An Interview With the Nasville-Based Pop Band, LOYALS On Their Debut Album and More!

LOYALS is a Nashville-based pop band that fuses elements of R&B and alternative rock into a refreshingly bright sound brimming with buoyant melodies and standout hooks. On February 2nd, LOYALS released their self-titled debut album via Tooth & Nail Records.

“There was a strong intention to do something completely new,” Andrew Gomez, the band’s guitarist explained to Nylon. “Things were looking really bleak outside of the new Loyals songs,” the band’s vocalist and guitarist Dane Allen adds. “But then an old friend from Tooth & Nail records breathed new life into them.” It wasn’t until 2015 that the album began to properly form; all those days spent writing, demoing, and wondering what the heck was going to come from the project started to pay off.

LOYALS premiered their single “Hold On” via Baeble Music.

Connect With LOYALS here- Website

Learn more about LOYALS in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! Where does this interview find you all today? What is one song that you are loving right now? What is a song that you all disagree about loving right now?

I just got home from a writing session in Nashville and sat down to do this. I’m really loving the new radio single from country artist, Devin Dawson, “All on Me”, and this morning I woke up to a bunch of texts in the band thread about which Coldplay record is the best. It’s definitely X&Y.

How has 2018 been treating you all so far? What is one musical goal that you have for this year?

Great! We just wrapped a short run with Emery and As Cities Burn and released our first record. I think we all just want to tour and get the most mileage that we can out of this first release so we have something solid to build upon.

Can you recall the moment when you all thought you could be in a band together? Was it hard to come up with a name that you all thought fit your sound and who you are? 

We’ve been playing together in different bands for quite some time. The band name, LOYALS, did not come easily. We had to have thrown around at least fifty names before we landed on this one. I’m glad we figured it out though. We’ve been through a lot together over the years and have remained friends through everything, so it feels like a good fit.

What did it feel like finally releasing your self-titled debut album via Tooth & Nail Records? What was the process like of recording it? Were there any unexpected challenges or other surprises about it all?

Tooth and Nail has always been a big deal to us. Some of our favorite bands have been on this label, so to be able to work with them has been great. Recording was a blast for the most part. Our long-time friend and producer, Matt Arcaini, produced the record, and we worked out of his studio. Matt and I did go on an all-juice diet for three weeks of that time, and a couple of us were working two different jobs on top of studio time, so that got pretty difficult, but we seemed to manage pretty efficiently.

How did you go about writing the songs on this collection? What was the inspiration for your single “Hold On” for example?  I understand that you wrote this after the album was already completed?

I like to write about life in as real of a way that I can. “Hold On” was birthed out of heartbreak for a friendship lost, but I wanted it to be interpretable to anyone who’s experienced heartbreak. Whether it be love, family, or friendship, I think we’ve all mourned some kind of relationship in our lives.

Why do you think Tooth & Nail Records is the right place for this band and your music today?

Honestly, they saw potential in us when we were kind of at the end of our rope as a band. We had just lost a member, and things were looking pretty bleak until they reached out. If they hadn’t have came along when they did, I don’t think most of the songs on this record wouldn’t have been written. We had a few new songs that we were working on, but the second wind that we got from Tooth’s interest was a big motivator.

What has been a favorite show of yours in the past? What would you say makes an ideal performance for this band? 

I really loved playing in Miami on this past run. It was the night of our record release, so there was this weird feeling the whole night. It was loud, hot, and humid, and we were pretty unsure of how our set would go, but the crowd really surprised us. A few people even knew the words to some of our songs. It was just kind of a euphoric moment where the show went well, the record dropped, the crowd responded well, and we were on tour with some of our favorite bands ever.

How important do you think social media has been to this band? Do all you help to maintain all your sites or is one of you more into it all? Or do you rely on your PR/management team to handle it all?

Social media is a necessary tool for bands in this day and age, and we’re no exception. Keeping them updated is a bit of everyone’s help. Content is a big thing for us whether it’s video, photos, or music, we always want to be showing something that’s happening. Getting new content sometimes gets pretty hard to do, but we’ll always try.

Who would you love to work with in the future? Who are some of your favorite artists right now? What do you think would be a dream collaboration for this group?

Recently, I’ve been into Bazzi, SZA, and the new U2 record. I think I’d love to collaborate with an artist like Post Malone or Bryson Tiller. Some of the more chill, vibey material that I’ve been writing is something that I could see one of those artists doing something cool with.

We are living in a trying time right now so I am curious how you think being in this band gives you the most joy in life today? Do you think that music being created today is going to reflect this challenging time?

Yeah I think so. I’m happy with a lot of the music being released right now. A lot of the recent music that I’m inspired by showcases pop in a more unforgiving light. The lyrics seem to be more than a superficial, generic handshake. I love that a song can be poppy, truthful, and dark all at the same time.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs? What do you hope they take away from one of your shows?

We want our music to hit home with people. If it makes you feel something, then I think we did our job. We want this first record and future records to be something that people can still still relate with and love even when they’re old and Loyals isn’t around anymore. I hope the shows are always fun. I think if we’re having fun with the performance, then people will have fun watching.