Ahead of Love Sequence’s EP Release Show in the 7th St. Entry, we got to ask them a few questions. Read what they had to say below, and don’t miss them in the Entry on July 23.
Abi Nesbitt: How did the four of you come together to form Love Sequence?
Love Sequence: The current lineup and the name LOVE SEQUENCE have existed for about two years, but we were friends long before that and would play in different bands with each other. We all had a lot of mutual friends and were immersed in the same small music scene stemming from our high school. Before Nolan joined the band and we became LOVE SEQUENCE, we were called ‘SKYLINE’. Before that, we were a prog-cock band called ‘Lipofucktion’.
AN: What were some of the first shows you ever played together, and how have you evolved since then?
LS: Our first shows were inconsistent and messy. There was a lot of forgetting song structures, hitting the wrong pedals, pretending voice cracks didn’t happen, and failing at mic stand tricks. But it was very clear to us from the start that we had the seeds of something special. We knew we could be great if we just kept doing it. Even though the mistakes still happen occasionally, we’ve gotten a lot tighter and a lot more confident in our live performance. We’ve become a very high-energy live band and always try to play with enough bombast for an arena, even though we play small rooms.
AN: Your latest EP, Sexual Enlightenment, fuses together what sounds like 80s funk and modern electronic. Do you have any musical influences for your unique sound?
LS: Making the SEXUAL ENLIGHTENMENT EP, we were inspired by loads of stuff, not just music. Musically, we drew from artists such as LCD Soundsystem, Prince, Michael Jackson, The National, The 1975, Rush, Steven Wilson, Kendrick Lamar, etc. We were inspired by each other. We were inspired by the turbulent periods of our lives. We were inspired by sex. We were inspired by psychedelics. We were inspired by Ram Dass and other teachers. We were inspired by the state of modern culture in America. It truly feels like everything going on in our lives somehow influenced the EP.
Your lyrics from Sexual Enlightenment are so liberating. What is it like to come together to write lyrics around these raw emotions?
Writing the lyrics was a long, complicated process. At times it was liberating, but at other times it was really dark. I knew that with this EP I wanted to be honest to the point of embarrassment, so I was forced to spend a lot of time looking at the parts of myself that I usually avoid looking at. I lost sleep over some of the lyrics on the EP. I was extremely uncomfortable when I wrote some of the lyrics, and I still am to this day. But that’s how I know we made something special. The point isn’t to be comfortable. The point is to great. You can’t be both at the same time.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
I suppose I believe in love at first sight just because you can’t really prove anyone wrong about it. It’s unfalsifiable, so you either believe it or you don’t. However, I do think that when you’re in love it’s easy to romanticize your memories and claim you ‘knew right away’ when, really, you didn’t. I feel like I’ve experienced it a few times, but nothing ever came of it. What does that say?
AN: Everyone has got to start somewhere. What advice would you give to aspiring young bands looking to get themselves out there?
LS: It’s hard to give advice to young bands trying to get themselves out there when we are still one such band. We’re still figuring it out as we go. But if I were to impart some wisdom onto my younger self, it would be, “you think you’re working hard, but you’re really not. Work harder than you think you need to.” I still say that to myself a lot. I guess that’s what I’d say to other bands too, if they really wanted advice from a peer.
Blog by Abi Nesbitt (Marketing Intern)
