LVLTR is a band comprised of musicians (and longtime friends), Domenic Romeo, Chris Kuhn, Lauren Beecher, and Sean Garwood. Their sound is catchy yet melancholic, influenced by the likes of Sloan, Weezer, DGC-era Jawbreaker.
I guess I should have said, "LVLTR was a band" as the quartet was only meant to be a one-off kind of situation. Recorded over the course of 2022/24, the band's 5-song EP, God Bless Our Happy Home, just hit music streaming outlets today, and is a stylistic departure from what most No Echo readers probably expect from a group featuring folks who have played in Pulling Teeth, Integrity, and Day of Mourning.
To get the LVLTR story, I went right to the source: Domenic Romeo. In this brief discussion, he offered the backstory behind the project and the life changes that helped inspire it.
There were a ton of COVID-related musical projects for a couple of years there. But from what you've told me, LVLTR's origin story runs deep and personal for you. Are you open to discussing what fueled the project?
Every record I've done has had a heavy backstory and this one is no different. Being solely a composer and not a lyricist, it always leaves things left to interpretation for the listener in a much bigger way and I just love that. Always have.
LVLTR came about much like my other COVID lockdown projects did. It was a way to cope with my life being stuck in stalemate with situations heading towards their inevitable end. I went through divorce, changing day jobs and totally reconstructing how to fit music into the current version of my life, which was a lot to process. LVLTR was meant to close the chapter on that part of my life, but the results were so serendipitous, I thought maybe other people that were going through it the same way I was, might appreciate knowing they aren't alone.
From a stylistic point, the material on God Bless Our Happy Home is very different from what most people would expect from you and Mr. Kuhn.
Chris and I have a deep appreciation for what one would call '90s alternative music, but I wasn't expecting this to come out perfectly as it did until Chris shared his lyrics and vocals ideas that he worked on with Lauren. Musically, the idea kind of came about as creating a depressing Weezer that featured their first album's wall of guitars crossed with the drum sound from Nirvana's In Utero album...kind of like an ugly twin situation.
Once the template was set, the other influences kind of poured in. Growing up in that era and discovering a lot of those bands and records firsthand, the qualities I tried to cherry pick were the glum hopefulness of Jawbreaker Dear You and Killjoys Starry, the heartbreak of Hayden's Us Alone, and the swirling harmonies of Sloan's Smeared albums. A lot of Can-Con influence went into this one [laughs]. I also listened to Concrete Blonde's Bloodletting a lot.
With such a heavy backstory, what are some of the songs on the EP about? Also, were you worried about how certain people would react to the lyrics?
Overall, it's really just about being stuck in a holding pattern before finally letting go of everything that no longer serves you. The record was originally going to be called Moving Targets as none of the songs take direct shots at anyone or anything. It's just more of a complacent observation of my life at the time and what most people's lives probably have looked like at some point.
How's your headspace these days? How busy will you be on the musical front in 2025, whether with LVLTR or other bands and A389?
I still have hundreds of unfinished songs and recordings that I tinker with, but time is such a scarce commodity. It takes a lot for me to get in the headspace to do music, and those moments where it just happens and a song comes out on the other end are few and far between. I did play on a few friends' records somewhat recently....check out the newest from Repellent SS (from Prague) and Ousted (from Baltimore) if you want to.
There are a bunch of unfinished LVLTR and End Reign songs that would be cool to hear finished on the other side but I'm not holding my breath. Chris has a great power pop band called State Drugs that has a bunch of records out. Lauren has a great band called Broken Record that put out a record recently...she's a powerhouse. I have no idea where Seanathan Garwood even is or what he's up to since tracking the LVLTR record so if he reads this...hit me up!
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God Bless Our Happy Home is out now via A389 Recordings (order vinyl).
LVLTR on social media: Instagram
Tagged: integrity, lvltr, pulling teeth
