“I think the trajectory we are on isn't really common,” says Neyla Pekarek, of folk rock band The Lumineers, in town this month for two shows at the Sound Academy. “I think we’re processing a lot of what is happening after the fact.”
That is an understatement of monumental proportions and part of the charm of a band that was playing to a handful of plaid-shirted, bearded Coloradans just a year ago; a band that is currently headlining major festivals around the world on the back of a massive hit song dubbed “Ho Hey.”
A few years ago, the two founding members of the band, Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites, left New York City and moved to Denver to work on their music in isolation. They added a few new band members, including cellist Neyla Pekarek, played club shows, sold albums off the stage and wrote that little ditty, among others. Then everything changed.
“Up until then, for the most part, it was pretty DIY (do it yourself),” explains Pekarek. “We were booking our own tours, playing really small rooms. But even if there were just four people, it didn’t matter. We just kept doing it.”
The band crafted songs that are interactive and they earned a reputation for putting on engaging shows characterized by their call-and-response songs that got the crowd involved and on their feet.
It wasn’t long before management and record companies started calling, and in December 2011, their debut album was released. “Ho Hey” went crazy on social media, they started selling out shows and their album peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200. And the band hasn’t slowed down.
An opening slot for Dave Matthews tumbled into a gig on Saturday Night Live, an appearance at the Grammys and European and Australian tours.
“I never really thought I’d do any of those things,” says Pekarek. “But Saturday Night Live was really a big highlight for me. It was super-fun, and it is just this really iconic thing. And we got to bring some friends out to come and watch.”
The band’s timing is uncanny, as both the United States and Canada are in the throes of a roots music revival led by bands such as Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers, among many others.
When Pekareak first met Schultz and Fraites, she was impressed by their commitment to the music.
“They were pretty neat and had a lot of friends in the music scene,” she says. “There was nothing pretentious about them. I knew a lot of people in bands and it was a lot about succeeding — but not about making music. These guys were really into writing songs, and really serious about making it their career.”
The band’s last appearance in Toronto was a club show as part of the North by Northeast music festival. This week, they play two sold-out shows at the Sound Academy followed by a headlining gig at Edgefest this summer.
