Indie rock band The Dear Hunter will be playing at the Maintenance Shop this Saturday, April 13, 2013, for the first time in Ames as part of their Migrant tour. Their Migrant tour is in support of their latest album of the same name and also features the band, Naive Thieves.

Created by Casey Crescenzo, The Dear Hunter was originally a side project while Crescenzo was in his former hard-core band The Receiving Ends of Sirens. The Dear Hunter had its first show in February 2006 before Crescenzo officially left The Receiving Ends of Sirens in May 2006 to make The Dear Hunter full-time.

The Dear Hunter gained a lot of recognition by touring with acts such as Circa Survive and Coheed & Cambria.

“As far as Coheed [& Cambria], that is them being kind to us. They are all amazing people … it is a big compliment for them to bring us out,” Crescenzo said. “And then Circa [Survive], I met Anthony [Green] when I was in my last band and Circa was recording their first album just down the street. We met up, they came over, Anthony sang on that record, and we kept in touch then on. Whenever we can do something together, we do. Luckily, our musical is very compatible.”

In September 2006, The Dear Hunter released their first album, “Act I: The Lake South, The River North“ on Triple Crown Records. This was the first album to be part of a six-part story Crescenzo wrote.

The story has been continuing through their second and third releases, “Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading” in 2007 and “Act III: Life and Death” in 2009.

In 2011, the band released their first album not a concept, “The Color Spectrum.” Consisting of nine EPs, each of four tracks and specific designated color and genre, a compilation album featuring specific tracks from the EPs, and a 36-track album, “The Color Spectrum” brought The Dear Hunter into untraveled territory, both in genres and instruments.

“The biggest difference is that it is not a preconceived album. There is no plot. In “The Color Spectrum” it was just a big theme. [“Migrant”] is a record that is transparently from the heart, without disguising it. Musically, I think it is different in the sense that it is much more exploring into even more music genres,” Crescenzo said.

The Dear Hunter released their latest album “Migrant” on April 2, which again featured an album that did not feature a concept, as well as their first ever live DVD of “The Color Spectrum” in its entirety as part of a partnership with Equal Vision Records. The partnership created Crescenzo’s own label Cave & Canary Goods.

On the subject of continuing the Acts album with IV, V and VI, Crescenzo said their time will come later.

“I don’t know what I prefer or what is more rewarding, it is all rewarding to complete things. In this moment in time I have felt the most passionate to be doing this. If I do not feel passionate, I will not be doing it,” Crescenzo says on the subject of writing albums and concept albums.

“I will just keep replying on that, but until then, I do not want to force anything. It is not based on an outcome, it is all inspiration.”

Performing a very long set for the first time, the Migrant tour also brings a first for The Dear Hunter.

“This is the first time we have had the opportunity to be playing for this long. For everyone in the band, with the exception of a headlining tour, which is about an hour and 20 minutes, we’re so used to playing 30 minutes.”

Crescenzo said there is a lot of excitement for the show.

“Everyone in the band is so excited for the opportunity to cut lose a little bit and really dig into a set. We normally don’t not fully open up ’til six or seven songs into a set and by that time we would be done normally,” Crescenzo said.

The opening band, Naive Thieves, is also experiencing their first time in Iowa.

“The tour has been really great, it is our first national tour,” said Cameron Thorne, lead vocalist and guitarist of Naive Thieves.

Naive Thieves is in collaboration with Crescenzo on his label for their release of their up-and-coming album.

“Casey [Crescenzo] and I have been good friends now for a few years,” Thorne says. “We got booked to play a show opening up for Casey doing a solo show and none of us were familiar with his music when we went to play with him.”

Thorne said the group was really excited.

“As we walked offstage, Casey came up to me and asked, ‘hey man, how am I supposed to follow that?’ He is just one of the best performers and musicians I have heard. We ended up hitting it off. He believed in us and that is how it kind of all started.”

Naive Thieves has also been getting a lot of good praise, despite their more pop sound.

“Some of the nicest and open-minded people I know are all Dear Hunter fans. When we first stated playing, we were a little hesitant. I did not know how it was going to be … regardless of the genres, it has been really awesome, good response for the most part. I think people are actually digging it,” Thorne said.

Naive Thieves has recently released their latest single “Anxiete” and expects their upcoming album to be out by June, playing mostly new songs in their sets.

“I am insanely grateful for everything, and hopefully people have fun when we are around,” Crescenzo says. “The main thing this tour is for, is rewarding all those people who were always stuck seeing us for a half-hour.”