Published: September 13, 2010 12:19 AM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight September 2010 Edition
Handful of Luvin'
Music Now Artist/Band Spotlight Weekly Series
Handful of Luvin'
Junior’s Cave Music Page, Music Now, is pleased to present one of our featured bands/artists for the week. Meet Handful of Luvin', one of the coolest sounding bands we have had the pleasure to listen to so far in our publication career. With a perfectly blended style of several genres, Handful of Luvin' is going to become an all time favorite with music fans and our readers of this magazine. Make sure to check them out on their official website (listed at the end of this interview) and buy their new CD; it’s worth it. Here the official interview for your reading pleasure.
Isaac: Let’s get started with this interview. When and how did you first become interested in music? How long have you been playing music? Who would you say are your biggest musical influences and why?
Handful of Luvin': David John (lead singer/guitar) has been singing since he can't remember, and has been playing guitar for about 20 years. Andrew Joslyn was started on the violin at age 5 by his parents, who wanted him to continue the family classical music tradition (and has been playing music for over 23 years now). Michael Knight (drummer) has been playing for about 14 years, and Patrick Files has been playing the bass guitar for about 10 years. Some of the biggest musical influences that we have had as a band overall is groups like Brett Dennen, John Butler Trio, Flogging Molly, and others, however for David John (one of the main songwriters for the band) his influences are more in the classics like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Simon & Garfunkel, and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco).
Isaac: What has been the greatest highpoint in your career so far?
Handful of Luvin': One of the highest points that we have experienced so far in our careers as musicians is playing Bumbershoot last year in Seattle - it is one of the biggest music festivals in the Northwest, and it was an honor for us to be able to play at it. Before our set, it was actually pouring down, and there was a chance that there might be lightning and thunder. We were worried that no one would show up for our set (it was an earlier slot), and we were worried that they would pull the plug for our slot since if there was lightening they would need to cancel the show. Thankfully the clouds cleared right as we were walking on stage, and to our surprise, the whole entire mural amphitheater lawn in front of our stage was full to capacity. That was an amazing feeling, and the show was great for us.
Isaac: What has been the greatest disappointment in your career so far? What did you learn from that experience?
Handful of Luvin': Not being on a world tour, with our own private jet plane.
Isaac: What draws you to want to play the type of music that you do?
Handful of Luvin': It is fun and high energy, and honestly it felt natural for us as musicians, especially from the varied musical backgrounds we hail from.
Isaac: What do you feel it takes to play this type of music that you play?
Handful of Luvin': A band would need to be able to engage an audience well in a live performance - we play danceable music, and we are performers - so we try and make that accessible to the audience, and make it fun and entertaining for them.
Isaac: What do you think you will create that will make your performances and who you are stand out in the music industry?
Handful of Luvin': We provide very high energy performances (a lot of raw emotion and passion), but also with our style of music we fuse a ton of different genres of music such as: reggae, rock, classical, folk, world, and punk. This combination definitely helps make us stand out as a unique act in today's market.
Isaac: If you had the opportunity to do one cover, what cover would you do and why? How would you put your own spin on this cover?
Handful of Luvin': Allman Brothers -Ramblin' Man. It is a classic song that is recognizable to a wide reaching audience, and would fit well with our current set up with our band. They way that we would spin it as our own though, is have all the guitar solos and riffs done on the violin (probably would sound pretty awesome!).
Isaac: What does it take to be a good songwriter?
David: It takes writing songs every day, and about everything. It is important that you don't edit yourself until you have a complete thought, and to realize that songwriting is not instantaneous, and that it takes a lot of work.
Isaac: How difficult is it to juggle music, family and work obligation, and life in general? Explain.
Handful of Luvin': It is hard - we are all dealing with it in various degrees. The most important thing is clear communication with everyone (in the band, with our individual families, girlfriends, and jobs.) Michael Knight and Andrew Joslyn are the only two currently that are doing music full time - and even then it is difficult to keep up with the bills and all.
Isaac: What is your definition of being an Indie artist/band?
Handful of Luvin': Footing your own bill - putting together your own management team (booker, attorney, merchandising coordinator, tour manager, etc.), pretty much DIY all the way!
Isaac: Where can fans access your music online?
Handful of Luvin': Through all major digital distributors like iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Amazon, SPotify, Napster, Zune etc. Also physical CD's can be picked up at our live shows and at CDBaby at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/HandfulofLuvin.
Isaac: In five years.
Handful of Luvin': Hopefully on our second European Tour.
