Tracy Shedd + Lauds live concert photographs from Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar, Carolina Beach NC

Tracy Shedd

Lauds

Lauds at Reggie's, June 16, 2022, Wilmington NC; photographs by Tanner Lackey

HeyDay Guitars presents:

Mark Burgess of The Chameleons UK + Lauds (Wilmington NC) at Monstercade in Winston-Salem NC on Tuesday, July 12th live in concert. Both artists will deliver an acoustic performance. This is an event not to miss! 🖤

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS NOW

Fort Lowell Records at Cruel World Festival

Four Fort Lowell Records artists were represented yesterday (May 14) cat the Cruel World Music Festival in Pasadena CA: [L-R] Mike Yoas of Desario [Sacramento CA], Kevin Unwin of fairweatherfriend [Tucson AZ], J Holt Evans III of Lauds [Wilmington NC], and Tracy Shedd [Wilmington NC]. 💛🧡❤️💖

UNC students and alumni play in local indie rock band

[Repost from The Daily Tar Heel; by Holly Adams, April 26, 2022]

Members of Lauds, an indie-rock band from Wilmington, share a love of music, their hometown and UNC basketball.

When the release show for their  EP "II" was scheduled for the same night as the men's basketball Final Four game between UNC and Duke, lead singer, guitarist and UNC Class of 2011 alumnus McKay Glasgow, said the band was too anxious to watch the game. 

“So, we played the show and immediately sprinted across the street to this shack oyster bar to watch the last 10 minutes of the second half,” lead guitarist and UNC Class of 2021 alumnus of the graduate school Holt Evans III said. “The guys in the band are already some of my best friends and to have that moment with them and watch the game was so much fun– high-fiving each other, screaming.”

With the beat of the drums and the strum of a guitar, the band released their first single in 2019 and plans to return to their Chapel Hill roots. 

Holt Evan III's younger brother, UNC senior Boyce Evans, plays keyboard and third guitar. Bassist Gavin Campbell and drummer Ross Page are also members of the band. 

While subgenres like “dream pop”, “shoegaze post-punk” and “jangle pop” have been used to describe Lauds’ music, they call themselves simply “guitar music,” Holt Evans III said.

Inspired by late 1980s and early 1990s rock from the United Kingdom, as well as Krautrock from the 1970s, Holt Evans III said Laud's sound is similar to bands like My Bloody Valentine and The Cure. 

“(Our sound) is catchy — it doesn’t rock too hard but it finds a nice middle ground in between rock and pop,” Boyce Evans said. 

The band, who released two EPs in the last year, is currently in the works of writing and producing their first studio album. They work with Fort Lowell Records, a Wilmington-based indie-rock record label. 

James Tritten, who owns Fort Lowell records with his wife Tracy, said he started working with Lauds after their song “Don’t Mind” featured on the Fort Lowell produced album called “Grow: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter,” which was released as a 2020 fundraiser. The band has continued to elevate its talent and skills following each release.  

“Everything they ever do – I just think it's been absolutely amazing, just stellar,” he said. “And it just gets better. Every release they put out I'm always taken aback by how wonderful it is.”

The band said they feel connected to Wilmington through music.

“It being a really beautiful place by the ocean really factors into a feeling we put into a lot of our music,” Holt Evans III said. “McKay and I surf a lot. We spend a lot of time on the water, so that’s a really nice place to contemplate life, a lot of our songs are similarly contemplative.”

Glasgow wrote the song “Sandpiper” from their debut EP inspired by walks on his dock in the area where he grew up, and the sounds of sandpiper birds that are native to Wilmington.  

“That song’s sort of about remembering and coming back to a place that you know really well,” Glasgow said. “There's even kind of ambient noise of the dock.”

Outside of music, being current and former UNC students and watching Tar Heel basketball have brought the band even closer. 

“It’s definitely something that unites all of us outside of the music,” Holt Evans III said. “I think that it’s so important for bands to have relationships outside of music and I think that it factors into a sense of kinship and brotherhood.”

Holt Evans III said his dad — Holt Evans II — serves like the band’s dad as well, helping them record in his house with his collection of old-school recording technology.

“My role is just trying to get the best-recorded versions of their songs and occasionally have some input into their arrangements,” Holt II said. “Obviously I'm prejudiced, but I haven't heard anybody around here doing what they're doing.”

Lauds hopes to continue to grow and be able to play at larger venues across the state. 

