Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s The Last Post is the solo project of Logan Betz, a longtime drummer and contributor to the Central PA punk and indie scene. With Wayfinder, a 7-track debut EP due out May 9 via Rock Paper Records, Betz steps out from the background and into a more vulnerable, personal space. He describes it as both “the culmination of my journey in music, and the start of my journey,” adding: “My little teenage heart is super happy I did this—I made up for lost time.”
Wayfinder moves between acoustic ballads, alt-pop reflections, and bursts of full-band pop-punk, often filtered through a mid-’90s/early-2000s emo lens. It’s clearly a nostalgic record, but it’s not just retro for its own sake. Betz uses that sound palette to explore the moments and people that shaped him—romantically, emotionally, and musically.
Themes across the EP include love that endures through decades, the daily grind of mental health, and the unresolvable weight of grief. These aren’t abstract concepts for Betz; each one is grounded in personal detail, like his teenage romance that turned into a marriage and two kids, or the death of his father.
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“I feel like I finally found my way,” Betz says. That’s both literal and figurative—Wayfinder is the title for a reason.
Track by track rundown, by Logan Betz:
Reckless
I decided to open the EP with this track because I think it sets the mood sonically – it just sounds like the first track of a record to me, haha. One of the continual themes my songs touch on is mental health and that’s exactly what “Reckless” is about. When we’re struggling with mental health – for me anyway – I find there’s often this weird balance between feeling a bit out of control and, at the same time, knowing exactly how your struggles are affecting those you’re closest to. It’s like knowing there’s a bit of a runaway train that might bump into those bystanders and simultaneously feeling guilty about that as well as feeling like you almost have no choice in the matter.
1999
“1999” is about falling in love with the right person at the right time. For me, that was at 16-years-old when I met my first love who would go on to become my wife. Twenty five years later, we’re still together and have two kids. This is the first song I wrote intentionally for this project; I had been writing songs for years prior, but this one (no pun intended) just felt right for what I wanted to do and wanted this project to become. I envisioned its direction and its full band sound almost immediately and it’s kind of become the internal anthem for myself and The Last Post. Plus, I love that it’s a timestamp of my teenage-hood and a period of my life I feel so fondly of. “1999” is filled with nostalgia, both in its personal lyrical content, but also in its sound, as it’s definitely influenced by the bands and type of music we grew up on, and fell in love listening to.
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Run Away
This song brings a nice, steady 6/8 vibe that I just love. It opens with just the acoustic and then builds to include the full band, including hand claps and a whistle! Lyrically, this is about taking a day off from all of life’s responsibilities; not that those are necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes you just need a break. Bonus points if you’ve got someone special to share that day off with.
Ready, Reset
“Ready, Reset” is another song dealing with mental health, specifically the resilience you have to have to fight the fight every day. I’m proud of this song in many ways and also love playing it live, as it offers a chance for the crowd to join in on the repetitive bridge. Any time I can connect with my listeners is a win for me. I’m also really proud of the dynamics of this track from the 90s rock vibe, to the stripped down bridge, to the emo screaming. This is one of those songs that translated seamlessly from writing it to recording it and I’m just so happy with how it turned out.
Stay
I wrote this song in a different tuning and recorded it with a guitar with nylon strings, so I really love the slightly different vibe it brings. Lyrically, it’s about being with your person, taking in a specific moment, knowing they have the ability to make it all ok, and not wanting that moment to end. It’s really a love song at its core.
In the End
This is another song about the journey of mental health and about how, in the end, love is stronger than those struggles are. At the end of the day, I’m lucky enough to share a love with my partner that will be there to carry me through it all. It’s really a thank you for loving me regardless of how much I seemingly mess up.
Last Year
I wrote this song a year after my father passed away and it deals with loss, regret, and the many other feelings that are associated with grief and losing someone. This song will always be close to my heart, not only given its lyrical content, but also because I love connecting with the audience when playing it live; unfortunately, loss is something we can almost all relate to. Sonically, I’m most proud of how the music and emotion build to culminate in a powerful ending – exactly as I had imagined it. For me, closing out the EP with this song was a no brainer.
