Yes We Mystic goes back to roots before SXSW, European tour

Yes We Mystic is going back to the band's roots with an acoustic show at The Good Will Thursday night, a tee-up to its first real step into the U.S. and a third European tour.

"We've kind of reworked all our songs to play in a way we haven't in many years. Some newer songs we've never played acoustically,we figured them out," said frontman Adam Fuhr.

The band started as an acoustic outfit in 2011, but this latest show was born byaccident.

"We were in England, and we had been told kind of at the last minute that we had to play our set acoustically, so it was kind of just like hanging out in the van, driving there, trying to figure out who is going to do what," said Fuhr. "We decided right then and there that this was something we wanted to do back home 'cause it felt kind of special."

The show comes just before the band heads to Austin, Texas, to play the South by Southwest music festival.

"SXSW is a pretty formidable festival," said drummer Jordon Ottenson. "It feels good for us. I've been warned by everybody that's gone before that it's going to be madness."

It's the band's "first real show" as Eric Ross puts it in the United States, and hopefully, Fuhr said, a starting point in the market.

"We always try to only go when someone wants us to. We didn't book our first tour to Europe by ourselves because we thought we'd be liked over there. We waited until someone wanted to bring us over," said Fuhr.

After Austin, the band will head back to Europe for a third tour, all while making progress on their next album.

The group released Forgiver in April 2016, but they have no plans to hit pause until their next release, which could be out as early as 2019.

Thursday's show will also feature a stripped-down versionof anew trackthat's already in the works.

"It just kind of shows the care that we put in at the beginning, and sometimes you forget all the components that went together," said Fuhr. "If it goes well, it's something that I think we'd do again."

The show starts at 8 p.m. at The Good Will at 625 Portage Ave.