“I mean, it's an obvious brotherhood between them,” Tritten said. “It's a beautiful thing to watch.”

Lauds is a Wilmington-based indie rock band featuring UNC students and alums. Photo courtesy of Mary Hannah.

Listen to Dream Pop Ensemble Lauds “II” EP

[Repost from Post-Punk; by Alice Teeple, April 9, 2022]

The old 9 to 5

Who could invent a

Better way to waste a life?

Hailing from the beaches of Wilmington, NC, guitar outfit Lauds are united by a love of the water and chiming hooks. They have released a second EP, entitled II, a sprawling, psychedelic, melodic masterpiece of pulsing indie rock and jangle pop with a motorik edge. It’s out now via Fort Lowell Records.

The bass and drums are given equal footing with the guitars in this collection, which vacillate between moments of chorused-out bliss and searing noise-rock catharsis, peppered with catchy hooks. Lead singer McKay Glasgow beckons the listener to get lost alongside him in the sprawling guitar scapes with his gentle croon.

The quintet composed of McKay Glasgow (lead vocals, guitar), J Holt Evans (vocals, lead guitar), younger brother Boyce Evans (keyboards, third guitar), Gavin Campbell (bass), and Ross Page (drums, vocals) play the bulk of the melodies on the album. They recruited friends Ross Page and Gavin Campbell, who helped steer the arrangements when it came time for recording.

Their lyrics, though sparse, are poetic ruminations on everyday life, from questioning the point of the daily grind (Weekend) to pushing through obstacles in search of an elusive freedom (CeeDee Lamb). They pack a lot of emotional punch in these fleeting moments. Despite the brightness of the melodies, these are songs examining deep-seated angst.

Having become a staple of Wilmington’s thriving guitar-rock scene, the band continues to play regularly in their region and hope to expand down the road, both with touring and in the studio.

“We wanted to challenge ourselves in the studio to be more adventurous with the type of sonic textures we were using to color the songs,” says the band. “All of the tracks are still essentially pop songs built around twin guitar melodies but we wanted to see how we could expand our sound by leaning into things like harmonics, feedback, and expressive solos…in the end I think we arrived at a sound that is darker, leaner, and more reminiscent of our live shows.”

Find Lauds’ II EP Here

Follow Lauds:

• Twitter 
• Instagram
• Bandcamp

Photo by Mary Hannah

LAUDS: II

[Repost by Blood Makes Noise; by Sam Lowry, March 31, 2022]

Immediately the band hits you in the face with a Cure meets The Smiths riff but as the vocals pop in it’s more clear that this is very brit rock inspired. It feels like something like Ivy, The Sundays, and mostly mellow stuff that is usually female fronted. More contemporary comparisons would be Soccer Mommy, Swiims, or Phoebe Bridgers. However the reverb washed vocals give it a more goth feel. I also hear quite a bit of classic indie influence especially in the guitar which at times is New Order/Joy Division –ish. This is quite nice and blends a tiny splash of goth with straight forward indie rock/ indie pop. At times you can hear a little bit of dissonant background noise like a splash of My Bloody Valentine or Mission of Burma was thrown in. Track 3 is titled CeeDee Lamb and I had to wonder, are these guys football fans? Dallas Cowboy fans? Ok, they lose some points with me for liking the Cowboys but I digress. In all a really solid EP that I suppose the new genre classification for is “dream pop” but if you are older than 25 you’ll get all the references and what these guys are about.

New EP: Lauds || II

[Repost from Add To Wantlist; by Dennis, March 29, 2022]

After their self-titled debut EP last summer, North Carolina 5-piece Lauds are back with a second 4-track EP, logically called II. James McKay Glasgow (guitars, lead vocals), J Holt Evans III (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Gavin Campbell (bass), Boyce Evans (keyboards, additional guitars), and Ross Page (drums) play melodic jangle pop with chiming guitar hooks and dreamy vocals, with a biting undertone that will also appeal to fans of noisy shoegaze. The lyrics of closing track Weekend clearly show what this band is about: “Hazy summer lines // What are we doing // The days are careening by // The old 9 to 5 // Who could invent a // Better way to waste a life?” – enchanting.

OUT NOW: Lauds 'II' [Digital EP]

Hailing from the beaches of Wilmington, NC, Lauds are five friends (two of whom are brothers) united by a love of the water and chiming guitar hooks. The quintet composed of McKay Glasgow (lead vocals, guitar), J Holt Evans (vocals, lead guitar), younger brother Boyce Evans (keyboards, third guitar), Gavin Campbell (bass), and Ross Page (drums, vocals) play a pulsing take on indie rock with lush intertwining guitar melodies that draw on everything from C86 jangle pop to British titans like Ride and The Cure.

