Photo courtesy of Columbia Records
Four guys with just four songs to play, crammed in a dorm room at Belmont University in Nashville—that’s how it all started.
Chase Lawrence, lead singer of the band COIN, met guitarist Joe Memmel in a music theory class a few years ago, when he was spending most of his time reading textbooks and watching Netflix.
“After Joe and I got together, there was a girl in the class who actually volunteered her boyfriend, Ryan, who became our drummer. Honestly, it was so weird—like who does that?” Lawrence says, laughing.
After the three guys met Zach Dyke, who became the group’s bassist, they decided to get together to see what they could do with the four songs Lawrence had written. What were they about? Lawrence says the lyrics were actually inspired by his…homework.
“The thing is I was reading so much because I was in school, and I honestly didn’t have that many friends at the time,” Lawrence says. “I was really inspired by my biology textbooks actually. I know it sounds weird, but I remember trying to write lines from what I was learning. The lyrics were so apart from me initially because I’m basically a robot when it comes down to it; it was all pretty anti-fundamental.”
Since those first songs, the lyrics have evolved to capture a host of human emotions like falling in love, worrying about the future and missing the past—changing along with the band members, as they came to terms with themselves.
COIN’s sound draws from rock bands popular during the new wave rock scene like The Cure, The Cars and the Talking Heads, but the band that they most clearly see in themselves is The Killers.
Lawrence says, “Brandon Flowers has been a huge inspiration for us because The Killers are just so accessible as a rock band for our generation. They’ve made it possible for us to have our own revival and do what The Cure did 20 years ago.”
COIN is proudly a product of the 90s, but far from your angsty 90’s boy band.
“I just want to clarify,” Lawrence says, “that the 'product of the 90’s stuff' is all because 1992 was our actual induction to this world.”
COIN’s self-titled debut album came out in June, with 10 songs showcasing their unique guitar-heavy synth-pop sound. A fun, upbeat twist on indie rock, the hit single “Run” is a perfect example of the band’s style.
Lollapolooza will be the band’s first music festival—a huge accomplishment considering how recently they’ve come onto the music scene. COIN has been to St. Louis a couple times in the past, and is pumped about playing Loufest, especially because of its proximity to home.
On the group’s namesake, Lawrence explains, “it actually came from the name of a horse listed in a horse race database online - I got the idea from another single-word band name. The horse’s name was Lucky Coin, so I searched ‘Luck’ and it was, of course, taken. When I searched ‘Coin,’ the only thing that came up was a band in Greece with one song called ‘Porno,’ so I figured that was a safe bet.”
Although they went with ‘Coin,’ it appears the ‘lucky’ behind the name can’t have hurt.
Coin performs Sunday, Saturday 12 at 7 p.m. For more information, visit loufest.com.
