The Lumineers journey from playing Zola to the Gorge

The Lumineers' Wesley Schultz discusses everything from addiction, family unit, and the band's new album 'III', to storytelling through song, the value of vulnerability in music, and how Bob Dylan really changed the game.

Stream: 'III' – The Lumineers

I think that vulnerability is exactly what sets every man being apart from one another.

Together for well over a decade and with hitting songs such as "Ho Hey," "Stubborn Love," "Cleopatra," and "Ophelia" nether their belt, The Lumineers demand no formal introduction. The band founded in New Jersey past Wesley Schultz (pb vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion, piano) take brought their gritty, homegrown folk rock sound around the world and back once more, gaining initial fame with 2012'south self-titled debut anthology before reaching No. i on the The states Billboard 200 chart with 2016's acclaimed sophomore record, Cleopatra.

III - The Lumineers album art — III – The Lumineers

September 2019 saw the release of The Lumineers' highly anticipated 3rd album, simply entitled 3 . Previously described byAtwood Mag as, "as much of a cinematic masterpiece as information technology is a masterpiece of an album,"Iiiand its accompany picture show (divided into three capacity and ten music videos) find Schultz and Fraites exploring addiction and its impact on an individual, their family, and multiple generations.

The Lumineers are at their tiptop telling powerfully affecting stories with intimate, meaningful themes. Songs similar "Gloria," "Leader of the Landslide," "My Cell," and "It Wasn't Easy to Be Happy for You" find them broaching hard and complex subjects with respect, intendance, and grace. Schultz and Fraites balance the personal with the universal, bringing to life a relatable, moving story – in this example, that of the fictional Sparks family – that comes from, and speaks to the heart.

"Leader of the Landslide," I call back, really paints a flick of the nature of being around an addict, and and so what that person is experiencing.

The Lumineers' Three Is a Sonic and Cinematic Masterpiece

:: OUR Take ::

The Lumineers' Wesley Schultz recently dove deep into the weeds with Atwood Magazine, discussing everything from addiction, family, and the band'southward new album, to storytelling through song, the value of vulnerability in music, and how Bob Dylan really inverse the game for everyone who came after.

Dive into one of today'southward premier folk rock acts in our sweeping, raw, and unplugged interview – and don't miss The Lumineers on tour this spring and summertime!

This new anthology has a picayune more than of a darkness to information technology, like a hue or a coloring of darkness – and I recollect likewise putting these music videos to the music, and having a film around information technology, has better told these stories.

A CONVERSATION WITH THE LUMINEERS

Atwood Magazine: The Lumineers have been ane of my favorite bands pretty much since the very beginning, when I would listen to "Flowers in Your Pilus" on repeat until I learned how to play it myself. Then many of your contemporaries take come and gone, but you lot soldier on; to what do you owe The Lumineers' staying power?

Wesley Schultz: If I knew that, I would just practise that over and over! It seems like information technology takes us a long time to write the simplest of songs, then maybe it's the fact that a lot of the songs that we released, we've lived with for a little while – the snippets and the ideas. If you look at this well-nigh recent album, the intro to "Jimmy Sparks" was written in 2007 or '08, and we were working on that melody in the same year before it got shelved. "Salt and the Sea" has a piano riff in it that was from the same time period.

I think we tend to hold onto ideas and perhaps utilize them down the route when we feel similar nosotros have a consummate song – but office of it is only trying to write something that, as nosotros work on it, we don't seem to tire of; you know, nosotros sort of enjoy information technology more and more than. Trying to trust that gut instinct, as we've gotten onto our 3rd anthology, I think information technology gets easier to trust that more than – when y'all tin can feel, from playing so many shows, that a lot of those ideas still feel really skillful to us. And then, I think something to the effect of simply having a gut instinct well-nigh it, or having a bloodhound's nose for what feels like a timeless idea.

Are you the sentimental type? What is your relationship like with your older songs, similar "Expressionless Body of water," "Ho Hey" and "Stubborn Beloved"?