On II, Lauds trade some of the more languid structures of their debut EP (Lauds, Fort Lowell Records) for hard hitting motorik-inspired pop. Now, the bass and drums are given equal footing with the guitars, which while catchy as ever, vacillate between moments of chorused-out bliss and searing noise-rock catharsis. The final product remains distinctly Lauds, with Glasgow’s vocals beckoning the listener to get lost alongside him in the sprawling guitarscapes.

Having become a staple of Wilmington’s thriving guitar-rock scene–playing packed sets at places like the Palm Room, Satellite Bar and Lounge, and, most notably, a sold-out Bourgie Nights slot opening for Athens, GA’s Futurebirds–look for Lauds to continue to make noise in their native the Carolinas and beyond. Next up: a 4/2 release show at Modern Legend, the first in-store show hosted by the record store and scene luminary in over two years. Featuring opening sets by local legends Color Temperature and Louis, this set promises to be the show of the year and a (noisy) celebration of all that live music has to offer in the Port City.

Lauds II is now available on all digital music platforms.

Lauds | Interview | “We’re a guitar band first and foremost”

[Repost from It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine; Klemen Breznikar, March 18, 2022]

Lauds is part of the dream pop-shoegaze-post-punk continuum, but carries an unpredictable edge.

Lauds are a band from Wilmington, NC that was formed in the spring of 2019 by songwriters McKay Glasgow and J. Holt Evans III. Bonding over their love of Slowdive and Neil Young, the band plays in the style of the former while channeling some of latter’s more untamed guitarscapes. Glasgow and Evans were both craving an outlet to make guitar-oriented rock music, and Lauds is the result. Glasgow is also a member of Tumbleweed, a folk-rock group, but had songwriting ideas that didn’t fit within their confines. Teaming up with Evans, who has spent a lot of his free time in recent years recording reverbed-out bedroom pop songs, the two founded Lauds as a project to unleash their Jazzmaster ambitions.

How did you get together to form Lauds?

Evans: My dad does a lot of music production work in Wilmington, North Carolina which is where we’re all from and grew up. McKay and I met while he was finishing up his folk band Tumbleweed’s first record at my dad’s studio. We kind of just immediately became pals, starting jamming, grabbing beers and the rest is history I guess. We were both sitting on piles of old demos that neither of us had found a home for and realized we were on to something when we started playing them for each other and rearranging them together to be all about the guitars. We added my brother Boyce on drums and our friend Rett on bass after that and started playing shows.

What inspires your music?

Evans: We’re a guitar band first and foremost. I think when you look under the Lauds hood we’re really just striving to capture feelings from different frames of mind and experiences that are meaningful to us and turn those into memorable guitar melodies. I’m a huge reverb and chorus guy because my dad played that U2 album ‘October’ too many times in the car when I was a kid. I feel like those sounds are almost integral to how I approach the guitar for better or for worse. We kind of started Lauds on this half joke premise of what if there was a band that sounded like Neil Young and Crazy Horse covering Slowdive. We really don’t sound like that at all, which I guess is probably a good thing, but we did try to cover ‘Cortez the Killer’ at our first show. Very grateful there doesn’t seem to be footage of that anywhere.

Glasgow: We want to write songs that we like and that are interesting sonically and hopefully that at least our friends will like. For me, a lot of the appeal in performing and writing now comes from the ways the guitar riffs interlock and the generally very affected sounds that are a bit off center. Lately we’ve been putting more emphasis on trying to make songs really groove with the backing drums and bass so that people can move around more at shows. It’s just more fun for everybody to want to bounce around.

What can you tell us about the 4-track EP that you released via Fort Lowell Records?

Glasgow: I think it’s safe to say we feel it’s our strongest work to date. The recording process was less about trying to come up with perfect parts and more about getting the sounds right. We tried to limit adding additional guitars in the mix and keep the arrangements replicable for live shows. It’s a bit more distorted and aggressive at moments than any of our other stuff but it has the familiar melodic breaks and bouncy baselines that will always be a part of our songs. There is also more singing in lower registers to fit the mood of some of the tracks.

