One of my favorite activities in my spare time is attending concerts, and Pittsburgh usually hosts some pretty great ones. In October, I went to a show that is a part of The Circus Tour at Mr. Small’s Funhouse. I had the opportunity to interview one of the supporting acts, Lovelife. Lovelife is a band of four (ridiculously attractive) British guys who recently signed a publishing deal in Los Angeles, and played for Huffington Post’s new music segment during a HuffPost Live online stream. During their stop at Mr. Small’s Funhouse, I got the chance to sit down with them and talk about their sound, embarrassing moments, and even their fellow Brits: One Direction.
Left to right, the band consists of Sam Jackson (guitar), Lee Newell (vocals), Ally Young (keys), and Frank Colucci (drums).
HC: How would you describe your sound?
L: With much gesticulation.
A: Next question. [laughter]
L: It’s pop music. We call it heartsick pop music because genuinely it is about heartbreak.
A: But it’s pop music. We all have kind of different influences but what we have together is the love of a good song, and we love pop music. It’s not a dirty word, “pop,” we love it.
HC: So I noticed that there was quite a change in your sound [from your previous bands]. Why did you decide to go in a different direction with it?
L: Well when we met Ally… It wasn’t really like, it wasn’t a direction change. I mean we recorded an album in 2010, so it’s nearly four years on now almost, and it’s just sort of how we developed as musicians, as people. And when we met Ally he was producing that band’s second album and he introduced us to a new sound and new ways of writing. And then we wrote music together and here we are in Pittsburgh. First time in Pittsburgh for all of us.
HC: What are your goals as a band? What do you want to do next?
A: What we want to do is literally just write an album.
L: But we want to write a seminal album, one that will go down in history. We don’t just want to write an album, but a proper album.
S: A big one.
L: And we want to challenge ourselves and do something musically that has never been done.
A: I’m sure a lot of people want to do that but I think we are going to do it. It’s something that we’ve never done; both our previous incarnations as separate bands, we both made records that were a collection of songs you like the most at the time and really nothing more. And that’s fine. That can be a record, but it’s not a great record that people will still listen to in twenty years. It’s just literally a collection of songs, and we want more than that.
L: When we started the band, we moved to New York together. We just saved the money we had and moved to New York. We wanted to put ourselves all together in our own little world and create something completely brand new which we did and that’s how this band started. Now we’ve moved to Los Angeles. We signed a publishing deal. We’ve moved over there, and now we’re gonna write over Christmas (the album) which will be a nice contrast. But what I’m getting at is that we like to put ourselves in an uncomfortable position.
F: It draws something out of you that you wouldn’t be able to get to otherwise, being uncomfortable and not knowing what’s going to happen.
A: Setting yourself sort of limitations we talked about a lot as well because it’s so easy now with music and digital recordings you can do whatever you want. You want a brass band you can have one and play on the keyboard. We’ve talked about a mantra for the record that we want to do which is really exciting…
L: A Marilyn mantra.
A: Exactly. Marilyn’s Mantra. That’s going to be the title.
[laughter]
HC: Speaking of the online influence, how important do you feel your online image and online presence is?
A: It’s the most important thing. It’s more important than the music.
S: It’s the only thing, the reason we exist. Because all of our music is all free on the internet.
L: Image is a huge part of this band. It’s as important as the music. That’s a modern thing. It’s actually not a modern thing. I take that back. I completely retract my statement. Like for The Beatles it was like there were four people with the same haircuts. There was like a uniform. It was part of them. They were a unit, and that’s what we are. We dress in black because we’re a unit, and we want to do something that will go down in history, and the internet is our platform. This is our moment. The same with The Neighbourhood, it really is. Their online image and everything is so important to them, and that is sort of how we bonded really.
F: With the internet, when you put something out there into the cyber world, it’s there forever.
L: And if we’re going to put something out there, we want it to last forever and be proud of it forever and not in ten years’ time it be forgotten about or like in the depths of the internet.
A: It’s funny with the internet presence because for some bands it’s more important than the music. Like One Direction’s fans don’t really care about the music. They care about the four gorgeous boys.
S: Five, Ally, there’s five [members] in One Direction.
[laughter]
L: You’re always forgetting Niall.
A: Sorry Niall. They’re pretty much interchangeable in some ways. If anything, it’s going to sell a million copies…
L: Although the chorus of Let Me Kiss You [sic] is banger!
A: Their songs happen to be amazing because they’ve got some of the best songwriters in the world.
L: Although I think I’d rather have sex with them than listen to them. I think most people would.
HC: Or maybe both at the same time?
L: Both at the same time?
[laughter]
F: Although rumor has it that if you do get that far, they do play One Direction. They’ll put their own songs on whilst they have sex with you.
L: Well that’s what I do, isn’t it? The one time a year when I have sex. That must be why everyone cries after.
S: No shame in cry-maxing.
A: Well this conversation has taken a bizarre turn from the initial question, hasn’t it?
HC: Have you had any embarrassing moments on stage?
S: Ooh, [Lee] had one the other day, didn’t you?
A: You had a fall, didn’t you?
S: He had a fall.
L: I fell over. You’ll see tonight I jump around a bit and I might fall over again. I was actually looking and there’s like a built in barrier and I might jump on it, but I have a feeling I might fall over.
S: As much as I would love to do things like that, I’m either going to fall in the pit and hurt myself or fall on a small girl and really hurt her. She’s going to take a guitar to the neck.
L: But really, not really.
A: We hung a tampon from Bryan’s [from The Neighbourhood] mic stand. Which is embarrassing for us boys because we’re children.
F: It’s more embarrassing that we did it than that it’s there.
HC: Has the tour been going well?
[laughter]
A: Probably the most embarrassing thing is getting recognized everywhere. [laughter] I’m kidding.
L: Calling [the tour] The Circus, which [The Neighbourhood] did, is actually quite appropriate because we’re all clowns.
S: It’s a band of traveling idiots.
A: And Frank just bounces a ball for like forty minutes.
F: I also like to juggle. Fire, grenades.
HC: Just one more question. Since we are a female online magazine, who are your favorite female musicians?
A: Dusty Springfield is right up there for me. I love Dusty. Cameo is one of my top five records ever. She’s great. Tina Turner, first concert I ever went to. No shame. Big Tina fan.
L: Maybe new ones, Sky Ferreira.
S: I used to love Cyndi Lauper when I was little.
F: Jessica Lea Mayfield! Our tour manager Jonny introduced me to her, and she’s really really good.
S: And then obviously Miley.
L: So there’s six. It’s impossible to choose.
A: Quite the spectrum you got there.
L: Who were we listening to in the van yesterday that I was really into? Au Revoir Simone.
A: That’s seven.
S: I just want to hug Miley and tell her it’s all right.
A: Mate, she knows it’s all right. She knows.
L: Girl power!
You can find Lovelife online at their website lvlf.info, their twitter @lvlfxxx or on their Facebook facebook.com/lvlfinfo.
Photo Credit: 1, Personal Photo by Lauren Nace