Schultz: We play those three almost every nighttime! I think they're very dissimilar. We unremarkably close the testify with "Stubborn Beloved" – it'southward become this anthem that really feels like a proper way to stop the set. "Ho Hey" feels almost like a cover to u.s. now; we used to play a lot of confined, and it almost feels like someone else wrote it because it became kind of omnipresent for a year or two. Now information technology feels like information technology's everyone else's song. and yous're simply a part of that. So "Expressionless Ocean" is probably one of the just love songs we've ever written; I only love playing that vocal.

We were but in Paris last dark – my wife and I got engaged there, seven years ago almost to the 24-hour interval. So we were there again, and had I written that song for her on Valentine'due south Day one yr, and I hid information technology in a box of chocolates because she said she hated when people gave people boxes of chocolates. And so equally a joke, I sort of cut out the shape, and put it in there, and sent it to her (we were living long altitude at the fourth dimension). She didn't even bother to open it, she was so frustrated with my gift! And then I fabricated her go back, drive abode, and open information technology – because she had left for work, and then she had the lyrics and she listened to the vocal. Then for me, that'south a proper dear song that I really love, because the discussion "dead" beingness in the title doesn't sound like it would be a honey vocal or a happy vocal.

Listening to a track like "Large Parade" and knowing what you lot've made since, the song feels so lite and full of possibility – whereas your latest material seems far more substantial and in-depth. Would you agree with this statement, that yous've grown to inject more substance into your music over fourth dimension?

Schultz: I mean, I think it's more the vibe of the music – y'all know, the chord progressions and the melodies, fifty-fifty the style we recorded it on anthology "i" was pretty innocent; it was meant to be sounding similar a demo. Nosotros had listened to a band like The Felice Brothers; they have an anthology called This evening At the Arizona, and just hearing them live and then hearing that music, I think that became such a more interesting style to present music than to polish it up and make information technology slick, and employ Pro Tools to the max. I think we just wanted it to sound analog and real and flawed. So, with something like "Big Parade," I experience similar lyrics are some of those I'm nigh proud of. This new album has a lilliputian more of a darkness to information technology, like a hue or a coloring of darkness – and I think also putting these music videos to the music, and having a moving picture around it, has meliorate told these stories. If you await back, "Ho Hey" was about a breakup and "Charlie Boy" is about my uncle going to Vietnam and serving voluntarily and then dying, and "Submarines" is about i of my great uncles who claimed he saw a spy submarine off the declension and no one believed in him, and after he died at that place was intelligence released that he may accept actually seen something.

So a lot of these songs were kind of rooted in, I felt, good stories, [but] we weren't making music videos near them and I wasn't in the mood to talk about the stories at that fourth dimension; I idea people were merely supposed to figure it out. But since some time has passed and we've played shows, I've really enjoyed kind of illuminating a little bit of what these songs are well-nigh, some of them, because I think it helps people become a sort of compass on the map we're trying to show them… Yous know, the map to the treasure, and so to speak… Sort of, trying to clue people into what y'all're singing about, considering not everybody is going to understand it or dive in deeply to the lyrics, because your average person's just not going to do that.

I think we just wanted it to sound analog and existent and flawed.

When I saw yous play in New York City concluding year, you shared that story about "Charlie Boy." You lot're right, it really does help you experience closer to the music, whether or non you've done your inquiry.

Schultz: Aye, I think information technology made me appreciate doing that, if you do it the right style. I go to too many concerts where the performer is similar, the simply reason y'all similar the song is considering the story had to exist good. I just want it to be icing on the cake; "Oh, I didn't know that near that song; that gives information technology some more depth to me." I wanted the vocal to stand up on their own and I was worried that would be a crutch, but I've enjoyed it, peculiarly with something like that in these times, specifically "Charlie Male child." Nosotros opened for U2, and I think that really taught me that the manner I've seen a lot of frontmen and women tell stories about their songs or in a way, philosophize on stage, and I retrieve what I realized is Bono is really practiced at telling a story, merely too not alienating his audience while he's doing that – non talking downwardly to them, not preaching to them.