Evans: We took months and months between putting out our first batch of singles and releasing the EP. The pandemic definitely slowed us down but in hindsight I’m really glad we took our time with these songs and the writing process in general. Like McKay said, we spent a lot of time trying to hone in on a unified vibe for the record that fit the mood of the songs and I think that extra time really helped pull everything together in the end.

What about the single, ‘Are You There All Alone’?

Glasgow: Holt 3 and I had a couple weeks where we sat down and tried writing in post-surf stupors. Basically we sat there with an acoustic guitar and bass, not overthinking and came up with a couple songs we felt good about at the time. But as every songwriter knows, it’s the days after that determine whether or not you were being delusional. We listened later and were like, “That was okay.” ‘Are You There All Alone’ was one of those songs. We started thinking, maybe this is a better way to write songs than laboring over them. We have enough songs now where we can let a song go for a while and come back to it so that has kept us from agonizing over trying to make a song work that just isn’t there yet.

Evans: That one was written quickly. We both locked in on a chord progression and 5 minutes later we were giggling like little kids. We knew that we had just written a great song. Can’t recommend the post-surf stupor enough.

Are you planning to release an album in the near future?

Glasgow: We’ve got about 12 songs ready to go after EP 2. The plan is to get a full album done and out this summer before some of the guys head off for school. We have felt really inspired to write music so we aren’t wanting to take the next six months for granted.

How are you coping with the current situation as a new band? Are you excited about being on stage?

Evans: We love playing live. It’s probably at least 90% of the reason we started the band, to share our music with our friends in a common space and have a great time doing it. Obviously we wish the state of the world wasn’t what it currently is but we’re trying to make the most out of it while striving to be as safe as possible for all involved. We’re stoked to have added our good friends and great musicians Ross Page and Gavin Campbell to the band. I feel like we’re probably the best we have ever been as a live unit in terms of tightness and musicianship.

Glasgow: We are trying to be responsible and not overly fearful. We have canceled some shows out of town in February but we are planning shows for the Spring and hoping for the best. We would be very excited to get back to playing consistently through the spring and summer if it’s possible. And if we can’t then it’s just more time to record.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favorite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

Evans: I know ‘Twin Plagues’ by the band Wednesday is a new album that’s been on heavy rotation for all of the guys recently. Great heavy shoegaze with an almost country bent out of Asheville, NC. Siouxsie and the Banshees ‘Tinderbox’ and ‘Script of the Bridge’ by the Chameleons are classics that are big for us. We also all liked the newest Deafheaven album a lot as well. I feel like I tell everybody I know to listen to that record. It’s amazing. Other than that, been bumping this bootleg copy of Mobb Deep’s ‘The Infamous’ that I got on CD for $2 at a gas station a lot in the car.

Thank you. Last word is yours.

Evans: Thanks! We feel really privileged to be a part of an incredible music scene in our hometown. Lots of melodic and fun guitar music in all sorts of flavors. Our drummer Ross is the king of Wilmington and in about 18 bands and all of them are great. Check out Seeking Madras (jangletown), AZZA (chorused out political punk), Nice Derek (the only band on this list Ross is not in), and Color Temperature (like Guided by Voices covering Talk Talk).

Photo by Mary Hannah

WL//WH Premiere: LAUDS “Rust” single

[Repost from White Light // White Heat; by Fabrizio Lusso, May 10, 2022]

Lauds are a band from Wilmington, North Carolina started in the spring of 2019 by songwriters McKay Glasgow and J. Holt Evans III, bonding over their common love of Slowdive and Neil Young, and nurtured by further inspirations such as Creation Records and Captured Tracks, as well as British alt-rock legends like Ride, Chapterhouse, and The Cure.

With the addition of Boyce S. Evans, Gavin Campbell and Ross Page, the 5-piece released last summer’s promising self-titled debut 4-tracker followed by a transitional single, “Are You There All Alone”, in November, while preparing for the sophomore EP, entitled “II”, due for March 29, 2022, via fellow DIY label Fort Lowell Records, anticipated by the single “Rust”, WL//WH is very pleased to premiere.

And mainly the springlike, sparkling and nostalgic arpeggiated 6-string leanings to bands such as Beach Fossils and Real Estate, enriched with airy and dreamy 60s harmonic sensibilities, mostly define “Rust”, that lyric-wise captures the ambivalent push, pull, and ultimately corrosion that foolish mind games and toxic manipulations inflict on a relationship.

