Wallows Recall Morrissey Walking Out of Their Show: ‘That’s the Perfect Morrissey Story’

Wallows joined Jake Shane’s podcast Therapuss for a conversation covering everything from their formation and early memories to Morrissey’s surprising appearance at one of their shows and Dylan Minnette’s potential return to acting.

The American alt-rock trio—Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters, and Cole Preston—discussed everything from their teenage misadventures to the early days of their band, revealing how a Kings of Leon cover sparked their journey.

“That’s why one of the first songs we ever learned, ever covered was a Kings of Leon song called ‘Molly’s Chambers,’” Minnette shared. “I wanted to be like them. I don’t think I ever got as rock and roll as they were—we’re more Catan, cold brew, and cold plunge now.”

Minnette also addressed persistent rumors about his acting career, clarifying he never officially stepped away from Hollywood.

“There was this weird narrative that I quit acting, but I never felt that or said that,” he said. “I’ve had a desire to do it again in some regard, and if the right thing comes along, then the right thing comes along.” His last acting credit was Hulu’s The Dropout in 2021, but he still describes 13 Reasons Why as “the most fulfilling experience I ever had shooting anything.”

The band reminisced about early chaos on tour—including an Ohio incident where “someone got their head kicked into our van”—and their first Coachella set in 2019. “It was nerve-racking,” Minnette recalled. “We had never played the new songs live, never used in-ear monitors. It was a lot, and after that I was like, we’re never doing Coachella as the first stop of the tour again.”

Perhaps the wildest anecdote came when the band revealed Morrissey once attended a Wallows show. “Morrissey came to a show we played,” Minnette recalled of the night at Los Angeles’ Roxy Theatre. “A couple of years ago, we did this 50th anniversary special show at the Roxy, and they asked us to play. We said, ‘Yeah, we have a lot of history there.’ And someone told us, ‘Morrissey from The Smiths, he’s apparently a big Wallows fan, he’s asking to come to the show.’ We were like, ‘What are you talking about? Morrissey’s not… yeah right.’”

But as the night approached, their skepticism turned into disbelief. “Then the day of the show, they’re like, ‘He’s coming,’ and we’re like, ‘Okay, right.’ And then before the set, they were like, ‘He’s in the building, he’s ready to watch.’ And we were like, ‘Morrissey’s here?’” Minnette continued.

The surreal encounter didn’t last long. “There’s a really funny video of him sitting there — he looks so upset and he looks so mad. Apparently our fans are really loud, screaming girl voices, and it was way too loud for him. He left three songs in,” Minnette said with a laugh. “That’s the perfect Morrissey story. Didn’t even need to meet him. It’s the fact that he was there and left.”

Wallows are currently gearing up for their summer festival run, which includes their third appearance at Lollapalooza.