- 9 months ago
Fenway Interviews Clyde Lawrence
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00:00Let's go.
00:02We are here with Clyde from Lawrence, and usually it's Clyde and Gracie.
00:06Clyde, this sucks.
00:09Well, it's not.
00:10We love having you here, but man.
00:12And I know a big disappointment for everybody involved.
00:14Not at all.
00:15I mean, just, you guys, I mean, you guys are going to kill it tonight, though.
00:19You guys are an amazing band.
00:20I personally, like, fell in love with you guys December of 2021, before Christmas.
00:27I got hold of that acoustic video that you guys put out, and I was showing everybody in the office.
00:31How long did that take to do?
00:33Did you guys do, like, run-throughs, or was it just, like, straight?
00:36Yeah, we did.
00:37I mean, I arranged the whole thing in advance, like, all of the parts.
00:41And then, yeah, we spent, like, a solid amount of time, like, running through it with the group.
00:47And then I think we did, like, five takes.
00:49And then when we ended up choosing was the last one.
00:50Oh, cool.
00:51That's awesome.
00:52It was all done in one day.
00:53That's awesome.
00:54That's awesome.
00:54So, and, of course, the other thing I realized is the minute I heard your voice, I was like,
00:59that sounds like Randy Newman.
01:01Is that from the Toy Story?
01:03Yeah, dude.
01:04I mean, during soundcheck, you started singing raindrops.
01:07I just, what did you guys grow up on music-wise?
01:11Yeah, a pretty eclectic mix of stuff.
01:13Yeah.
01:13Definitely, like, some classic singer-songwriters like Rainey Newman or Burt Bacharach.
01:20Sure.
01:20Or, like, James Taylor, Carole King, Paul Simon, all that kind of, like, classic singer-songwriter
01:27stuff.
01:28But then also, like, Motown and bands like Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire.
01:35Sure.
01:35Of course, the Beatles.
01:36Oh, of course.
01:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:37Our parents are huge music fans.
01:39My dad, particularly, is, like, a die-hard Beatles fan.
01:42Mm-hmm.
01:43So, really, like, grew up knowing every nook and cranny of the Beatles' discography.
01:47Stevie Wonder.
01:48Yeah.
01:49Ray Charles.
01:50Tons of stuff.
01:50I mean, that's a great, I mean, it's a great music to be brought up on, to be honest.
01:54Yeah.
01:54I mean, obviously.
01:56But I think what a lot of people also may not know, that aren't fans of the band, obviously,
01:59and that we also try to stress, you know, whenever we're talking about you guys, is that you've
02:02got, what, eight members?
02:04Yeah.
02:04Eight members.
02:04Eight members.
02:05Me and Gracie, usually, plus six more.
02:08Sure, sure.
02:08And then, what, three horns?
02:10Three-piece horn section, three-piece rhythm section, and me on keys and Gracie.
02:14So, how did that all come about?
02:16That's a lot of pieces.
02:17It's all of our actual friends from various points of childhood.
02:21Okay.
02:22So, like, our saxophone, our tenor sax player, Jordan, was, like, my best friend since I
02:27was, like, I think, like, six years old.
02:29Yeah.
02:30Grew up with him, and then Sam, our drummer, I met him in middle school jazz band when I
02:35was in, like, sixth grade.
02:36So, I think that having Jordan around a lot just informed me, like, thinking about horns
02:43when writing songs.
02:45Yeah.
02:45And then, when we got to college, so we already knew that group of four, me, Gracie, Jordan,
02:50and Sam, and then we had other friends that we played with.
02:52Once I got to college, we met the rest of the guys.
02:54So, literally, everyone in the band are people that we were friends with before, like, trying
02:59to go professional as musicians.
03:01Sure.
03:01And, yeah, like, Sumner was, our alto sax player was someone we got to kind of, like,
03:07play gigs on sax when Jordan wasn't able to make it.
03:10Okay.
03:10But then, like, at some point, it was like, well, you should both be in the band.
03:13And then we were a trumpet player.
03:15Yeah.
03:15And then we just kind of kept growing into this, like, collective of people.
03:18That's awesome, man.
03:19And so, all right, so you and Gracie, so when you guys were growing up, like, were you,
03:25did you, were you, was there, like, a rivalry there?
03:27Like, how did you guys, like, were you in different singing competitions, or was it?
03:30No, we honestly had, like, totally different skill sets and interests within the context
03:35of music.
03:35Like, I was really focused on writing and playing, and I was pretty shy and, like, certainly
03:40not a performer.
