Grouplove Stumble Upon Kismet on Their Journey towards Bandhood
While indie outfit Grouplove is based in L.A., their journey towards bandhood began with a chance meeting in N.Y.C., and flourished in the coastal tranquility of Greece.
As if preordained, front man Christian Zucconi and keyboardist-singer Hannah Hooper met late one evening on the lower east side of Manhattan, and were instantly inseparable. So much so, that shortly after meeting, Hooper invited Zucconi to an artist residency she was attending over the summer in Greece. “Seriously, we had only known one another for a few days but are both so inspired and alive when we are together that going to Greece seemed like a magical and natural thing to do,” recalled Zucconi.
While on the island of Crete, Zucconi and Hooper made fast friends with a trio of fellow attendees who would become future Grouplove band mates: British guitar player, Sean Gadd, pro surfer and Los Angeles-based bassist, Andrew Wessen, and Wessen’s childhood friend and drummer, Ryan Rabin. “It was a really special way to form a band — we were friends first, before ‘a band,’” Zucconi told SPIN Magazine. “We never planned to be a band. When we recorded the EP, it was just for fun. It was just going to be one song, and then after that one song we were like, ‘Wait, this is really cool and special. Let’s cancel our flights back to the East Coast.’”
After the summer residency ended and everyone scattered to their hometowns, the memories of that incredible summer together weren’t easily forgotten. As Zucconi describes it, “We all understood how rare it is for five strangers to feel as close as family and create passionate music together. We couldn’t just return to Brooklyn and let the music we all made fade into a memory of that summer we had in Greece.” So after pooling their funds to travel and record an EP at Rabin’s Los Angeles recording studio, the members of Grouplove made a life-altering decision. Hooper and Zucconi packed up their lives in Brooklyn and Gadd packed up his life in London and they all moved to L.A. to live and play music.
Grouplove are currently putting the finishing touches on their debut LP, which is set to release in May via Canvasback/Atlantic Records. And after touring in late 2010 with the likes of Florence + The Machine and The Joy Formidable, Grouplove are headlining January’s month-long Monday night residency at the Bootleg Theater.
Tonight, Grouplove are joined at their Monday night Bootleg Theater residency by White Arrows. The show is FREE and 21+.
Check out Grouplove’s new video for “Colours,” directed by Jordan Bahat, below.
Grouplove’s self-titled EP re-releases January 25th.
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