If you own a radio, you may have heard the lyrics to “Ho Hey,” by The Lumineers. They’re an alternative folk-rock band with a self-titled album that ended up at the number one spot on Billboard’s Folk chart last week. They also ended up in the 6th position on the rock chart, sandwiched between The Black Keys and Of Monsters and Men. It’s no surprise.
The words to “Ho Hey” are enticing, happy and leave you wishing the song were longer. For those hungry to hear more from this band, the only solution is to buy the album. Clearly, a lot of people did. If you enjoy easy and beautiful music this is the band. Their music brings you to a time where things weren’t so hectic, people cared and people were honest with their music. It’s clean and perfect to sing along to out loud- without even realizing you are doing so.
When you really like a band, you find yourself wanting to know and devour all you can about them. Lucky for me I was given the opportunity to do just that. The Lumineers’ cellist (yes, this band has a cellsit), Neyla Perkarek, sat down with me for a Q&A about the band, their move to Denver, and something about a barbershop quartet.
Courtesy of Lumineers.com
JN: How did you get your lucky break?
NP: We toured our butts off for the better part of two years, and happened to find a few people who had enough faith in us to work as hard as we were working. I think a lot of stars did align for us, but this didn’t come without a ton of hard work and sacrifice.
JN: Why did you decide to relocate to Denver and not just stick around the NYC area?
NP: The high cost of living in the NYC area was making it very difficult for Wes (Schultz) and Jer (Fraites) to have time to make music, so the move to Denver was really to shack up and be able to write some songs. Denver was a random spot on the map, lucky for me, that ended up being a great scene for us, and a perfect place to tour out of.
JN: Why did you decide to pass on a major record deal?
NP: It’s pretty simple; the deal we were offered by Dualtone was just more fair than the deals we were offered by the major labels.
JN: Tell me about your songs “Dead Sea” and “Stubborn Love”. Is there a person in particular who inspired you to write these songs ?
NP: This is a question for Wesley, but what I can tell you is while sometimes these songs may have been inspired by one event or person in the beginning, they often evolve into something different that hopefully the listener can interpret however he or she wishes.
JN: What are the songs that you like to play live the most ?
NP: I like “Big Parade”. The album version is really neat, and lyrically I think it’s probably my favorite, but live it has a totally different energy, more rowdy with a call-and-response portion that gets the audience involved and engaged.
JN: Favorite place to play a show or the most interesting/ surprising so far?
NP: We played Red Rocks in Colorado a few weeks ago, and it was absolutely everything people say it is. The coolest part was, because it was a hometown show, we were not only playing a sold out show in the pouring rain in arguably the most beautiful amphitheater in the world, but our closest friends and family and loved ones were able to be there too. It was cool being able to look out in a crowd of 9,000 people and spot some friends from high school, my parents, old coworkers, my best friend, my sweetheart…it was awesome.
JN: If you weren’t playing music in this band what else do you think you would be doing any other hobbies?
NP: Prior to joining The Lumineers, I was an avid Barbershop quartet. I used to attend conventions as a spectator and compete with my own quartet, Vogue (who happen to be the 2009 International Rising Star Quartet champs, in case you were wondering). If I had the time, I would definitely still be doing it.
JN: If you were to describe your best time together as a band thus far what would it be?
NP: We all get along pretty spectacularly, especially considering we spend pretty much every second of everyday together. Recently we had a blast in Seattle, after playing the Seattle Block Party. We all let pretty loose, ended up finding ourselves in a bowling alley. It was a great time…except for our bass player, who is not a very good bowler.
The Lumineers aren’t near us anytime soon, unfortuantely, but maybe after they’re tour of the United Kingdom this fall, they’ll be back.
Written by: Jessica Nguyen