“Rust” manages to sound fresh, deceptively simple and enthralling, gliding through sun-dappled glares rippled with wandering crystalline refractions from obsessively tangled jangly guitar lines, built on velvety churning, serpentine bass pulses and lively drum beats, to twist twinkling wistful melodies around euphoric angsty vocal longings, restless hums, and regretful daydreams to slip hopelessly into a fading sunset of wasted fate.

A sheer and emotional outpouring of timeless intoxicating pop melodies as regained from the blurry mists of memories for some, contemporary and exciting for others, which for 3 minutes makes you dream and deceive yourself of living in a never-ending reverie.

Lauds‘ new single “Rust” will be released tomorrow March 11, 2022, while the upcoming sophomore EP, “II”, is scheduled for March 29, 2022, both on Digital, through Wilmington, NC‘s independent label Fort Lowell Records‘ Bandcamp and the main sharing platforms,

Photo by Mary Hannah

OUT NOW: Lauds "Rust" [Digital Single]

Available on all digital music platforms today (March 11), "Rust" is a brand new song by the boys from Wilmington, North Carolina -- Lauds -- that is part of their second Digital EP II, due out at the end of March.  Pre-order II now on Bandcamp, and receive a copy of Laud's new single "Rust" in advance.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDR LAUDS II NOW!

Upcoming 2022 Fort Lowell Records Releases

While on the frontlines of social media, it may seem that things have been quiet around Fort Lowell Records' headquarters so far this year, we have to tell it is has been quite the opposite. As of today, there are six (6) brand new releases scheduled for this year, plus at least two (2) and possibly up to (4) vinyl re-releases of previous digital only records. Below is an overview of what's to come.  Stay tuned to Instagram, Twitter, or our Email List for more updates!

NEW RELEASES

• Lauds II | Digital EP ~ March 29, 2022
• Tracy Shedd "Going Somewhere" | Digital Single ~ March (TBD), 2022
• This Water is Life, Vol. I | feat. MindsOne & DJ Iron and James Sardone | Vinyl EP ~ April 22, 2022
• Desario Signal and Noise | Vinyl LP ~ Early Summer 2022
• Kitimoto Vintage Smell | Vinyl LP ~ Early Summer 2022
• JPW Something Happening / Always Happening | Vinyl LP ~ Late Summer 2022

VINYL RE-RELEASES

• Moyamoya Hawn | Vinyl LP ~ Early Summer 2022
• La Cerca A Nice Sweet Getaway | Vinyl LP ~ Fall 2022
• Audio Explorations ActionReaction | Vinyl LP ~ Tentative
• Lauds [Debut Album, Name TBD] | Vinyl LP ~ Tentative

Lauds II | Digital EP


Tracy Shedd "Going Somewhere" | Digital Single



This Water is Life, Vol. I | feat. MindsOne & DJ Iron and James Sardone | Vinyl EP

Desario Signal and Noise | Vinyl LP

Kitimoto Vintage Smell | Vinyl LP

JPW Something Happening / Always Happening | Vinyl LP

Moyamoya Hawn | Vinyl LP

La Cerca A Nice Sweet Getaway | Vinyl LP

Audio Explorations ActionReaction | Vinyl LP

Premiere: Lauds "Are You There All Alone"

[Repost from Fuzzy Logic; by Megan Petty, November 22, 2021]

It's not often in the music world that one gets the chance to share something that's essentially hot off the press, but that's exactly what I have the pleasure of doing with you right here and now.

Wilmington's very own Lauds wrapped up the recording of this, their dreamy new single "Are You There All Alone," just last week, and it's available for your listening pleasure today. I should warn you, though: this isn't the kind of song you'll just be able to listen to once and walk away from.

Instantly, and I do mean instantly, addictive, the song has an incandescent, almost gossamer-gentle glimmer, a sun-dappled seabreeze swirling around McKay Glasgow's wispy, honey-dripping vocals, and sugar-spun guitar that wouldn't sound at all out of place on a Beach Fossils record, all of which strongly hints at the band's affinity for '90s British music. For those with a taste for that era (such as your humble blogstress), there's a whole lot to love about "Are You There All Alone." As the song opens up, it reveals a sweetly nostalgic slant, something that recalls the retrospective magic of a time before pandemics and mandates and bitter division about vaccination and doing the right thing. Modern context puts Lauds in great sonic company, too, with DIIV and Wild Nothing soon coming to mind.

