What makes you most excited about LouFest? “It’s in the park, so it’s probably safer [than where their van was stolen], and we get to see bands we really admire.” – drummer, Braden Lawrence
“Hmmm … Whaat dooo I want to teeeell St. Louis?” The Districts’ drummer Braden Lawrence says, pronouncing each word deliberately and slowly. He forms his final answer: “I think its important to make the people of St. Louis aware that vans are getting stolen there. It could be a crime ring or something.”
Lawrence speaks from personal experience. The last time the rock-and-roll-with-infusions-of-punk band visited the Lou all the way from its Pennsylvania home, the four members heard about all the playful wonder of the City Museum. So, you know, the 19- to 20-year-old men had to go. They loaded up their van with all of their equipment, parked the clunker in a lot near the city’s landmark, and raced off to climb, create, and frolic the day away. When they returned, their van had been stolen, along with all of the gear they used to create their Cold War Kids meets Spoon meets The Black Keys sound.
Although they did get their now beaten-up van back via the police, all their equipment was taken from the perpetrators. And Lawrence says some of their musician friends have met the same fate in St. Louis. “St. Louis is a nice city and all,” Lawrence says. “That’s just something the city should watch out for.”
Despite its last impression of the town, Lawrence says The Districts are psyched to be part of a festival like LouFest.
While speaking to Lawrence, the easygoing attitude of these musicians comes through, a trait that he says relates to the reason they create in the first place. “We don’t do it for the money or anything like that; we do it because we like it,” he says. “We are hardworking, but we don’t have an agenda other than making the music.”
The clean vocals by Rob Grote and the modern take on the band’s classic and funky instrumentals are immediately alluring. The occasional harmonica interwoven among energetic and raw guitar solos keep feet tapping involuntarily and hips twitching automatically. But the genesis of this sound is relatively recent, given the youth of its creators.
Lawrence doesn’t think the band’s music has been too affected by its age, except that they “might have more energy than older people” and “can’t drink” at gigs. Overall, he thinks it’s just given them a stronger drive to make a living as musicians.
One of the things that The Districts kind of prides itself in is its inability to never completely and totally fit into one “scene” in music. The band believes it has the ability to bend between genres. Band members say their focus on is what they view as experiential, honest, and sincere lyrics. But sometimes, this sound and focus doesn’t align with the popular music of the band members’ age group. “I find it hard to relate to our generation musically,” Lawrence says. “Our music isn’t necessarily what is popular with kids our age.”
Regardless of age, however, Lawrence says all the band can hope for is that its audience takes something personal from The District’s music.