03:41Like, I never was on stage performing for people.
03:44Like, a lot of people, yeah, I was never performing.
03:48Gracie, on the other hand, was, like, totally performing, like, center of attention, like,
03:54in many ways, like, musically, but also acting and, like, in school plays and stuff like that.
04:00Like, that was never me.
04:01Sure.
04:01And she didn't really write music or, like, play instruments as a little kid.
04:05So we kind of had our different spaces that we occupied.
04:09And then at some point, we just kind of, like, crossed over and started being interested in
04:15each other's thing.
04:15Like, in high school, I started just, like, playing some of my songs at school talent
04:19shows, mostly just to, like, have the song be out there.
04:23Not, I always envisioned one day someone else would sing my songs.
04:26Yeah.
04:27But I would just, like, play the songs at school talent shows, and they went over really well,
04:30and people were like, oh, you have a good voice.
04:33And then, meanwhile, Gracie starts writing songs.
04:35Oh, cool.
04:35So by the time the band really formed together in college, we had both kind of dipped our
04:42toe into both all the aspects of it enough.
04:46Yeah.
04:46But growing up, it wasn't really a rivalry, because we were kind of on different lanes until
04:50we had that crash course.
04:51Got you.
04:52Okay, I got you.
04:52So I think, also, what I love about you guys is, like, the spectacle on stage is just unbelievable.
05:00And there's what I call, nobody else knows this, because I talk to myself about you guys
05:04all the time, but there's this large button on stage, and I especially saw it when you
05:08guys were on Jimmy Kimmel.
05:09I called it the Double Dare button.
05:10Right.
05:11Is there a purpose for it?
05:12Or is it just, like...
05:13It's so funny you say Double Dare button, because I literally wore a Double Dare t-shirt for
05:18our big show in New York the other night.
05:20Nice.
05:20Um, yeah, basically we're, like, really proud of the fact that, as opposed to, I would say,
05:27most other bands, especially in, like, the pop space, we don't use any pre-recorded backing
05:32tracks.
05:33Sure.
05:33Most bands play to a pretty significant amount of backing tracks, which, nothing against it,
05:38but I think, like, it can...
05:39If you can have a strong enough live sound to not do that, it'll make for a more authentic
05:45and awesome performance.
05:46Absolutely.
05:46And so, we've been doing that for years, and it's something we're really committed to,
05:51and, like, want to speak very openly about.
05:52But, as we've gained more and more fans of our studio recordings, there's a few sounds here
05:58and there where we're, like, we really can't replicate this with an instrument.
06:02Even if, usually if there's, like, a synth sound or something, we'll be like, oh, the
06:05horns will play it, oh, this or that.
06:06But, sometimes there's just something you really need, the original sound from it.
06:10So, we decided, like, how can we use a track without, like, going back on our promise to
06:16our fans to never use tracks?
06:17And we decided that we were going to create this big, very obvious red button that almost
06:21looks like, yeah, like, something that would be in, like, a cartoon or something.
06:25Absolutely.
06:26Absolutely.
06:27And that way, in certain key moments in the set, they can hit the button on the beat,
06:33and then it'll play a sound from the song.
06:35And we have, and then our stupid brains went to the, like, extension thought of, like, well,
06:40if we're going to take the time to load up all of these sounds from our songs, let's
06:44load up a bunch of other fun, silly things under the button, too.
06:47Yep.
06:48So, now it's just become this kind of, like, funny, we have literally, like, a hundred
06:51different sounds loaded in there.
06:53Oh, my gosh.
06:53Many of which are from our songs, many of which are just, like, funny sound effects that
06:57we can play at any random time.
06:59And I love it that everybody hits it at random times.
07:01Like, obviously with the beat, but, like, I love that.
07:03Yeah, we've divvied up, like, okay, you'll hit that.
07:05You'll hit this one on the beat, you'll hit this one on the beat, like, but everyone
07:08needs to remember, like, okay, the one in this song is number 14 or whatever.
07:12Yeah.
07:12It's just, like, so everyone, like, has their little things they have to remember about.
07:16I love it, man.
07:16I love it.
07:17And one of the other things that has caught my attention is I follow you guys on social
07:20media, and, you know, we share your posts and everything.
07:22I love this specific t-shirt that you've worn multiple times that says, thank God it's
07:27chicken finger Friday.
07:28Yeah.
07:28I can't put my finger on where that's from.
07:31I can tell you.
07:31I don't think you would most like, it's not like a common pop culture thing.
07:36Okay.
07:36Not even from, like, 70s or anything?
