The Rising Pop-Rock Band LVVRS Discuss Their New Single, ‘Iconic’ and More!

Get to know the fast rising pop rock band, LVVRS! “Iconic” is the name of their newest aptly-titled new single. It sounds big and sleek, catchy, punchy, and immediate. It is a sonic expression of extreme self-confidence. With a driving beat and anthemic chorus, they’ve crafted a sound that’s both arena-ready and immediately personal.

Nothing about “Iconic” suggests this, but LVVRS had humble beginnings. These musicians come from Acadiana, the humid, verdant, tree-shrouded Southern region of Louisiana. Acadiana has produced a flood of great art, but news of happenings in these remote parishes doesn’t always travel quickly to the outside world. Nevertheless, nothing could keep the lid on LVVRS, who’ve developed a sound that would play anywhere. The group plays with the power and conviction of modern rockers, but they’ve also got the precision, meticulousness, and attention towards sonic detail suggestive of major pop artists. 

Connect With LVVRS Online Here- www.LVVRS.com

Learn more about LVVRS in the following All Access interview-

When it comes to your music, what are you most excited about for 2020?

We have a handful of great songs that are finished and ready to go. And more ideas come every day. The content is here. I’m most excited for people to finally hear what we’ve been working on. Lots of sweat and tears and passion go into writing and recording each song, and they really mean so much to us. I think all of the music I’m talking about here has the capacity to resonate even more impactfully with the audience than Iconic.

Aside from that, I’m just excited that folks are beginning to recognize the brand. Things are starting to catch on. Like people can see just the flower in our logo somewhere and they know it’s LVVRS. It’s just nice to know that what you’re doing, and what you’ve invested so much of yourself in, is something that can actually mean a lot to other people.

Can you recall the moment when you thought you could be in this group together? Do you find that your band name still represents you and your music today?  Where did your name come from?

Oh, yes. LVVRS was a three-piece (feat. Brenon Wilson and I) when we started in February 2018 up until we made some changes in the Fall of 2019. Zac Lyons stepped down (we all still love each other!!), and we brought in Austin Doré and Robbie Buisson. It was natural for Austin to step in because I’d been using his music studio in Lafayette, LA to make all the LVVRS tracks, so he’d been recording and producing the music all along. And Robbie was his old buddy from back when he would tour with Myka, Relocate. So, everything just fell into place naturally.

Our band name totally represents the music. Just look at some of the lyrics. I wanted a name that was really simple, but simultaneously edgy and a little unconventional in its approach in order to stand out. (I think that description parallels the music perfectly.) And I wanted to call it something like “lovers” because I’d been writing a lot of love songs at the time.

How do you think your hometown has influenced the sound and how you all carry yourselves in this group? If not, why is that?

I think our hometown/region influenced us more in the way of: “what do we not want to sound like?” We come from the land of Cajun and Zydeco music, which is AWESOME, don’t get me wrong. I dig it. But it’s not what I’m passionate about. The culture itself, too, is just so different from the rest of the US. And I always wanted to do something bigger. Something new and universal. There are SO many talented musicians here, but very few artists who share a similar creative vision to what we have going on right now. I think that’s why the band gravitated towards each other in the first place. Finding that safe space where our ideas are reciprocated and can flourish. I’d say we’re better because of our hometown.

What was the inspiration for your single, “Iconic”? How does it compare to anything else that you have created?

I always had a good feeling about Iconic. I wrote it in my bedroom a couple years ago, actually. And it was the first time I’d ever written a “party” song. There was this great energy about the vocal and in the guitar playing. I was very excited. Then I think we got a big confidence boost from it in the studio. The track came together very quickly, and we were trying all kinds new elements and techniques on it that we hadn’t before. Everything would just click. Plus, it’s definitely the most hype of anything we’ve put out so far. We’re really proud of this song.

What was it like making the music video for “Iconic”? How creatively involved with the making of it were you?

We’d had the treatment for the Iconic video for some time. We came up with it together based off the idea of walking through different rooms and into different scenes or dimensions. I brought the concept to Alexander Breaux, who shot all our music videos thus far, and he made his adjustments based on what we could realistically achieve. It’s always a lot of fun talking creatively with Alex: we both see big things happening, often times in very different ways, and both our brains work faster than our mouths, so we have to spend a lot of time backtracking in those conversations.

The actual shoot of the video was a dream. The stars aligned for us (as they often do). We collaborated together and built the main set and animal masks from scratch. We were allowed to use a family friend’s convenience store for a party scene during business hours, which is still crazy to me. And there were some really amazing art pieces in a local gallery generously made available for that portion of the shoot.

Do you have plans to release more new music soon and a full collection of new songs?

We have plans to release more singles, definitely. Probably very soon… But we can’t guarantee a full collection or EP right now. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun releasing singles. People get very excited about them, and we have a bad habit of shooting a music video for all of them. This way, though, each song gets its due attention.

Generally, how does this group go about writing your music? Do you write together or separately? What is the first step in your music-making process?

I’m always keeping voice memos and notes in my phone, you know. Generally, I go into the studio with the melodies, lyrics and an instrumental skeleton of the song. Then, Austin and I will work together in filling everything out, making appropriate changes, totally fleshing out the track. He’s a very good producer and instrumentalist, and we’ve built and maintained a fantastic working relationship.

