Meet Lovechild

While running to catch the LIRR out to Montauk one weekday, I happened to hop into the same train car as Leo from Lovechild. We were heading out to the same show and had mutual friends. I ended up getting to see him play a solo set that night out in East Hampton, and in listening to his songs felt immediately brought, three hours in the opposite direction, right back to the streets of NYC. Later that year I got the opportunity to see the full band (Leo, Aaron, and Wyatt), and that’s when the truly inescapable energy of Lovechild's music fully took shape. To see these guys play live is to somehow witness the past and future of a rock and roll show take place simultaneously. Have a look at their latest release, "Hats Off" for a taste of what I mean. 

We sent over some socially-distanced questions via email and heard what they had to say about their song-writing inspirations, band dynamics, peaceful protests, and...somehow a lot was said about bagels. 

A few self-portraits by Lovechild

Would You Rather

have everything you wear always be three sizes too big or two sizes too small? Please explain your reasoning.

Aaron: Big

Ariel (drummer): Big, because if it was small, I…I..I don’t wanna say...

Leo: 3 sizes too big, because you can just cut it and make it smaller.

Wyatt: Same.

Some questions with Lovechild

What was the inspiration behind your latest single, “Hats Off”?

Leo: Ummm, it was written when someone told me that they didn’t like me the way I liked them and then I was sad. And then it became a greater song for the band and began to take on greater meaning. It became a song about Rock & Roll more than anything else.

Wyatt: It was about bagels (joking)

Leo: Jesus…

Wyatt: Bagels does sum it all up in a way. No, really it was a song that we played for years and I didn’t think it was going to make the album and then we took these live sessions from Pennsylvania and tried to, I don’t know, form it into a more constructed song. That was really it. Took the riff and simplified it and tried to make it more digestible. We tried to consolidate all of our classic rock tendencies and influences into one song rather than making a whole album that sounds like the 60s or 70s.

Aaron: That’s really the best way to put it.

Do you find that you have a process when it comes to writing new songs, or is it more sporadic? Does your band have any rituals when it comes to writing or performing?

Leo: There are various processes. Sometimes it’s really sporadic and other times not or anywhere in between. It really depends. Sometimes a lyric will come first, sometimes some type of melody or chord progression will come first, you never really know. Ultimately, I’d say I end up pretty much writing all the material on guitar or piano and then take it to everyone else to work on as a band.

Wyatt: Then, Aaron and I process it through Coors Light and Adderall and see what comes back.

Leo: In terms of rituals, drinking a lot definitely…

Wyatt: …drinking until someone says they feel too drunk and then you know that’s the time to push it.

Aaron: It doesn’t have to do with being drunk actually. It’s more—

Leo: you just have to take it to the limit.

Wyatt: Eagles reference!

Aaron, Leo, and Wyatt begin singing ‘Take it to the Limit’ by The Eagles

Ariel: Yeah baby!

How would you say Lovechild has evolved since its inception? What would you say hasn’t changed much?

Ariel: Now we’re rich ‘cause of unemployment…

Wyatt: What’s the same is Leo still writes some druggy shit in his room, then we try to make it into a song.

Leo: I write my songs on the subway bro.

Aaron: That’s why they all suck now! For real, we’re all way better musicians than we used to be. 

Wyatt: It’s definitely just grown into more of a collective. There’s more interpretation throughout the band. We all are putting more collective influence into the songs.

Leo: Some of us have definitely become more expressive performers. Others not so much…

Aidan (manager): Stop shitting on each other guys... What hasn’t changed?

Leo: The instagram’s password’s never changed.

Wyatt: Leo doesn’t do DMT weekly anymore.

Leo: *rolling his eyes* I never did DMT weekly. We have had a lot of different drummers and we’ve played with a lot of different people, but ultimately what’s stayed the same has been me, Aaron, and Wyatt.

How long has the band resided in NYC? Do you feel the city influences your music? What other influences do you draw from, particularly with “Hats Off”.

Leo: Growing up in NYC and living here my whole life, it’s been very hard to write music that doesn’t have to do with life in New York. Pretty much everything has to do with that. I think it just has to do with the general grinding spirit of New York City more than anything else.