I call up the opportunity with "Charlie Boy" was there to say, whether you're on the right or the left or liberal or conservative, I retrieve we need to start recognizing, in that example, that words of our leaders really do matter. And here'southward an instance from me – not to go into depth too much, only I had a friend who specialized in basically politics and how do you change people'southward minds. And he said to me, "Y'all don't change people'due south minds with facts and numbers and statistics, you change people'due south minds through stories." And so I think songwriting can be the best vehicle for cracking the door open just a little bit in someone's mind to being open to something. And and so maybe a year later they change their heed – simply yous're non going to beat out them into submission and make them feel different, or dandy them, and so I think music is that amazing tool of protest, and it'south a little more than subtle way that tends to take hold of people or root in them somehow and be more substantial than someone merely yelling at you that you're an idiot for believing in what you believe in.

I dear how you've been able to use your music and transform it over time to fit what yous want it to be at any fourth dimension – that's really powerful. Moving on, I admire the musical risks and specially the serenity moments in III. How, if at all, practise you feel you grew musically in-between the sessions for Cleopatra and III? Musically, how practice these two albums distinguish themselves for you lot?

Schultz: I think information technology's hard to say. I mean, I don't know if there was a conscious endeavour to do something unlike. I think we were in a different place for each album, and had dissimilar interests. I think a big part of anthology three is the piano. I recollect what Jared did with the pianoforte and the ideas he had, I call back they actually showcased… So much of what makes the ring special is what Jared does on that piano on a regular ground. And and so, remembering that when we starting time started playing music together, he didn't play piano at all – he didn't know how to play, and he's taught himself over the last 14 years – so in a way, the evolution was just more organic because he was playing more than piano and getting more avant-garde, and ideas were flowing. I call up that the album focuses on that, and then I recollect in that location's a lot more willingness to have that certain takes are really how you lot sound… You start to encompass that, instead of trying to practise information technology perfectly, you're trying to discover a rendition of it or a performance of it that feels true to the vibe of the song, instead of trying to hit the perfect notation. And I call back y'all hear that in something like "My Cell."

In the song "My Cell," we recorded that and did an entire version of it in a day that was to a metronome. It but kind of seemed to lose all of its soul, then after we had finished and orchestrated the whole song, we threw information technology out and started over in the studio the next twenty-four hours, or that nighttime, and just recorded information technology live. And I call up you can hear that element of chance, or danger, or vulnerability there when you lot heed to that song in item, where it just sounds similar what it really sounded like. It's not overly ornate, and I think that rawness is something that, from album 1, we were trying to really go to. We all the same try to, simply I think this album, for me, has a lot more than examples of getting at that place in a existent fashion, and not manufacturing it.

I remember that rawness is something that, from album 1, we were trying to really get to.

Let'south go into that: Why practise you lot feel similar vulnerability is something you strive for?

Schultz: I'll give y'all an analogy: I listen to long form interviews, you know – Joe Rogan or Howard Stern. I recollect the people you like the nearly are the people that aren't putting upwards walls and confronting; they're people that are beingness themselves, and that involves vulnerability. And when I hear someone sing, there's a type of singing that I actually love that has this, you're seeing from a certain place. And and so in that location's this more Broadway style of singing that I really don't like. It really feels safe, and information technology feels guarded. So I think that vulnerability inside a singer, and within the writing, and even in the instruments – how "Donna" starts out – the engineer nosotros were working with at the time thought it sounded objectively bad, and that's what nosotros liked about it! It sounds like a real creaky piano, considering that's the pianoforte nosotros work on. That'south how we make our songs, nosotros apply that bodily piano then nosotros flew it into the studio.

I think that vulnerability is exactly what sets every homo existence autonomously from ane some other. Information technology'due south sort of y'all, you, is those imperfections. So I think embracing that to a level, and looking at that and exploring it a little fleck… I used to hate my voice, and I would impersonate everyone else. Nosotros would hear our song at the bar, and I would be like, "I wish I had this guy's vocalisation." Eventually yous have to kind of find who you lot are inside those imitations, and just discover that. I think I'm nonetheless trying to practice that; and as a author, you're trying to notice your voice as well. Information technology'due south this whole process, right? But if yous're non willing to exist vulnerable, then I don't even know if you lot have fine art. I retrieve it's merely the perfect performance, or something – you know, a robot could do that.

I recollect that vulnerability is exactly what sets every human being apart from one another.