It's a mighty fine effort for a band that's relatively new, Lauds having come together in 2019. "Are You There All Alone" comes on the heels of the band's fantastic self-titled, four song debut EP, out now on Fort Lowell Records. This is the the kind of song that's playlist catnip for sure, but not only that, it serves as a tantalizing glimpse at what might be coming next from Lauds, sort of like the musical equivalent of showing some ankle in Victorian times. Ultimately, no matter how many times you listen to "Are You There All Alone," you'll be left wanting more. The only answer is to keep listening.

I strongly suggest you keep an eye on Lauds. North Carolinians can also see the band up close and personal on November 28, at Chapel Hill's Local 506 (buy tix here).

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a song to keep listening to. Incessantly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lauds - "Are You There All Alone"

Personnel: Glasgow McKay (lead vocals, guitar), J. Holt Evans III (vocals, keyboards), Ross Page (drums), Gavin Campbell (bass)

Bio: Lauds are a band from Wilmington, NC that was formed in the spring of 2019 by songwriters McKay Glasgow and J. Holt Evans III. Bonding over their love of Slowdive and Neil Young, the band plays in the style of the former while channeling some of latter’s more untamed guitarscapes. They are part of the dream pop-shoegaze-post-punk continuum, but carry an unpredictable edge. Other influences include acts on Creation Records and Captured Tracks, as well as British alt rock legends like Ride, Chapterhouse, and The Cure. 

Glasgow and Evans were both craving an outlet to make guitar-oriented rock music, and Lauds is the result. Glasgow is also a member of Tumbleweed, a folk-rock group, but had songwriting ideas that didn’t fit within their confines. Teaming up with Evans, who has spent a lot of his free time in recent years recording reverbed-out bedroom pop songs, the two founded Lauds as a project to unleash their Jazzmaster ambitions. Eventually, lifelong friend Rett Nabell and younger brother Boyce S. Evans joined them on bass and drums respectively, rounding out the four-piece. In recent news, B. Evans is making the switch to keyboards and third guitar; Ross Page, another prolific Wilmington songwriter (Color Temperature, Seeking Madras, also Tumbleweed) will fill his spot on drums. 

Released on: Fort Lowell Records

Fort Lowell Records · Lauds "Are You There All Alone"

OUT NOW: Lauds "Are You There All Alone" [Digital Single]

Wilmington, North Carolina's dream pop darlings -- Lauds -- are back at it again, with a brand new song for you titled "Are You There All Alone"; out now on all digital music platforms! Enjoy!

INTERVIEW: Lauds Gets Close to a Bell

[Repost from Laid Off New York; by Andrew Burton, September 24, 2021]

Lauds are a band from Wilmington, NC centered around three friends: J. Holt Evans, Boyce Evans, and McKay Glasgow. They released their first project, a self-titled EP, in late July on Fort Lowell Records. A mix of straight-ahead indie rock songs and longer, exploratory pieces, the tracks on Lauds are united by their hazy qualities. Staccato guitar lines interlock throughout, sounding restless or ethereal but never in between. The rhythm section, depending on the moment, is either trying to keep up with the guitars or sitting happily in the pocket, providing occasional accents. Vocals drop in and out, always blurred, always airy. In just 15 minutes, Lauds hit the sweet spot between dream pop, post-punk, and shoegaze.

I had the pleasure of conducting Lauds’ first ever interview, speaking with McKay, Holt, and Boyce together over the phone. We covered a lot of territory, discussing how the band formed, their songwriting process, and how they plan on performing these songs live. Birds, beaches, and The Cure came up too

Andrew: Could you tell us about Lauds’ origin story?

Holt: My dad has a little studio where he's been recording artists in Wilmington for about 10 years. One of them was McKay’s folk band, Tumbleweed. In January 2019, I was living in Charlotte but would come back periodically to my parent’s house in Wilmington, which is when McKay and I met in passing one day at the studio.

McKay: Holt’s dad has kind of given me a music education, slowly converting me into more of a rocker. Already I was wanting to write songs that weren’t strictly folk.

Holt: I think our first convo was about Zuma by Neil Young and what a great record that is. McKay had a few songs he wanted to record that were more spacey and atmospheric that didn’t fit with Tumbleweed’s style, and I’ve been sitting on a backlog of guitar music I’ve made through the years since college. We started hanging out and writing songs together. Boyce was the natural fit to start playing drums, and then we added one of our friends to play bass. That’s how Lauds took shape. We liked the songs we were writing so much and we liked the sound we were angling toward, and it took off. We played an early show in April which people liked, and we had a really good time. We’ve been all in on this project ever since.

