Julia Mason
What we’re really looking forward to in 2021 are new records from some of the best bands around right now. Here, Julia Mason talks to The Lounge Society whose debut single “Generation Game” grabbed attention in 2020. The Lounge Society have new music you need to listen out for in 2021.
Being an independent musician was hard even before COVID-19 brought the world to a halt. With venues being shut down, tours cancelled, and releases postponed, the ongoing pandemic has shaken up the music industry as a whole, and independent artists are among those whose livelihoods are most threatened by the global crisis. Despite all this, 2020 has been a prosperous year for new music and artists have been finding increasingly inventive ways of getting themselves seen and heard. For once, I think we can all be grateful for social media for keeping us entertained through the dark times. There is hope for the new year, though it may take some time to return to normal, we do have new music to look forward to.
JM: What have you missed most in 2020?
TLS: Like most bands and artists we’ve missed playing gigs. We released our debut single about a week after lockdown was put in place so we’ve never had the chance to play “Generation Game” to a crowd who have heard it before. And now we’ve released our second single and we’re in the same position. Obviously, some artists have released albums during this period so it could be worse, I guess. Hopefully when we can finally play it’ll be all that more special and people will have had a chance to get to know the tracks we’ve released.
JM: Who are you inspired by musically?
TLS: There are so many Its always difficult to pin down a few but the Velvet Underground are probably the most important band to us, The Smiths are very important to us as well. More recently we’ve been listening to the new Fontaine’s record, which is brilliant. We’ve also been really enjoying the Tiña record.
JM: What is your songwriting process?
TLS: It always starts with a riff or bass line that one of us plays in a rehearsal and then from there it just comes together fairly quickly. We will often write the majority of a track on the day that we come up with the initial idea, and then we just try and perfect it over time. Most of the time we will ‘jam’ an idea without lyrics, sometimes Cam will get a basic vocal melody down or structure in place and then we come back to the lyrics as a band and work on them for quite a long time. The music and the words kind of work in an opposite fashion. The music comes within the first day, and the words are usually still being tweaked the week before we record.
JM: If you could choose anywhere to gig where would it be?
TLS: There are hundreds of venues we really admire and general locations we’d really love to play in. The Ritz in Manchester has always seemed like a special venue, to be able to play there one day would be cool. The mighty Windmill in Brixton, although we feel like we’ve played there, we actually haven’t so we’re really looking forward to playing there in May, it’s been on our list for a while now. We’d love to play in Dublin as well at some point.
JM: If I took a look inside your fridge right now, what would I find?
TLS: Well, we all live separately so it will vary, but when we’re together we always make sure we have a heavy supply of extra stout Guinness, Jameson’s and salt and vinegar crisps. Two of which you won’t find in the fridge but somewhere in the kitchen.
JM: What are your immediate plans for 2021?
TLS: We’ll be releasing new music early next year, which we can’t wait for everyone to hear. We have a UK tour in May which we’re really looking forward to, as long as it goes ahead…
The Lounge Society are signed to Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label. In 2020 they released “Generation Game” and “Burn the Heather” and also did a remix of Courting’s “Popshop!”
To hear more new music from The Lounge Society, check out their Facebook page. Please support your favourite independent artists by buying merch and music directly from them, and donate to your local venues that are at risk of closing down due to the pandemic.