Wyatt: Aaron and I have been living in NY for 7 years. However, Aaron and I having the Woodstock roots has enabled us to bring another perspective to the music. We took Hats Off and fleshed out almost two thirds of the song upstate.

Aaron: We definitely brought it to a more psychedelic place.

Wyatt: We took it from a more live rock and roll jam to a psychedelic anthem.

Leo: The song has existed for a very long time so it’s meaning has changed over the years. Honestly I wrote the song when I was living in Ohio, but playing the song in clubs in NY for years as a staple of our live set has definitely made the song feel like a very NY song to me and a song just about keeping on trucking through life and through whatever gets you down in the big city. 

Aaron: It’s about powering through and overcoming.

What is the worst tourist attraction in NYC? Why?

Wyatt: Williamsburg. I think that qualifies by now.

Leo: I haven’t really been to any tourist attractions in NY besides like Times Square. I’ve never been to the statue of liberty or the empire state building. I’ve never been to ellis island. I’d maybe have to say The High Line though. I have a really nice time there but I hate it as a symbol. 

Wyatt: The high line is really nice!

Leo: It is nice, but at the same time it is just a symbol of the bullshit that has happened in NYC in my lifetime. It’s all wack and bougie and impossible to ignore.

If you could bottle the smell of one of your live performances, which would it be and what would it smell like?

Leo: Sidewalk cafe, when I farted.

Aaron: In Harlem, when the light blew out. It was a house party in Harlem on Halloween. 

Wyatt: Oh yeah, it was a super cramped house party in an old building with too much power and some really old chandelier light fixtures. The filament blew out right above us during our show and it blew out all the power in the building. 

Leo: I remember a distinct burning smell and it was certainly a memorable show. Wyatt was dressed as John Lennon and Aaron and I were cowboys.

The release of this latest single coincided with the beginnings of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests throughout the country and the world. As an artist and NYC native, how has this movement affected you? What have you been doing to support the movement?

Leo: As an NYC native, it certainly has been weird to see the city in a lockdown state especially coinciding with coronavirus before the curfew was initiated. I mean, a bunch of us in the band went to protests. My ass got arrested at the protests. But it’s good to see the city standing up for this shit obviously. It’s sad but also unsurprising to see the police brutality aspect of everything. Ultimately, it’s good to see the city trying to make change and I think it’s important that the city continues to focus on these issues. 

As an artist, we’ve just been first off donating all the proceeds we make from any streaming and our livestream shows to the NYCLU to help struggle for equal rights here in our city. In broader terms, as an artist it has been hard to process a little honestly. We’re still living in the midst of this shit right now. For me personally, as someone who grew up very much... I’m a white person obviously and I was raised in a culture of social action. I was frequently at protests as a kid. My parents were socialists. Being raised in that culture, it was just like music and social action always came hand-in hand. Especially the music I was getting introduced to as a kid. So to me, in general, art should be a statement to the world and an effort at least or a mechanism to create some kind of better understanding of human connection and empathy. Empathy is the key to me in terms of how art can be used for social progress. All I can do is try to pay attention and bear the news as much as I can. Also, for me to walk outside and to see what’s going on and hear what’s happening in the world and to be open minded is the most important possible thing.

Wyatt: It feels more like the NYC that I wanted to move to in the first place. Where the artists and the revolutionaries are being heard more so than anyone else. Giving an opportunity for those people to speak. Before the businessmen and the masters of society. It feels now more like the reason why I moved to the city.

What is the next milestone you hope for Lovechild to achieve?

Ariel: Paychecks, baby!

Wyatt: Infinity bagel!™

Leo: It would be nice to like... be playing our music for people all across the country. To tour America. And to put out this goddamn motherfucking album!

If the price was no object what would be the perfect bagel?

Wyatt: Oh yes! Here we go!

Leo: Plain and simple. Poppy seed toasted with cream cheese. That’s the true test of a good bagel.

Wyatt: what is with you and fucking poppy seeds?

Leo: They taste good. I like poppy seeds. Poppy seed bagels, lemon poppy seed muffins…

Aaron: An everything bagel with half the amount of cream cheese. If you keep everything simple, that’s it.

Wyatt: Absolute Bagels. Everything bagel. Whitefish salad and tomato. Prepared by my favorite guy behind the counter.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Wyatt: Fuck 12.

Leo: Amen.