On Sept. 29, beloved local band Warm Gadget (joined by Austin Williams) will appear for its first live performance in eight years, opening for bands Julien-K and NITE at the Domino Room. Up until this show, the band’s members, Tim Vester and Colten Williams, have been taking a hiatus from live performances, choosing to dedicate more time to fine tuning their art in its production stages.
“We just found that we really enjoy the creative process,” Vester told the Source. “We wanted to make the band a more powerful entity in the studio… and work on something longer-lasting… something people can take with them 20 years down the road, rather than just for one night.”
Although the band hasn’t been performing live, its members have been staying busy with a multitude of other creative projects. In 2024, Warm Gadget released the album, “Sorrows,” followed in 2025 by the release of a collaboration E.P. with the Snowbeasts. The band also released a single for The Beat Cancer Foundation in the UK, contributed to a “compendium sort of soundtrack” for a horror anthology novel with Rafael Melo and worked on scores for various short films.
While this broad collection of creative projects may sound daunting to some, Warm Gadget truly enjoys the challenge, saying, “We love it…we’re not doing anything we don’t want to do.”
Vester also says Warm Gadget has another album in the works, which he predicts will reflect the fine tuning and careful artistry the band has spent the past eight years perfecting. “We’ve been looking at things differently… and trying not to repeat the same exact ‘formula’ as before,” Vester shares. “Instead of [just] a huge wall of noise, we decided to use space, atmospheric sounds and silence more than we’ve ever done before.”
This should not, however, waver longtime listeners. “I think it will be surprising, but recognizable,” Vester assures fans. “It’s still us, it’s what we’ve always done… all of the existing elements are still present, but with these new elements popping up.”
So what, after all this time, has coaxed Warm Gadget back into the spotlight? Its members say it was the voice of the people and the call of a good vibe. “We’ve been getting a lot of offers to play all over, and we’ve turned them down,” the band shared, but this performance back in their hometown seemed like a good fit.
“We are excited and slightly nervous,” they say, “but we are all very confident and experienced with live performances.”
Though bittersweet for fans, this return to the stage is not expected to be permanent. While Warm Gadget is excited to perform live, they still plan to maintain most of their work off stage for the foreseeable future. “We’re not coming back full fledge – every weekend, all the time,” Vester explains, “we have found that we just enjoy the [off stage] creative process more.”
Julien-K, NITE and Warm Gadget
Tuesday, Sept. 29
Doors 7pm, show 8pm
The Domino Room
51 Northwest Greenwood Ave., Bend
$25
This article appears in the Source September 24, 2026.
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