Courtesy of loose loose
The music scene in Columbia, Missouri, has always been a breeding ground for interesting, original music projects, fueled by the presence of colleges, clubs, and an army of young people as potential creators (and audiences). These are positives. But with a constant turnover of humans in, humans out, bands can form, write, record, and split at an accelerated pace, leaving one semester’s campus faves searching for new bandmates, or altogether new projects just a few months later. When things click, music fans in both St. Louis and Kansas City benefit from talents forming/reforming two hours down the road.
One band’s that beginning to make those li’l east-and-west drives is a soul collective known as loose loose.
Zach Zito is the band’s guitarist, and he says that in Columbia’s music scene “people do come and go. But I think it’s a strong and fairly diverse scene right now. There’re definitely bands in multiple genres and people are coming out to see them.”
Along with Zito, loose loose includes: Isaac Vandyne, bass guitar; Justin Harris, keys/synth; Jacob Somerscales, drums/percussion, SymonneSPARKS, vocals; J.Artiz, vocals; and CJ Maus, trumpet. Together, this group has deftly embraced digital sharing platforms, with three songs released on Spotify, for example, small calling cards that will be joined by a trio of recordings in 2019.
The first of those EPs, Sanguine, will be released on Friday. Two more five-song EPs will be released this year, with an ambitious schedule of late spring and summer for the remaining works. Even as many of those songs are ready for the studio, others have yet to be written, a prospect the excites Zito.
“It kind of breathes the possibility of creativity,” he suggests. “It lights a little fire under our butts to get to writing, potentially getting something that we’ll use” for the new EPs.
Befitting a band that’s smart about social media promotion, the group’s been teasing the Sanguine EP with little blips about the upcoming release.
As example, with a Facebook post, keys player Harris writes: “To me, Sanguine means having confidence in a situation with no guarantees. Before I joined loose loose, I would go to class everyday and question ‘why are you sitting in this class knowing this isn’t what you are passionate about?’ I would become sad and down all the time. But, then I joined loose loose and it was like a saving grace, and it pushed me to the decision that this band and music is something I needed to pursue in order to give myself a reason to get out of bed in the morning. This EP, and everybody in this band, mean the world to me. Even though we have no promises that we will make it, I will continue to put my all into this endeavor.”
In Columbia, the band’s sound and promotional style is yielding fruit. Reached by phone earlier this week, Zito says that “we had a listening party thing last night at a venue here in town called Cafe Berlin. It was something that we put together to get the local community excited about it. Over 200 people came over the course of the night, and it was a really good event.”
While loose loose did enjoy a St. Louis gig a few weeks back, there’s not another local show on the books, though that could change quickly. For now, the group’s content to continue writing and releasing, with their EP trilogy a chance to continue “building some sort of online fanbase right now.”
You can find your fill of loose loose at their homepage, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Music.
