North Texas Daily

Formed by frontman Wesley Jensen a little more than two years ago, Wesley Jensen and the Penny Arcade made its return to SXSW for the second year in a row. This might be considerable to note, given Jensen himself only landed in Denton three years ago after making the move from California. “I got stuck in a career situation that didn’t allow me to play music like I wanted to,” Jensen said. “I decided it was ruining my soul, so my wife and I and our three kids just threw a Hail Mary and did something that would allow me to focus on music.” Ironically, it was Jensen’s visit to Austin that brought his family to North Texas, saying, “Denton won us over.” “My wife is a very creative person as well, so we knew we wanted to be somewhere creative and music-friendly,” Jensen said. “One of our friends told us to stop by Denton [while in Texas], and it was much more our speed.” While The Penny Arcade typically only plays one show every few months, 2018 is set to be a busy year for the band as they plan to release new EP’s and music videos for every season of this year, with the next collection out in May.