07:38No.
07:38What it's from is the college that we all went to, Brown University in Providence, Rhode
07:44Island.
07:44Okay.
07:44Um, at the dining hall, they had chicken fingers every Friday at the dining hall.
07:49And my buddy, who is, like, a really great artist, uh, just, like, screen printed these
07:55t-shirts that said, thank God it's chicken finger Friday, and started selling them outside
07:59the dining hall.
08:00And everyone started buying them, so then everyone around campus had these shirts that
08:04said, thank God it's chicken finger Friday.
08:05I started, uh, wearing them every time we had a show on campus on a Friday night.
08:11And then when we graduated and started touring, I thought, like, I'm going to keep that tradition
08:15alive.
08:16I'm going to keep wearing it every Friday night show.
08:18Yeah.
08:19So then I kept doing it, and fans who had no idea about that backstory were like, I
08:24love that shirt.
08:25And the kid that made all that, all those shirts is the guy that, to this day, does all of our
08:30art and design.
08:31That's amazing.
08:32He's one of my best friends from college.
08:33I'm going to be seeing him this weekend for July 4th.
08:35Yeah.
08:36So it just felt like the perfect, like, thing for me to keep wearing those shirts, because it's
08:41the same guy that made them, and it's a callback to our college days, and we all met as a
08:44college band.
08:45Yeah.
08:45And then now our fans, I started seeing our fans showing up to shows in their own versions
08:50of that shirt that we had made.
08:51So we were like, oh my God, we got to, so now you can buy one on our rich shorts.
08:54That's awesome.
08:55It's such a funny.
08:56I'm going to do it.
08:56Yeah.
08:57I'm going to do it.
08:58Well, I mean, Clyde, go over, I mean, just, let's just talk about Don't Lose Sight.
09:04I mean, what's, I mean, the message is clear in it.
09:06I mean, was it as easy to come up with as easy it is to just listen to?
09:10Yeah, that's a good question.
09:12I think that, yeah, I mean, Don't Lose Sight is obviously, on the face of it, the song about
09:16persevering through hardships and, you know, not getting discouraged.
09:22I think that, like, something that I like about the song that maybe makes it a little
09:26bit different than a lot of other, like, pump-up songs is that it really takes a lot
09:31of time, it spends a lot of time acknowledging that there are dark moments.
09:36Like, the whole verse section that I sing, and this is a fun thing about having two lead
09:40singers, is you can kind of almost, like, play two parts in a, you can almost have, like,
09:44a dialogue.
09:45Like, all the parts that I'm singing in the song, in the verses, are really cynical and
09:50negative.
09:51And we spend, probably, if you were to divide up the time in the song, half the time in
09:55the song talking about how things can be really discouraging sometimes.
09:59And I think that, like, a lot of songs that are, like, meant to be pump-up songs, I wouldn't
10:07say alienate people, but, like, are not catering to people that are, like, not in their best
10:13moment, because they're like, I don't relate to this.
10:14I don't feel like a badass the way this song is saying, like, you're badass or whatever.
10:18Like, so we're saying, like, hey, if you relate to the feeling of, like, being like, I'm
10:24getting sick of all the BS or whatever it is, come along with us on this journey, you're
10:30embodying the spirit of Clyde at the beginning of the song, but you're going to embody the
10:34spirit of what Gracie's saying by the end of it.
10:36Absolutely, man.
10:37I mean, it's, obviously, it's one of my favorite songs still by the end of 2021 and still today.
10:42Like, we love it.
10:43Thank you, man.
10:43Yeah, we love it.
10:44Yeah, absolutely.
10:45We love it at the radio station.
10:46I mean, it's just, it's just, it was that song, I kind of told you this yesterday, it's
10:50just, it was refreshing, you know what I mean?
10:52It was just a refreshing kind of song, so.
10:55Appreciate that.
10:56Clyde, we're looking forward to your performance, man.
10:58You know, Lawrence, I mean, the entire band.
11:00It's without Gracie, but what, you guys are going to bring this.
11:02Tonight's going to be my first time ever singing Gracie's parts on Don't Loose.
11:07Wow.
11:08So, that'll be kind of fun.
11:10That'll be fun.
11:10That'll be a lot of fun.
11:11You guys are going to bring the same amount of energy.
11:13That spectacle's going to be there.
11:14It's going to be a good time.
11:14It's going to be a really good time.
11:15That's going to be cool.
11:16Clyde, thanks for hanging out with us tonight.
11:17Thanks for having me.
11:18Awesome.
11:18Great.
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