I retrieve of a song like, "It Wasn't Like shooting fish in a barrel to Be Happy for You" or "My Cell." They just scream of this being the take you chose; that this is the song, and information technology is it is what information technology is!

Schultz: I recall nosotros've been around radio enough to understand that radio looks at things very simply, and if information technology doesn't, for example, have a lot of drums on it or a lot of speed to it, it will never get played. I think some people write music to brand information technology to the radio, and I think what we do is, we write music and sometimes we're like, "Man, I could come across that making it to the radio because it has these very superficial qualities to information technology," but something like "It Wasn't Like shooting fish in a barrel to Exist Happy for Yous," you could dress it up and ruin the vocal by overdressing information technology, yous know? Past putting too many things on information technology. That vocal in particular, we thought about it like, we merely love it the mode it is – information technology sounds like nosotros're playing in a basement, and it reminded united states of listening to Exile on Main Street, where The Rolling Stones are literally in a basement in the due south of French republic, and it merely sounds grimy in a very interesting way. Even the very last "yeah" on that song… If you listen really closely on similar "Information technology Wasn't Piece of cake to Be Happy for You," the very last gang vocals "Yep," y'all'll hear our bass role player Byron hitting this crazy weird, shouty annotation that's kind of wrong, but nosotros loved information technology and we kept it in there.

I recollect it just fabricated usa feel like we were making the blazon of music that in 20 years, I would want to listen to myself, or play for my kids. I think it has to last in that mode that has all these weird artifacts in it that have not mistakes, but these "beautiful accidents" that happen. All my favorite records growing up, they had these moments on them.

I don't know if that song will e'er be on a radio station, but for us it was one of our favorites. I think we've had this weird phenomenon where – we have songs like "Sleep on the Flooring," or "Flowers in Your Hair," or "Ho-hum It Downward," or "Dead Sea"… These songs were never on the radio, and they're some of the biggest reactions and requested songs, and big moments live for united states of america. I recollect seeing that in the mankind and being around people who just really want to hear those songs, that's too allowed united states to sort of trust ourselves to brand those decisions. I think when y'all first showtime out, you worry that it's never going to see the light of day because radio won't play it. And then, if you're lucky enough, like I experience similar we're lucky that people dive into the albums and they know them forepart to dorsum – it gives yous more freedom to not feel like you need to do anything you don't desire to practise; you just kind of make information technology the way y'all brand information technology, and let the chips fall where they may.

I think information technology just made us experience like we were making the blazon of music that in twenty years, I would want to mind to myself, or play for my kids.

Cleopatra and III are and so intricate and well-thought through concepts. What is it almost these grander conceptual pieces that excites y'all?

Schultz: They were both kind of retrofitted. I remember I learned something on Cleopatra, which was that you could tell a story with the existing materials, but I didn't feel like it was very well organized. And with Iii, I felt like I was watching a photo develop – when you're standing in the darkroom, and and then it emerges out of the ether. I felt like I was watching these three characters come up out of it; it's about similar phase two of getting creative with what you lot've already made.

So we had these songs and sort of this "anthology" done, then phase two was, "I call up in that location's these three characters, and what if they were part of this family and what if they told this bigger story?" For me, it was an anthology that was actually themed effectually a family and effectually addiction. That was the actually about basic fashion to describe information technology; and I guess the honey inside that family, that makes whatever addiction within any family unit more painful. So it started in that location, and then I think we just felt like people really dove into the videos on Cleopatra, and nosotros had an opportunity to tell a really vivid story if nosotros were a little more than organized this fourth dimension around, and I think nosotros set our sights actually high with trying to make a whole album into a film, but we felt like we had the right manager who had the right aesthetic to tell the story.

So I recall information technology was a confluence of events – like, any time yous tin collaborate with someone – like me with Jer (Jeremiah Fraites), I think we're both on our ain one affair, but together it's stronger and it'due south more interesting, considering it's this collaboration. So I recall making this music into a film with a real filmmaker who knows what he's doing and did a great chore… we couldn't have done it on our own! He brought so much to the tabular array as far equally bringing it to life.

