A Chat with The Loft Club (22.10.2020)
Since forming in 2016, The Loft Club have been amazing listeners with their 60s tinged music full of engaging guitars and heartfelt lyrics. Daniel Schamroth, Jamie Whyte, Kieran Chalmers, Josie Stoneman and Sam Piper have now released their first full-length album Dreaming the Impossible. Through the album, you are submerged in the band’s harmonies, sing-along lyrics and wide-open choruses. We sat down with Daniel Schamroth to talk about the album, challenges they have faced, creative process and much more!
OSR: When did the band first get together?
Schamroth: The band has been going for a few years now, we started playing our first shows around 2016. There’s been a couple of line-up changes along the way as often happens with bands. The way it all started was I was playing a solo acoustic show in a pub in Exeter (our hometown) and Jamie (bass) was sitting in the audience that day. He approached me and asked if I needed someone to add some basslines to the sound and it went from there. We actually went out as a two-piece for a little while and then Kieran (drums) joined and it grew from there.
OSR: When the band formed, did you have an idea of the sound you wanted or has this organically evolved over time?
Schamroth: All I had was some songs. I thought they would sound good with a full band. I had an idea of what that might become with a band, but you can’t force these things and be too prescriptive otherwise it loses its soul. It has to happen organically in my opinion, otherwise what’s the point? A band of musicians has its own unique chemistry, you just have to throw all the elements into the mix and see what comes out the other side.
OSR: Is there a backstory or theme to your debut album Dreaming The impossible?
Schamroth: The album is a moment in time that gets captured in the studio. Those collection of songs were the tracks we were playing live in the set at the time we went into the studio, so it has a cohesive sound, as the songs roll into one another really well. The title track ‘Dreaming The Impossible’ was actually a song that was on the back burner. I didn’t imagine that would be one of the more prominent songs on the album, let alone the title track! As soon as we recorded that song it became clear this was a big tune and it started to become central to the theme of the album.
I like the sentiment of ‘Dreaming The Impossible’. To me, it means creating something out of nothing, that mysterious creative process of starting with nothing, just your imagination, and somehow turning that into a living breathing thing; a song, a painting, whatever it is that you make.
OSR: What was your creative process for the album? Did you start with one song and work from there?
Schamroth: We actually went into the studio to record an EP, maybe 3/4 songs maximum. But when we got into Middle Farm Studios with the producer (James Bragg), we laid down a couple songs and then he just looked at us and said:
“OK, what else have you got? Let’s just record everything you have.”
So, it just went from there really. We ended up recording an album over two weekends and then came back to finish off the mixing. It was really natural the whole thing. Probably because the bulk of those songs were gigged and played many times, so it was at everyone’s fingertips the moment we walked through the doors.
OSR: What was the biggest hurdle you overcame when creating Dreaming The Impossible?
Schamroth: There was a time pressure, I guess. We only had two weekends, so four days to get everything recorded. I like to think having that kind of time pressure in a studio situation can be a healthy thing. Of course, it’s great when you can sit around drinking tea and taking five years to record a guitar solo, but like with the early Beatles recordings, they were under ridiculously strict time pressure to record ‘X’ amount of songs per day. There’s a refreshing side to doing things this way, as it forces you to make decisions and follow your gut instincts.
OSR: Is there a song on the album that holds special meaning for you?
Schamroth: All the songs on the album mean something to me personally, as I wrote them. Some of the songs were written years ago and some of them are more recent. ‘Keep Me Coming Home’ is the most recently written track on the album, so I really like that one right now, because it sounds fresh to me. I wrote ‘I’m Just A Man’ many years ago, I still love the way we have recorded it on the album though, I love the bass groove on it.
OSR: If the band were pack animals, what would you be and why?
Schamroth: We would all be Native American Wolves, all making a howling racket! Something cool like that.
OSR: You have released a music video for ‘Heard Her Say’. How did you determine the creative direction of the video?
Schamroth: My wife Alice is behind all our visuals, she came up with the concept and directed the ‘Heard Her Say’ music video. She managed to get us a full day at Lawrence Castle, which is an incredible venue. We wanted something that was large scale and visual. Filming the band playing on the roof of the castle was pretty epic! It’s a cool video and we’re all really pleased with it.
OSR: If people could remember only one thing about the band, what would you like that to be and why?
Schamroth: Hopefully the music, the songs. If people remember the music, if it means something to them, then that’s the most important thing.
OSR: What are you plans for the next 12 months?
Schamroth: As soon as the world says it’s ok, we’ll fly over to America (where our label is based) and do some dates over there. In the meantime, like most musicians, we’re having to do everything online. There will be the second single from the album released early in the new year and another music video. We’ve been getting airplay in the States and doing some live sessions for US stations which has been fun. We’re actually in the process of planning a pretty exciting online concert (I can’t say too much yet) but keep an eye out for updates on our page as it should be very cool indeed!
Thanks to Daniel Schamroth for chatting with us! You can find more about The Loft Club on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
