Grouplove plans to put Charlotte into a psychedelic trance – The American rockers talk what to expect at their upcoming show

On September 3, Grouplove and Portugal. The Man are coming to the Uptown Amphitheater in Charlotte.

Both bands bring a unique blend of psychedelic music to the stage. “I feel like with us, you get a really cool blend of so many genres and styles,” says Andrew Wessen, guitar player and singer of Grouplove.

Wessen’s first instrument of choice was not always the guitar. In fact, one of the first instruments he learned how to play was the piano. Both he and his grandma would play together, but she wasn’t always around.

He eventually learned how to play the guitar after receiving lessons at a back alley music store. Wesson’s play style of music comes from a wide range of influences. Not only was he  obsessed with Punk in his early career and would often listen to his brother’s Nirvana albums, but he also learned how to play surf music.

Wessen says it’s always important to mix thing when creating new songs and styles. “If you try to make art the same way every time then you get the same result,” Wessen says.

According to Wessen, the band wasn’t originally intended to be called Grouplove.

“We originally just called ourselves Group which we all tattooed on our arm because it’s a throwback to the original name,” Wessen says. “The name just kind of evolved because we have a lot of love for each other.”

Wessen describes Grouplove’s live shows as being “volatile,” “crazy,” and “fun.”

“We get hurt, shit goes wrong and shit goes right, you can’t just copy and paste our set from the last week on top,” Wessen says.

Wessen  expresses interest in performing slower paced music. “In a band we love writing fat, slow, beautiful music, but it doesn’t translate to a live show right now,” Wessen says.

After Grouplove got the opportunity to write an original song for “The Fault in Our Stars,” Wessen was hoping they’d finally be able perform that kind of song.

“We thought ‘oh my god we finally get to write like a slow beautiful song, that’s perfect,’ and then they literally have us write for the one happy scene of the whole film,” Wessen says.

Wessen and the rest of Grouplove plan to take a much needed break before they start on their next album.

“Were going to take some time off after this tour, we’ve been doing it for like four years straight and we’re  going to take three or four months off,” Wessen says. “Obviously a new record will be in the works next year, we have tons of material and were writing all the time.”

For up and coming artists, Wessen says when it comes to releasing albums,“Less is more.” “If you have 20 songs, pick the best three and record them the best you can, don’t just put an album out right away.”

“The best advice I can give… is to write good music, that’s the one thing you can’t teach someone how to do,” Wessen says. “I think the reason why most big bands are big is even if you pick up and take away all their production and you just played the songs on an acoustic guitar, it’d still be super memorable.”

Read more here: http://nineronline.com/2014/08/grouplove-plans-to-put-charlotte-into-a-psychedelic-trance/
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