I always like to ask bands how much you hang out socially apart from when you are creating and performing music?

We do what we can. We have a bit of a distance barrier because we all live pretty far away from each other. Robbie has to drive 2 hours to practice, Austin drives over an hour, and I drive 30 or 40 minutes. Ideally, we’d love to hang out all the time, but it’s just not feasible yet. We’ll get there soon, though.

How do you feel that this band has grown since you first started working together? What has remained the same?

Every time we rehearse, and especially every time we play a show, we get that much better. Practice really does make perfect – we learn what works and what doesn’t. And we consistently become tighter as a band all the while. We get confidence, too. You start to feel more comfortable pushing the limits. And this carries over to songwriting. You start to try melodies you might’ve previously found bizarre. And sometimes, a wild melody can take a mediocre track into bright new territory.

What’s always remained the same, however, is the drive and commitment to the dream. We’ve always know what we want to achieve and how we want to get there. That bit will never change. But it’s the commitment to writing good songs that are honest and true to yourself, that can still resonate with people and inspire them. That’s what this is all about for me. I want to connect with people and give them that joy or emotion they crave.

Where do you think you are all happiest- in the studio recording new music, on stage performing or elsewhere?

I love performing live for an audience. Chasing that feeling is why I do any of this at all. Unfortunately, this band hasn’t performed live too much so far. There’s a lot of reasons behind that. We don’t want to play bars. And we’ve tried to be very selective, taking only the high-profile gigs. But there’s a bubbling demand for us to start playing more, so I think that will soon become an issue of the past. That being said, we do love working in the studio. We have a lot of fun hashing out these songs and pushing ourselves beyond what we think we’re capable of.

What do you think makes for an ideal show for this band? What have been some of your favorite shows and venues lately?

An ideal show for us is a college event or a younger crowd. And that’s been the toughest gig for us to get! We’ve played a lot of well-respected venues in the South, but some standouts have been The Texas Club in Baton Rouge, Tipitina’s in New Orleans and Vinyl Music Hall in Pensacola. We always have a great experience when we play at these venues, all the way around.

We love opening up for other touring bands in the pop/alternative realm. That’s when we do our best. And if their music is similar to ours, usually the fans are, too. So, this way we’re able to generate a genuine connection with their audience much earlier on in our set than when we’re trying to appeal to a fanbase of another genre or style of playing.

Do you have any tour dates scheduled for this year yet?

We are working on that extensively as we speak. It will happen. Right now, it’s just a question of “when.”

With all the different social media platforms out there, how do you balance it all? How do you think that social media has impacted this band? How often are you all on your different sites interacting with fans? How have you been able to utilize it through the years?

We’re on Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc. If you can name it, we’ve got it. We shoot these big music videos for all our songs, and they’ve always done particularly well with our Facebook audience. So that’s the first platform I take to. But we try to be as communicative as possible across the board. It’s harder sometimes, of course, and once in a while, you forget to post somewhere. But it is what it is. For example: some folks don’t want to be on Instagram, they only use Twitter, and that’s where they get all their information from. And they support you just the same. So, you have to cater to them, too. You have to cater to ALL your fans. And that’s not something that bothers us at all. We want there to be an extremely positive and supportive community around what we’re building.

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious to know how you all think being musicians and in this band still gives you the most joy in life today?

We get to do what we love. Not everyone can say that about themselves. Music itself is a form of escapism, and I think we’re living in a tremendous time for new artists and songwriters. People are looking for a sense of escape right now, maybe more than ever before. And songs are very powerful tools. People listen to music to feel something. Songwriters have the power to make someone’s day a little brighter in two-and-a-half minutes. That’s a beautiful thing, and we don’t take it for granted. We’re right here in it with everybody else.

What musicians have really been inspiring you all since you first started making music? Who would you still love to work with?

Green Day inspired me to start playing when I was younger. And I grew up listening to Bob Seger and other 1970’s bands because of my dad. That definitely plays a big role in LVVRS music. A few newer artists who’ve had an impact on me are The Weeknd, The 1975 and Kacey Musgraves. And I’m constantly listening to new music in every genre. That keeps my mind fresh and open to new ideas. Right now, I’m repeat-listening to tracks from BENEE, Doja Cat, White Reaper, Hailey Whitters and Hall & Oates, just to name a few. Oh, and I love the new Harry Styles record. So, yeah, I’m all over the place. The guys have diverse tastes, too. Brenon absolutely adores The Midnight and Ghost Atlas. Robbie, who used to play hard rock music, loves 5SOS. Austin comes from a successful world-touring metal band, and now he runs a pop music studio. He’s got a great taste in music, and he’s surrounded by cutting edge artists on a daily basis.

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

We’re just trying to put out good songs. It’s fun making this music. It’s exactly what I want to be doing. There’s no hidden or political agenda behind it. We just want people to feel good when they listen to it and hope that they relate to something in the lyrics, so they have to go back and listen to it over again. We’re all on this same journey together, and there’s only one thing that’s for certain. It’s that we’re just getting started.