For Minnesota Music Month, The Current polled the local music industry for April’s edition of The Scouting Report. A total of 112 people filled out this year’s Minnesota Music Month Scouting Report ballot, and 489 unique artists were chosen overall. The top 10 artists who received the most support include Porch Light.

Before releasing any studio material, Minneapolis indie rock band Porch Light had already cultivated a dedicated fan base on TikTok. With nearly 13 million likes on TikTok videos featuring covers of the Cranberries and Paramore, along with early live performance clips and a series of rousing, all-ages house shows, the hotly-tipped quartet finally dropped a couple of catchy singles in early 2025. The raw and vulnerable “Fall Back” and the slow-burning urgency of “Call Me Out” feature Zac Fogarty and Kyle Siemon on guitar, vocalist Jackie Uhas, bassist Henry Hughes, and drummer Isaiah Trimbo.

This interview with Porch Light, who have only been together for a little more a year, takes place during a trip to New York to connect with their manager and take industry meetings in the area. “It was a trip,” Uhas says of the TikTok attention. “We did not think that anything like that was gonna happen.” “But it was also really encouraging,” Fogarty adds. “We were staying true to ourselves and posting all those videos, and it was really cool to see that people were receptive to us just being who we are.”

On April 11, Porch Light will release of their self-titled debut EP. The collection was recorded over four days at Flowers Studio in Minneapolis. “It felt so comfortable,” Hughes says of the studio, which was founded by the late Ed Ackerson and has hosted the Replacements, Lizzo, the Jayhawks, Hippo Campus, and many others. “It was close to home, and it was just this really cool, historic place,” Fogarty adds. “Just the feel and the memories of the people who have recorded there. It was the right place for us to do what we’re trying to do.”

The EP was produced by Twin Cities native Caleb Wright, who has worked with Hippo Campus, Samia and Charly Bliss. “Caleb worked with Ed [Ackerson], and he talked about how Ed had given him all of his gear and stuff to get started,” Fogarty says. “So, it was just kind of a full circle moment.”

The band identifies with the scrappy, raw rock sound of the Replacements, and the members hope to carry on that boisterous legacy. “That's the kind of era of music that we draw a lot of inspiration from,” says Hughes. “There's kind of a space right now for this alt-rock, live-band rock sound. We all had a vision of something that was different that we hadn't felt in a little while.”

To support the EP, Porch Light will begin a U.S. tour in June featuring club shows as well as house gigs in various cities. “We just want to rip and do some free shows and just give back to people. Just have fun with it,” says Uhas. Before hitting the road, the band will perform on May 10 outside of Allianz Field in St. Paul before Minnesota United FC’s big match against international soccer superstar Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.

Earlier this year, Porch Light performed at First Avenue’s Best New Bands of 2024 showcase. The January concert marked the first time the group played the mainroom stage together. “It was like a dream to play there,” Fogarty says. The rest of 2025 holds more excitement for Porch Light. In addition to playing as many live shows as possible, there could be another EP coming later in the year, and a full-length sometime in 2026.

“We love Minneapolis, and that will always be such a big part of who we are and why we make the music that we make,” Uhas says affectionately. “Of course, we want to be able to do this for a long time and play to as many people as we can. Expanding out past that is great, but also paying homage and remembering that Minneapolis is where we came from.”

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