The Lumineers Biography

One of the unexpected success stories of the past few years has to be the story of The Lumineers who are an independent American music band from Denver. In 2012, their enticing irresistible song “Ho Hey” surprised the world, followed by “Stubborn Love,” their second No.1 song and “Submarines,” their third charting single which took them from the top of the charts to the Hunger Games, and from the Grammys to the presidential iPod. Their self-titled debut album became a multi-million selling album as they performed around the world and a multitude of new fans fell in love with their music. The trio made a return with a second album titled Cleopatra showing that they were still in the business of recording great songs. The Lumineers are made up of Jeremiah Fraites (drums, piano), Wesley Schultz (vocals, guitar) and in 2010, backing vocalist and cellist Neyla Pekarek joined the group. The album Cleopatra is the product of three years of non-stop touring, six months of writing in a hidden small house in Denver and two months of recording in the rural remoteness of Woodstock. “I think the old fashioned way is the honest way,” says singer Wesley. “We wanted to take our time, strip it right back to its raw and honest essentials, and make an album we believe in.” In a world where sophomore albums are commonly released, Jeremiah felt they, “took the right amount of time we needed to make the record we imagined, on our own timeline.” Cleopatra is full of weird and heartfelt tales about life in a real world behind the curtain of pop mirages of everyday hopes and shattered dreams. “We put an onus on the kind of characters and stories that are not so prevalent in popular music today,” says Wesley, who writes all the lyrics and collaborates on the structure, music and melody with Jeremiah. “We want songs you can wrap your arms around. There’s enough generic stuff out there full of recycled words that don’t really mean anything. There have to be other stories to tell, and other ways to tell them.” The title track, “Cleopatra”, was inspired by an encounter with a taxi driver Wes met in the Republic of Georgia, who narrated a tale of personal tragedy without self-pity. “As an American, a lot of what we do is tell the world how great our life is,” says Wesley. “People create stories about themselves through social media which are completely disconnected from what we personally know about their lives. I felt cleansed to be around someone who was just telling me how it actually was for them.” It is a strong image for The Lumineers outlook on their art. The black and white photo on the cover represents silent movie star Theda Bara in the 1917 production of Cleopatra. “It’s such an arresting image, vulnerable but strong. I think a good song is like a beautiful woman and no matter whether she’s wearing something crazy front of fashion or old sweat pants, you can still tell she is beautiful. We want to focus on the core, not the illusion.” It validates The Lumineers as a timeless band. “I never thought of us as folk but there was maybe some connection in the rejection of modernity,” says Jeremiah, the energetic drummer who began writing and performing in 2005 with Schultz in New York. “We gravitated towards a sound that was more pure and timeless.” President Obama disclosed he is a fan of the band after Lumineers’ second single “Stubborn Love” was featured on his Spotify playlist alongside Nina Simone, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell. “We were humbled by that,” Wesley confessed. “Especially when you’re surrounded by great artists who have stood the test of time. We’ve got our work cut out to live up to that.” The Lumineers grew to a five piece live band with the addition of new bassist Byron Isaacs and long-time friend pianist Stelth Ulvang. They built an ardent fan base with their electrifying shows and sold out tours and festival appearances in the UK. “When we perform, we’ve gotten to a place where we can be vulnerable and honest and share something real with audiences,” says Wesley. The Lumineers were approached by Hollywood to write a song for the popular The Hunger Games franchise. “Francis Lawrence, the director, said you’ve got to be able to hum it, whistle it, or sing as a mass group of people,” says Wes. “So we approached it like a really dark nursery rhyme.” Author Suzanne Collins wrote the lyrics to The Hanging Tree which was sung by Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I and became a top forty hit worldwide. “It was interesting to be ghostwriters but it’s a song for Kat Everdine not the Lumineers. It’s not something we would play live, unless Suzanne Collins wants to come along and sing it.” The Lumineers are extremely careful of the potential deception of fame which was infused into their new album. First single, “Ophelia,” embodies fame as a dangerous temptress. Another song titled “My Eyes,” shows the way Hollywood can destroy the lives of wannabes. “The world sees you as being put on a pedestal but you are also put on a hamster wheel, and that does strange things to people,” says Wesley. “Even a little bit of fame can distort perceptions, if people see you and react abnormally. Back when we were working as bus boys to support our music, I felt invisible to the world. I remember thinking I could be naked and pick up a plate and no one would even notice. That’s an interesting place to write from and I’m wary of losing it.” Jeremiah and Wesley went took a break when it was time to record a new album to reexamine what made their debut album successful. They rented a small house in Denver and spent six months writing and creating new material. As devoted fans of The Felice Brothers, they were happy when free spirited singer-songwriter Simone Felice agreed to produce the follow up album. They moved to a rural studio in Woodstock for two months of intensive sessions that they remember as a strange combination of recording and therapy. “It was almost like a cleansing,” says Wes. “Jer and I had gone through ten years living together, writing together, working at side jobs together, on the road together, it was like there was no separation. There was so much shit swept under the carpet there was nowhere else to put it, the streets were overflowing, the sewers needed to be flushed out so that we could look at each other clearly and have a conversation. The only way to do it was to go on long walks, and talk and cry and scream and make up.” “And then you go back in the studio and try and figure out what the chorus needs,” Jeremiah chuckles. “It was the most intense, densely packed experience of our lives. There is no way to sum it up. When people ask how it was, you just have to laugh and say it was great.” The album Cleopatra is instantly recognized as the work of The Lumineers due to its intimate style, although the sound is a wide range from their debut. “I had to sell my electric guitar years ago, because I ran out of money,” says Wesley. “Then when things started looking up, I went into the guitar shop where I sold it, ten minutes to close, and bought a Guild right before a show, on a whim. It was kind of a revenge buy. I felt like I was evening the score with the universe. And that replaced my acoustic for the entire set, overnight, and so it fed into the sound of the new album.” “The first album you could play in an electrical blackout,” says Jer. “We set up in a living room without amplification because that is all we had. The second one is plugged in. But the concept behind the writing stayed the same, which is that you have to be able to strip it all the way back, and find the essence. I find it easier to tell when a Lumineers song is not done, than when it is. But when all of the pieces of a song finally fit into place, it’s one hell of a feeling.” Cleopatra is full of heartfelt songs that will make a listener emotional. The intro “Sleep On The Floor” is a story of escape from the boring, delivered with the confident style of a young Bruce Springsteen absconding Atlantic City. “Gun Song” is a contemplation on parenthood built around a memory of Wesley finding a pistol in a drawer after his father died. One of the most popular tracks on the album “Angela,” is a lesson to a small town beauty trying to escape her past. Every song is nicely detailed and beautifully performed. “I felt like we had won some good will,” says Wesley. “So we could take our time, savour the moment, because if you trust us and stay with it, you know there will be something there for you. This is going to sound crazy, but, if making an album is like robbing a house, the first album felt like the homeowners were taking the dog for a walk, and we only had 10 minutes to get in and get out. It was manic. It was rushed. But on the 2nd album, Jer and I felt like the owners were taking a 2 week vacation. We could get in there, take our time, and find exactly what we were looking for.”

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