INTERVIEW: Lostboycrow on “Santa Fe” and hopes for the future
Something I made a concerted effort to do this fall was to cover the shows I wanted to cover, the artists I knew are putting in the serious work. Inboxes get overflowed with pitches every day and it can be a wild thing to navigate. But one artist I knew I wanted to chat with is Lostboycrow who spent the fall out with his longtime friends Flor. His baby that he’s been working on for years finally came out, “Santa Fe”, so I went into the interview wanting to get the full run down and my wishes were fulfilled. Find our chat below and keep your eyes peeled for more from this talented guy!
Obviously just from looking at it, you’ve been releasing music for so long, but it’s obviously really picked up in these last few years. Maybe when did you really start deciding that you wanted to pursue this full time?
It’s taken many different forms and aspirations. Lots of different faces. Probably ten years ago. Ten or eleven years ago, I was very determined to just start a garage band and just do it, no other option.
That’s incredible, then maybe, at least from what I can see online, your releasing of music dates back to 2015 but “Santa Fe” is obviously quite the departure for you. When did you start working on this? You still can see the R&B but it’s definitely something different.
Oh totally. “Santa Fe” was starting to be crafted a couple years ago. So it’s been kind of a long process towards pivoting back to like what I loved in music and who I am as a songwriter. So I think “Santa Fe” is definitely the first step in that direction. I’m really excited to release some of the new stuff this next year and hopefully this side of the new year as well. That’s kind of where I want to be and who I am and the music that represents me the best. But “Santa Fe” is definitely the start of it. Still has some of those elements but it’s definitely a little more of the live elements, the guitar writing so that’s kind of the first step.
That’s great. Maybe during the process of making “Santa Fe”, something really different that you tried in the studio, then maybe something that you still think screams Lostboycrow, to past fans of the band?
That’s a good question. I feel like the song, “27 (Sad Signs)”, that was one that I started writing on the piano and guitar. When we went in the studio with it, by that time in the process of making “Santa Fe”, I knew I wanted to lean a little more towards a band direction and stuff. I think that song was the reasoning for that and hopefully some others too.
So more to come.
A lot more to come. So then we released a live EP for “Santa Fe” as well. Four of the songs. It’s really the best representation. I think it bridges what I was doing then when I when I was doing that. Where I am now.
Then maybe thinking about how long you’ve been doing this. I’ve been interviewing bands for almost ten years, I know the Flor guys have been doing it for a long time as well. I interviewed Zach and McKinley back in their Sunderland days as well. But obviously now Flor is really picking up. How has this experience been, being out with them, they know road life too.
It’s a dream come true, honestly. That phrase doesn’t really do it justice. I feel people use it too much but I just couldn’t imagine a better fit. Not just sonically but more so as people. I grew up with Kyle, the drummer, and I’ve lived with McKinley, I’ve lived with Zach. I’ve crashed on Dylan’s couch. I’ve worked with Dylan a lot on Lostboycrow stuff. I feel like I have a really close relationship with all of them. As a band and individually as people. Yes, musically, but even more so as human beings and really true friends. And touring, no matter how much of a good fit it is, is always going to be hard and have it’s challenges. It’s insane night drives to get to the show the next day and all that. It just makes it so much more special that we all sort of have this understanding, and there’s not really any tension or any sort of unnecessary weirdness. We already have that baseline of family and friendship. It’s awesome, and I love and respect their music. I’m a huge fan. Even when they were Sunderland, I was really into that music and really respected what they were doing. I remember when Kyle was thinking about auditioning for Sunderland. I’m not going to take credit for it like saying I told him to do it, because he wanted to do it anyways, but I was like, “Yeah you should definitely do it. I think it’s a really good opportunity”. So it’s been cool to see him join them. Then progress into Flor. Move down to LA as well. So this just feels like a continuation of it all. It feels very natural like, “oh yeah, this is how it should be. Playing shows together and traveling together”.
That’s incredible, I didn’t know you guys dated back before Flor. So it must be really great. Considering how harrowing tour can be. Then I know just from seeing it, you’ve played this venue before, you’ve been in Boston several times. Maybe when it comes to these sets, I definitely say people singing the words, you do have fans in rhe crowd. When it came to preparing these sets, that balance between obviously wanting to play tracks off “Santa Fe”, it’s been your baby for the past few years, but also balancing the old songs.
The last tour we did in the Spring was a little more playing mostly “Santa Fe” and even some unreleased stuff that’s not even on “Santa Fe”. Just because that’s what was on my mind and in my heart. What we were going to have the most fun with. And I think there’s something to be said for that. I think there’s something to be said for watching an artist that is playing songs that they just purely want to be playing. But it was a long summer of continuing to push “Santa Fe” and get some other songs done for this next album. I was really just struck by how incredible it is that people love any of the songs that I’ve made. There’s a few songs that I am not as attached to anymore that I’ve wanted to stop playing. Approaching it from that place of gratitude going into this tour and being like, it’s so incredible that I get to perform and people care at all about anything that I make. And so I wanted to honor that as well. It’s a lot more fun than I ever imagined as well. It’s fun to play songs that people have a connection. With. It’s always cool to dust off a couple old ones. Like “Devil’s in the Backseat”, which I wouldn’t of thought would have been brought back up. Then “Adolescent” as well. I’ve always loved that song. It was a really fun challenge to sit down with Cole, my drummer, and be like okay we should do these. Let’s figure out how to make these work with the set and that was cool.
Then to maybe end it off, obviously “Santa Fe” is still so new but you just talked about how you’re working in new music so I’m sure that’s going to be the focus for the next few months. “Santa Fe” was the first full length album so obviously that takes years to perfect and have that be your presentation. Maybe focuses or goals for these next few months? You’re still so early in this Flor tour.
Yeah I mean I would love to have something else lined up show wise. I can’t get enough of this right now. I’ve been loving this tour and I think it would be great to just kind of keep this going. But I would imagine the focus immediately after this tour would be putting out a couple new songs from this vault of music that I’ve been kind of sitting on for a while now. So yeah I would just say putting out the new music. A lot of it’s done already. I’m sure I’ll write a little bit but the focus for me will just be figuring out how to put it out and hopefully getting another tour lined up. Even if it’s for the beginning of next year. I would just love to get out something.
