Hoodie Browns and Lovely Company at 648 Kingsway

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Let me describe to you the difference between a song and a sigh, between a recording and a live show. The act of being together in time, through the measure of music. Let me describe to you a community coming together at the end of last month for a shared purpose: to experience music at 648 Kingsway with Hoodie Browns, Lalune, and Lovely Company. 

Hoodie Browns opened the night with a soft solo of acoustic and acoustic account of melt-worthy vocals. Lalune showcased a trance-like, almost lyric-less bravado of musical artistry. While Lovely Company closed the night with a passionate expression of musical creativity and freedom in both their music and movements. 

Performances from the three bands left the packed space with an infectious joy. The amount of energy that the performers had on stage reflected those in the crowd, whether it was through swaying, moshing, filming, or good ol’ fashioned listening. Each musical performance brought something different to the stage that complimented the varying styles of each band. 

In an interview with Hoodie Browns and Lovely Company, SAD Magazine was able to get into the depths of both bands’ musical journeys, experiences in the Vancouver music scene, challenges, inspirations, and much more.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your musical journey?

It’s funny that you ask that, because it feels like I’m in the process of rediscovering myself right now. I feel like a cryptic puzzle that I need to solve, and I think it’s partially due to where I am on my musical journey right now. Music has been such a prominent part of my life for as long as I remember. I was always playing some sort of instrument, and always writing something whether I considered it serious or not. Actually, the other day I found my diary from when I was 14 and found some angsty lyrics that weren’t too bad, haha. But anyways, music has been an essential form of expression for me whether it’s through what I’m listening to or creating at the moment. 

What has your experience been like in the Vancouver music scene?

I’ve definitely had my share of good and bad experiences within the music scene here, but overall I feel embraced in a lot of ways by the people that I have encountered so far. When I think about it though, while I did start performing before the pandemic, I only really started picking up speed in 2021, and the whole scene started to kind of shift in my opinion. This city can be quite clique-y, especially once the pandemic hit and pods were the norm, but it doesn’t all feel exclusionary. In a lot of ways, it feels cool to me because of how saturated or curated those events are in terms of what their sound/vibe is. (I don’t know if that makes a lot of sense, but that’s the only way that I can describe it!) That being said, it would be cool to see more crossovers of groups that don’t usually perform together! Just an eclectic beautiful mess of different vibes all flowing together… one can dream.

What is your biggest challenge throughout the journey of creating and performing music?

I think the biggest one for sure is lack of self confidence. I’m a professional at getting in my own way, and it’s something that I’ve been trying to work on letting go of lately. I took about a five month break from performing, because I had burnt myself out. I didn’t feel like I could say no to shows until I got to that point where I had no other choice because my body wouldn’t let me do anything. Performing is a wholly taxing thing, and I forget to take breaks and take care of myself, because I’m always looking to the next thing I need to do. And that’s not getting me aaaaanywhere.

How do you go about collaborating with other musicians? What is that experience like?

Usually, for me it goes like this: we’ve seen each other play at shows, someone approaches the other and says something along the lines of “Whoa I really dig your playing and your vibe, let’s jam!” Then the other goes, “Hell yeah let’s do it,” then there’s a back and forth of setting a date and cancelling it, and then one day nobody cancels and we jam, and sometimes a song comes out of it, sometimes more jams, and sometimes you never hang out again lol. But it’s all a fun process for me–jam seshes in the park is how I formed the band I played with for almost a year!

Who are some of your musical influences?

I really like conceptual stuff at the moment. Like if you listen to one song, and it makes you want to listen to the entire album, that’s what I’m yearning for right now. In general, I’m inspired by people like Tyler the Creator, Erykah Badu, SZA, The Beatles, Frank Ocean, Mac DeMarco, D’Angelo, Steve Lacy, Amy Winehouse, Kendrick Lamar, Otis Redding, but there’s always a rotation of what I take direct influence from based on the time in my life it is.

What’s next for Hoodie Browns?

Recording & releasing! I’m sitting on way too many demos, and I need to change that. Watch out for some songs in 2023!

Anything you’d like to add?

Crying is glamorous and you should do it whenever you can!

PHOTO BY AMAN BEDI

Who is Lovely Company? Can you tell us a little bit about each member of the band and their role within the group?

Lovely Company is currently a five-piece music project made up of Aaron Schmidtke (keys, vocals), Adam Gold (guitar, vocals), Luke Reynolds (guitar), Malcolm Henderson (bass), and Samuel Stevens (drums). 

Can you tell us a bit about how Lovely Company began?