For me, the appeal of that is, it's mostly about storytelling: I think that if information technology allows you to farther the story and to tell the story more vividly, it'south an opportunity you're but non taking advantage of or doing if you decide to just brand a generic video where you're playing your instruments and looking sad or something. I think we wanted to practice something more, and so information technology was heady! I retrieve it's also made people more enlightened of what nosotros're seeing about. Something similar "Cleopatra," I thought the song was such a story and people would simply get information technology. And I was really surprised that people didn't empathise it, so I would sometimes intro information technology and say a footling bit about the vocal. Because to me, the whole matter is i ballsy story about this woman whose heart has been cleaved, just she keeps going on: This tough woman. So it taught me a lot nearly wanting to tell that story more, so with this alcoholism and this family, to put it on screen and to have it that raw was heady because you can't make up your own pregnant this time around; we're going to tell you a niggling chip more well-nigh what this is most.

It sounds like you lot consider yourself as much a storyteller, as yous exercise a musician – and for you, those ii things are intertwined.

Schultz: I retrieve it's important. I didn't desire to just write songs – I always viewed good songs as part and parcel with telling some story, so it didn't really seem worth doing if I couldn't tell a story while writing a vocal. I remember there's different ways to do that; I'll authorize it past maxim that I think not every vocal has to exist a specific story. When I listen to Kurt Cobain – who is a storyteller, only a much dissimilar kind of storyteller; he's more of a real poet, and he was finding his discussion that merely fit the moment then perfectly. And and then you take Leonard Cohen, who's doing a little bit of both; I think he's telling really literal stories and then he's also singing the most beautiful poetry – so I call back seeing people similar that, it felt a lot more deep. I remember seeing this quote virtually Bob Dylan, information technology was this famous beat poet. I don't know why I'chiliad blanking on his proper noun, but he'south in the groundwork of the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" video.

Anyway, he was saying that Bob Dylan wanted to bring substance to radio – to pop songs on the radio, and if he could do that, that would exist the biggest achievement. And I always idea, I only knew music as that, considering he had already done that to radio and to pop music. He did that – he even influenced The Beatles! – only everyone that followed was impacted by this idea that it should mean more than than just this hollow or simple bulletin; it could be deeper. It could take more to swoop into. So I recall those people really, peculiarly Bob Dylan, he revolutionized it, to the indicate where at present, when I first started writing music, that was already part of what was natural. Simply in the '50s, you could spend your whole career just writing about honey and getting your centre broken, falling in love, getting your heart broken – every other song could exist that, and I remember the search for a good song idea got wider when some of these guys enhanced it.

Anybody that followed [Bob Dylan] was impacted by this idea that music should mean more than than just this hollow or simple message.

Exercise y'all meet The Lumineers continuing down this path of concept albums?

Schultz: I don't know! We're in the middle of our first official tour. It's hard to think that far alee – I don't even know where I'm going to be subsequently tomorrow. I think what it starts with is simply having some good vocal ideas on voice memos, so I'grand starting to exercise that and so is Jer for the next record. I think information technology'southward a little psycho to try to practice the same thing over and over. I don't think I'd make another motion-picture show about an album; that just seems like we did it; don't try to echo. So, I'll try to accept a notation from some of my favorite comedians, it seems like they but accept to offset over after they've released their special: Information technology's time to get back to the cartoon board.

I retrieve we'd be happier and more inspired to keep searching for the next thing that we find interesting, but what that is I don't know correct now. Nosotros're sort of in the eye of this first part of the chapter: The offset leg of tour, of well-nigh a yr and a one-half or two of touring. So I'k trying to live in the moment and be as present as I can!

To that end, you've talked to me about a couple of the songs from The Lumineers' discography that were well-nigh family members. I empathize that Iii was inspired in large part by family. Has family unit ever been a big influence on your songwriting, and what was information technology about this detail thread in Three that made it the correct time to swoop deep into these stories in song?

Schultz: Yes, I mean the family is a disguise for mainly a specific person in my life that is office of my family – my extended family, someone that I'grand tied in with closely. My dad is a psychologist, and he communicated a lot, and family has always been really important to me – I have a family now, I have a son. Information technology'southward always been pretty obvious to me, because I was interested in psychology, that part of how we plough out is the nurture – is the family and the care that you do or don't become, and the habits you form and the imitations you take of your parents.

