds, the bull and rider flung themselves every which way. But this time, the bull was inflatable and the rider’s age was a single digit. This was the Peewee Stampede Rodeo at the Moses Lake Cowboy Breakfast, the longstanding traditional kickoff to the Grant County Fair. This year’s stick horse rodeo drew about 20 young cowboys and cowgirls.