We started messing around with the idea of a mixed genre group in the summer of 2019 as a spin-off of Circle of Care, an experimental blues rock band that some of us played in at the time. The idea was to have our friends join us in making music and have a rotating cast of people who would like to experiment with different instruments and genres. And it wasn’t only about music; it was about having weekly meet-ups with friends to make dinner and share some drinks before descending to the basement to create. And we wanted to create with those who were willing. Not just music, but art media of all sorts. 

Unfortunately, a few weeks into these weekly hangouts, the COVID-19 pandemic hit us, and we were forced into isolation. A few of us (Aaron, Adam, and Malcolm) lived together at the time, along with some of our Circle of Care bandmates (Jack and Eddie), so we continued generating ideas and turned Lovely Company into a studio project for the next two years, recording 5 LPs and 10 EPs at home. But we all find that one of the most beautiful ways of experiencing music is through the live scene, so right when lockdown ended, we dove into playing shows. We played a lot with our close friend Sasha, and he introduced us to Luke and Sam. It was just magical timing.

As a five-piece band, individual values and traits must vary per musician/member. What are some collective values Lovely Company holds, music wise or otherwise? 

Coming into the live scene post-lockdown, we remember a lot of the same bands playing together at the same venues and we sought to change that up a bit — we love to play with new bands on our bills and to try out a bunch of different venues so each experience is different depending on the show you attend. Saying that, it was a big deal for us to continue to create and cultivate inclusive and safe spaces for our fans to attend. 

In terms of our music making process, something we’ve believed from the beginning is to not confine ourselves to one fixed genre. We love to explore and experiment with a variety of sounds — there really is no idea that is too small for us to roll the dice on. Another thing we have learned through recording and playing shows is to not take ourselves too seriously — that isn’t to say we don’t want to be professional, but more so we preserve our ethos that, most of all, we’re doing this for us, so let’s have fun.

What has your experience been like in the Vancouver music scene?

We like to think we arrived right on time. The scene is booming right now, and that’s because, like us, so many musicians were pent up in their homes trying to make sense of what was going on in the world through their music. Now that venues are operating again and people are finding and creating new places to play, bands are popping up everywhere and coming together to make it happen. There is just such a sense of willingness out there right now. For us, it’s been such a welcoming time playing alongside musicians that we used to look up to before Lovely Company formed and getting to know more and more people who are just happy to be there and present in the local music scene. People are coming to shows no matter who is playing, no matter what venue, just because they love music and they love sharing that with each other. 

What is your biggest challenge throughout the journey of creating and performing music?

The biggest challenge has been balancing our love for music with the things we do outside of music. We’re a mix of food and beverage service workers and PhD candidates. One of us is a cobbler’s apprentice. Sometimes it feels like we’re living double lives, especially when we put so much time and heart into our time playing together. Nobody said it’s easy to play a gig at a hole in the wall one night and return to your day job bussing tables or teaching physics at a university. 

Who are some of your musical influences?

Individually, we all listen to very different music–albeit with a few common touchstones–and our influences aren’t limited to music alone. But collectively, we find that we are most heavily influenced by Alex G, Radiohead, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Crumb, Grateful Dead, and Whitest Boy Alive.

What does your collaborative process look like?

Our music forms in many ways and can evolve in even more. Often it consists of a member bringing an idea to the table, or sometimes it’s revamping back-catalogue ideas that we laid down in lockdown. But recently it’s been a lot of improvisation in our home studio with each member bringing something to the table to continue the story. We believe that a song never has to be finished. And sometimes that may be apparent in the music we play at our shows. You may see us perform a song one way, and a few months later, it may sound completely different, or have a different section, or have completely different lyrics. You may hear a song at a show and want to listen to it online, but when you find the song, it won’t sound anything like how you remembered it at the show.  

What’s next for Lovely Company?

Since we began playing live, we haven’t released any music that wasn’t already recorded at the time. Our constantly changing style hasn’t ceased, and we think it’s time to capture what we’ve been brewing up in our home studio. Currently, we’re working on recording a few new tracks that we’ve previewed at our recent shows. We feel that we’ve come up with a unique sound, and we want to share it with those who’d care to give it a listen. But we certainly believe that sharing music in a live setting is one of the most beautiful aspects of the musical experience, so we’ll continue to play shows around Vancouver. Folks can catch us at Slice Next Door on Feb. 18th and the Cobalt on Mar. 5th!

Follow Hoodie Browns on Spotify and Instagram (@hoodiebrowns), and Lovely Company on Spotify and Instagram (@lovelycompanyband) to stay updated on their art and activity!

Tasheal Gill (she/her) is a film production student with a passion for storytelling through various artistic platforms. She is dedicated to uplifting BIPOC voices, and telling stories through a socially conscious lens. Follow her on Instagram (@tashealll).