So for me, that's been and will be forever fascinating, considering people are people are so strangely interesting. Yous tin can brand it up, but sometimes hearing existent stories tin can exist the most exciting thing for me, y'all know – simply realizing that some of these things really happened. My dad's family, for example, was really splintered apart by the eldest son serving then dying in Vietnam. And my mom, both her parents died when she was pretty young separately, merely she had to go virtually a surrogate mother to her youngest brother. I recall simply knowing some of that and seeing their dynamics and how things have turned out for them, and hearing almost my dad's family unit… There was just a lot that I always found fascinating or interesting, and as a writer, yous're sort of like a vampire: You're excited to learn about information technology, yous're also taking from that. I remember by exploring information technology and writing about information technology, there's this skilful that happens, but y'all are as a writer pretty strangely… I don't know if "selfish" is the right word, but yous're sort of, that's where y'all want to go – is some of the darker places, and learn nearly some of these nitty gritty details. I think at the terminate of the day it proves to exist a positive, merely it is kind of a strange thing to be a writer, and seek that out. So I don't know if information technology's like the most valiant thing, but I think if yous are open and you're likewise turning the focus to yourself at times, information technology feels fair. It's like a comic who makes fun of everyone in the crowd and also makes fun of themselves.

And so for me, yous know, there are a few songs… I tin point to one in detail, "Long Way from Dwelling house." My dad passed abroad, and it's about him, but information technology'south as well about me feeling like I failed and kind of ran away when he needed me nigh. And I retrieve saying that out loud, I recollect information technology'south therapeutic and also, if people are going to know you, at least allow them know some of the real you. Information technology'south surprising, because a lot of people, one time you practice that, they're more willing to do that equally well.

If people are going to know y'all, at least let them know some of the existent you.

Held on to hope like a noose, like a rope
God and medicine have no mercy on him
Poisoned his blood, and burned out his throat
Enough is plenty, he'southward a long manner from abode

Days of my youth wasted on a selfish fool
Who ran for the hills from the manus yous were dealt
I flew far abroad, as far every bit I could get
Your time is running out
And I'grand a long way from home

Laid up in bed, you were laid upward in bed
Holding the hurting like you're property your breath
I prayed you could sleep, sleep like a rock
You're right next to me
But yous're a long style from home

Infirmary gowns never fit like they should
We yelled at the nurse, didn't do any expert
More morphine, the concluding words y'all moaned
At last I was certain
That you lot weren't far abroad from home

– "Long Way From Dwelling," The Lumineers

I think about just how personal your second album was. III is honest in a unlike way: Yous're telling stories that are now always your stories anymore, simply you're looking into bigger themes, however from a personal no-holds-barred lens. That's not really a question, and so much equally information technology is an observation.

Schultz: I call back part of what I felt was the claiming of even writing nigh a family unit fellow member who is battling addiction, is not to make information technology a caricature, merely to endeavour to do justice to both sides of the story. Not to be likewise lenient, ane way or the other. And then, something like "Leader of the Landslide," I think, really paints a picture of the nature of being around an aficionado, and then what that person is experiencing. "Gloria," the song opens with a guitar: That guitar is dominant, and that song is from the perspective of the child, basically the daughter to her mother, the female parent being an alcoholic. And then when yous hear the pianoforte have over, that's the female parent's side of the story, and and then information technology keeps going back and forth.

Not that people would know that, simply I think when y'all know, that it makes a lot more sense why what's being said is being said, and I think that was the challenge: How practice I non just say it from i perspective?! Because I remember that'south why information technology's so complicated. Information technology's much easier to talk near simply your side of information technology, or explain it in a more one-sided or 1-dimensional way, simply to try to be like, if the addict heard this song, would they experience like I did them justice? Only that I was still honest. I remember that's where the F-bombs come up from in "Leader of the Landslide," is like, really singing that and really feeling that acrimony, because you honey the person. What a foreign thought, right, that y'all'd be and then upset or injure by somebody – and it's because yous dearest them that it makes it that much harder. I thought that was an interesting part of addiction: Similar in "Gloria," information technology says, "my hand was tied to yours," it's like, that's how you feel. You're anchored to them.