How does the songwriting process work? Do you each bring individual songs to the table or is it more collaborative?

McKay: Both Holt and I had a number of demos from the past. Mine were just acoustic guitar with vocals; Holt had a lot of lo-fi, reverby stuff he recorded on his phone he played me that I could tell was good. We ended up moving in more of a dream-pop/shoegaze direction than my songs, but “Sandpiper” from the EP was one of the demos I sent Holt. It was a finger-picking acoustic guitar song we turned into a spacey, very sentimental, “Cure-on-the outro” rock song.

Basically, we had a number of songs, we rearranged them because of Holt’s ideas or my ideas. Holt wrote the song “Don’t Mind” and I was like “it needs a bridge,” but basically all those riffs were already the original ones. I don’t even know how long Holt had those.

Holt: The process varies song-to-song now, which I think is a good thing. If anything, we’ve become a lot more collaborative. We’re proud of the EP because it represents different avenues for us as songwriters. “Sandpiper” was a McKay song he was sitting on for a long time, “Never Was” was a song I was sitting on since probably my senior year of college.

Who sings and plays which instruments on each song on the EP, and how are they going to come together live?

McKay: [Laughs] We’re hoping they do come together live because we have quite a few shows coming up.

Boyce: To be determined. I’ve moved to third guitar to cover some of that and we’ve recently added Ross Page [of Color Temperature and Seeking Madras] to the band to play drums.

McKay: Our good buddy, who’s probably the most overall talented artist in town…

Holt: Shoutout to Ross Page.

McKay: Yeah, Ross Page is the man. I kind of said, “I’m not going to play in a band without Ross Page.” He plays drums in Tumbleweed and now he plays drums in Lauds. We’ve got him, Boyce, and Holt’s friend Gavin Campbell on bass. That’s what our live show is: me and Holt playing interlocking riffs or me playing rhythm and Holt playing lead, and then Boyce going in between.

Holt: Regarding who is doing the majority of what, it really depends on the song and how it’s written. McKay is kinda obviously the singer and frontman of the band, but it just depends on what the song calls for. All of us can jump in and do background vocals. “Never Was” is a song I wrote that I always wanted to sing, but McKay and I actually sang that in unison in the studio to round out the timbre of the vocals. We’re fortunate too that all three of us can play guitar, bass, and sing to varying degrees, and then Boyce and I can drum. I’m sure McKay could drum if he tried to.

McKay: [Laughs] I’m staying away.

On the EP, the instrumental quality of the vocals seems more important than the lyrics. They’re smothered in reverb like the guitars. How much does it matter what you say versus how it sounds?

McKay: That’s an important question within the band itself. [All laugh]. Because I’ve played in folk bands, I always think it’s not that lyrics need to have a literal meaning, but they need to convey something. We’re all about conveying the emotion of the song. The lyrics have definitely taken a back seat to that in Lauds, but I think we all agree that’s what our music is about. I spend a lot of time writing lyrics and making sure they feel right, and I know Holt does the same. Sometimes we argue about lyrics, sometimes we don’t.

Holt: Boyce ends up being a really good third party mediator whenever McKay and I have different opinions.

McKay: Coming up with song titles is our biggest difficulty. Probably the most important lyric is the title because people aren’t necessarily going to read the lyrics. But if they do, we want to give them something good to listen to that can be congruent with the sound of the music and what the song is about.

Holt: McKay can really take a topic. “Sandpiper” is a song about McKay living in this neighborhood that has a dock that he is able to use and spend tranquil time there.

McKay: Yeah, it’s about that place. It’s about growing up on the Cape Fear River. I ended up moving back there when I was in grad school. It’s not directly about sandpipers, which are the birds that hang out on the shoreline, but it’s about that kind of place. Writing a song about a small part of a place or a relationship you’ve thought about―that’s how I think.

Holt: All my lyrics are pretty much straight-up stream of consciousness. The actual words themselves are important, too, but I’m more into the syllables and melody.

The first two singles you guys self-released—“Don’t Mind” in 2019 and “Consolation” in 2020―have a cleaner sound than the new songs. Was there a conscious decision to make this EP sound rougher?

