High school classmates Danielle Sweeney and Scott Verbeek had crossed paths many times over the years, but it was a common interest that would ultimately merge those paths together.
Their soul-pop group Lovecoast plays at the Queen’s with Tower and Trees and the Wild Romantics this Friday (Nov. 14).
“Scott and I have known each other for our entire lives,” Sweeney told the News Bulletin. “We both grew up in Squamish and we weren’t actually that close in high school.”
After high school Sweeney and Verbeek’s paths would take them to opposite sides of the continent.
“He went to Boston to go to Berklee College of Music and then I went to Vancouver Island University,” Sweeney said. “We both graduated at the same time.”
Following graduation the two moved back to Squamish.
“When we moved back we were both like ‘well we just finished music school, maybe we should play some music together’ and we started doing cover gigs,” Sweeney said. “Then we started writing and it just kind of happen naturally and after a few months we decided we really needed to fill this out.”The duo decided to recruit bass guitarist Andrew Fraser and drummer Jesse McNeill, both of whom Sweeney had met while she was a music student at Vancouver Island University.
“We really needed a rhythm section,” Sweeney said.
With the addition of Fraser and McNeill, the self-described “West Coast-indie-soul-pop” band known as Lovecoast was born.
“We do pretty broad spectrum of styles,” Sweeney, vocalist for Lovecoast said about the band’s music. “At our shows, we just want to have everyone dancing.”
On Friday (Nov. 14) Lovecoast will be playing at the Queen’s as part of their Western Canadian tour. For Sweeney, Fraser and McNeill their stop in the Harbour City will have a bit of a homecoming feel to it.
“We’re really excited to get all of our music school friends out and show them what we’ve been up to since we left school,” Sweeney said. “It is almost like a hometown show for us.”
Lovecoast’s Western Canadian tour will take them through Victoria, Kelowna and Alberta and will see them play with as many as 10 different bands.
“I am really excited about that and getting to make new friends,” Sweeney said.
Earlier this month Lovecoast released their debut record, a five-song EP titled Chasing Tides.
“We’re just super, super stoked to put out something that is super high quality,” Sweeney said.
Chasing Tides was recorded at Monarch Studios in Vancouver and was produced by Juno nominated producer Tom Dobrzanski.
“He was the best person for the job,” Sweeney said about Dobrzanski. “We couldn’t have asked for anyone better.”
In order to fund their debut EP, Sweeney, who also took an arts and entertainment management program at Capilano University in North Vancouver, and her bandmates launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.
“We did a lot of research and looked at all the options and it came down to how do we reach the most people with one source … so we looked at Indiegogo,” Sweeney said.
Lovecoast was able to raise $5,000 towards the project and received funding from donors as far away as Ontario, New York and India.
“It was just really eye opening for us to see the mountain of support that we had behind us,” Sweeney said. “So it just makes this whole EP that much more special.”
Lovecoast performs at the Queen’s on Friday (Nov. 14) at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.
For more information please visit www.lovecoastmusic.com.
arts@nanaimobulletin.comTwitter: @npescod
Soul-pop band @Lovecoastmusic experiencing positive tides. Quartet will be in #Nanaimo on Friday night. http://t.co/iWKnXvh6du
— Nicholas M. Pescod (@npescod) November 11, 2014