Conversations With lovelytheband: A THP Exclusive

Platinum-selling trio lovelytheband has stormed the alt-pop world with singles after singles. In celebration of their new album, conversations with myself about you, which ever so coincidentally made its debut into the world on this lovely day, THP is delivering you an exclusive interview. One with lovelytheband and all the reasons that they’re, well, lovely.  

While this year has been unlike any other in the recent existence, everything has changed quite a bit, especially in the music industry we know and love. Of course, with a band as influential as this, we had to find out how the band continues to make it work. 

lovelytheband Makes Us Feel Safe

2020 has thrown us all out of our known normal. Has it been more pressurizing to be creative and to work on your material in these restrictions? How have you been going about carrying on with the musical process?

It was really hard for us to be creative in the first few months of everything shutting down, all of us write from life experiences. So to be trapped in the house for months forced a halt on a lot of those life experiences. Nowadays, were slowly starting to write some new songs, but were just really excited and focusing on the new record that’s coming out.

Your music always portrays a deeper meaning…from depression to LGBTQ to many other topics. Is it something you always keep in mind when making new songs? Or does it come more naturally to you?

I’m not sure if it’s something that we always consciously keep in mind when making and writing the music, it’s just kinda what comes naturally to write about for us. Usually, we’re not sure what the song is about until the song is done being written. Like, “Oh, that’s what needed to come out,” in a way. Though we do consciously support organizations on and off tour to help support topics like depression or the LGBTQ community because it is important for us.

pause. listen. resume.

You are very honest in your music, even if it’s uncomfortable. Any suggestions on how to keep it real in the real world? How do you do it day to day?

I think we find it hard to keep it real in the real world! Music has seemed to help us find a voice, to be honest. We hope that our music gives other people the space to feel safe and honest as well.

Making music that is honest enough to change the world; we respect it.

The Magic Ingredient

You all have made it very clear that you are LA boys (even if you all are not originally from LA). What is the magic ingredient to LA? We need to know!

I’m not sure if anyone knows what that magic ingredient is, that maybe the magic in itself. Where people are constantly searching for the reason Los Angeles feels the way it does, it keeps itself fresh.

You once said that the worst part of touring is being away from family and friends. Can you imagine and describe what would a tour be like if you can take your friends and family with you? What do you think would be the most fun thing about that

We often have friends and family at our shows, which is so nice there at the time. I feel like it would be hard to take them out on a whole tour because you almost go into your “tour mode” brain where you get into the routine of everything. Maybe at this point in our lives, that wouldn’t be the best idea, haha, maybe down the road!

lovelytheband – ‘buzz cut’

You’ve toured extensively over the last few years. What do you miss most about playing shows and what’s been the funniest story from living life on the road?

We miss everything about the road right now, but obviously, we miss the shows the most. Having that visceral connection with the fans at the show is truly why we do this, so we’re counting down the days until we get the green light to tour again. There have been so many funny stories on tour, most of them I probably couldn’t say. But we’ve had some funny ones, Sam slipping on ice and throwing his breakfast he was carrying in the process is always a good one.

Behind The Music

You made a very visual music video for ‘i should be happy’ in which you follow a story about depression. How do you mix visuals and music? Was it difficult to explain to Maren Gainey, Andrew Cohen, and Ryan Kieffer what you wanted to show and convey?

Mixing visuals and our music go hand in hand for us, especially live. We are such a live band, so when we’re making our show, it’s really important to have the right colors and visual experience that goes along with each individual song. So when we collaborated with Maren, Andrew, and Ryan, it felt so natural. The final product turned out so amazing; we’re so proud of it. Making music that is honest enough to change the world, we respect it.

lovelytheband – ‘i should be happy’

Is there one band or musician that inspires you all? We know you are a super diverse group, but is there anyone that you aspire to as a band?

We all individually have so many different influences, but collectively we look up to the legends like Bruce Springsteen or The Smiths. I know we all do a collective deep dive into legendary alt bands like Pheonix or Bloc Party.

lovelytheband 2.0

Based on the tracklist and singles that have already been released, the message/story compared to your first album, Finding It Hard To Smile, seems less about dependency/love and more melancholic as if resorting to other ways to cope or giving up. what would you say is the main difference between the two projects in terms of storytelling?

I think we laid out a skeleton to almost shape what lovelytheband stood for and how we felt in the first record. This second time around, we do a bit more of a deep dive in exploring those themes that I feel we laid out for ourselves. So I guess the main difference at first glance would be more of an introspective look on our take on commitment, love, self-awareness, etc. Musically as well its truly lovelytheband 2.0, the final product feels so authentic to who we were when we wrote it, we are really proud of it.

Well, we couldn’t agree more! The album and all the music they’ve put out are something to be proud of. lovelytheband 2.0 is something we’d like to keep around for good.

What do you think about the new album? Did you learn something new about lovelytheband? Let us know what’s in your head by commenting down below or tweeting us @TheHoneyPop on Twitter!

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Featured Image Source: Courtesy Of Rogers & Cowan PMK