Holt: We wanted to make it a little bit murkier. Not so much meddling with the fidelity, but on songs like “Wait Forever” you hear some guitars kind of clinging around in the background. We are big fans of bands where the production is almost like another instrument. When you listen to Closer or Unknown Pleasures, you really get this sense of atmosphere in a small place. We tried to evoke a similar space with these songs. “Don’t Mind” was bright, summery, and optimistic. To convey those emotions, we wanted to make sure everything was really crisp.

McKay: The music is very melodic, so we don’t want to make it go too far in that direction. That’s not who we are. In the scene we’re in, we look really clean cut and want to muddy the waters a bit more.

Holt: Some of my idols from a guitar-texture standpoint are bands like Iceage and Preoccupations; Pornography by The Cure is one of my favorite records. I don’t think I can quite get these guys on the same page with me about that, but I’m trying. Disintegration is an album we all cherish. I think if we didn’t consciously try to break out of the confines of playing clean, melodic lines, we could end up just doing that for all our songs.

McKay: We’ve jokingly called it mid-fi. It has lo-fi production, but it has this more upbeat kind of sound. “Don’t Mind” was from a happier time, too.

Holt: Yeah, it was a really “boys of summer” type period; we had a lot of fun nights on the town. We still have a few of those, but maybe not as many, for a variety of reasons. One thing that these guys are probably so sick of me for is talking about not wanting everything to be on the nose. They’ll ask me, “well, what do you want it to sound like?” and I’ll be like “I don’t know, that’s just too on the nose for that idea.”

When you’re assembling a full record where you have forty-two minutes or so, you definitely want to establish a flow, but on an EP like this, there are only four tracks. Was there a lot of thought about how the songs worked together or which order they went in?

McKay: We had three songs―“Wasted Hours,” “Never Was,” and “Sandpiper”―and decided to start with a fast song. “Wait Forever” was the last one we finished recording for the EP. It gave us another fast, upbeat, rocky, post-punk kind of song. We decided it would make sense to throw it in the middle.

Holt: We always thought of “Sandpiper” as a show-closer or record-closer, given that…

Boyce: It’s as close to a bell as our music gets.

Holt: It has those two big parts, a spacey middle part, and a grand outro with keyboard, strings, and all that good stuff.

McKay: It definitely took the most work. The drums in the end went in so many different directions, and then we had to figure out what to do with the background vocals.

Holt: It took a lot of walks around my parents’ neighborhood―if that tells you anything―thinking about how to get it right.

Do you think everything on the EP builds up to “Sandpiper”?

Holt: 100 percent. We think it’s the perfect encapsulation of what Lauds is trying to do. We’re trying to communicate sonically through the project with the guitars, with the shifting drums, with the tape delay all over everything, but also with McKay's very intentional lyrics. We love the pop songs at the beginning of the record―that's a really crucial part of what we're trying to do as well. But we were really proud of what we were able to achieve with “Sandpiper.” We thought it melded the distinction between the more subdued and meditative energy and the more heady and upbeat energy. We’ve been calling it the New Order guitar part at the end.

When you’re assembling a full record where you have forty-two minutes or so, you definitely want to establish a flow, but on an EP like this, there are only four tracks. Was there a lot of thought about how the songs worked together or which order they went in?

McKay: We had three songs―“Wasted Hours,” “Never Was,” and “Sandpiper”―and decided to start with a fast song. “Wait Forever” was the last one we finished recording for the EP. It gave us another fast, upbeat, rocky, post-punk kind of song. We decided it would make sense to throw it in the middle.

Holt: We always thought of “Sandpiper” as a show-closer or record-closer, given that…

Boyce: It’s as close to a bell as our music gets.

Holt: It has those two big parts, a spacey middle part, and a grand outro with keyboard, strings, and all that good stuff.

McKay: It definitely took the most work. The drums in the end went in so many different directions, and then we had to figure out what to do with the background vocals.

Holt: It took a lot of walks around my parents’ neighborhood―if that tells you anything―thinking about how to get it right.

Do you think everything on the EP builds up to “Sandpiper”?

Holt: 100 percent. We think it’s the perfect encapsulation of what Lauds is trying to do. We’re trying to communicate sonically through the project with the guitars, with the shifting drums, with the tape delay all over everything, but also with McKay's very intentional lyrics. We love the pop songs at the beginning of the record―that's a really crucial part of what we're trying to do as well. But we were really proud of what we were able to achieve with “Sandpiper.” We thought it melded the distinction between the more subdued and meditative energy and the more heady and upbeat energy. We’ve been calling it the New Order guitar part at the end.