I have and so much respect for y'all for taking that risk; it definitely pays off. Speaking of bringing people in, what songs from Iii are y'all finding people reply to the near live? I imagine that "My Cell" is a special moment.

Schultz: Yeah, "My Cell" has been unexpectedly a big moment. "Leader of the Landslide," "Gloria" feels like it's been out for years, in that information technology has this visceral quality I think people have responded in this amazing way to… Just I would say "My Cell," "Leader of the Landslide," "Common salt and the Sea," "It Wasn't Easy"… It'southward merely been overall really gratifying and surprising, compared to when we put out anthology 2, how much faster people seem to understand. It sort of hits them in this way that feels more natural. Having now had two albums out and we're at present calculation a 3rd, it feels a lot more like people just get information technology. It took a while… With songs off of the second anthology, those accept become more than staples in the fix, and now we're adding less overall, and then information technology's easier for people to take the new stuff in and become excited by information technology. So I've been enjoying that… I think the song on "My Cell" is also different than a lot of the record, then I recall people are a picayune defenseless off guard, because not everybody listens to the whole record before they go to a show on a new album cycle – so information technology'southward been enjoyable to surprise people with that!

I recognize that information technology tin can exist actually difficult to write near that which is closest to habitation, and from a very personal standpoint I admire what you have made with the ring. What were the hardest songs for you lot to write in Iii?

Schultz: Cheers man, I appreciate information technology. I think when we were singing "Leader of the Landslide" or "Gloria," writing that… Those two were actually difficult. I was brought to tears, both writing those songs at times and singing them at the studio. I think but the discipline matter felt heavy and personal, but information technology was also freeing… I'm not a religious person in an organized sense, merely it near felt similar a cleansing or something.

So I think those two, fifty-fifty though they're very dissimilar tones to them, I think they were both trying to – to me, there'south a hopefulness, fifty-fifty though it tin can exist very dark, whether it's the music or the delivery, I don't know, but those were some of the hardest places to go to. So when we perform them, they're some of the more rewarding, because it's raw, and when you're singing about information technology you're kind of thinking nigh it – thinking about what yous're singing about (it'due south hard not to), and information technology brings something out of yous that it's not and so much operation as it is only coming through – you're channeling something. And I think that'due south good! I feel lucky that every bit a songwriter, that's something nosotros're called to exercise; we're lucky that that'due south our job, considering people need to feel. Information technology's kind of an isolated environment today, and I think that's why the live show is that much more important, and why it tin kind of never die. Information technology tin can't be replaced by watching it at abode, because coming together and beingness together, you tin't replace that or you can't substitute that out with virtual reality.

People need to feel. Information technology's kind of an isolated environment today, and I call back that's why the live show is that much more than of import.

Would y'all say that these songs that were difficult to write are too some of your most meaningful moments on the album?

Schultz: Yeah, I would say the challenging ones are meaningful to me for sure. I retrieve that some of them just feel a lot more than telling, you know my story, versus some of them are telling a compelling story that I find interesting. One like "Love Fashion from Home" or "Leader of the Landslide," I think those tap into something that, they become the hardest to perform, but it'south almost like a souvenir, considering like I said you're non trying to summon some enthusiasm out of yourself that's not going to exist at that place unless yous try; it's merely there, considering yous feel raw about it. And so it'south sort of a blessing in disguise.

You lot jump from the section on "Donna," straight to the grandson, and then dorsum to the father. Why were these sections split this way, and not chronologically?

Schultz: Just because of the sequencing. We had sequenced the album and put the songs in the social club nosotros liked them, and then these ideas most this family came after. Information technology's non a sexy answer; information technology's just we thought the album had a flow to it, and I didn't want to break that upward just to brand it make sense time-wise. I'd seen enough movies, Memento probably being the most famous example, where they bound around in time, and I didn't think that was a large obstacle – then I thought people could figure it out if we explained it right.

What are your biggest takeaways from III? What has this album taught you, and what do you lot think information technology stands to show others?

Schultz: Non that much time has passed, so I don't have a lot of insight to an answer. I will say, what I've learned is that a lot more people bargain with addiction than y'all'd ever imagine. And I would say that based on the immediate reaction and the reaction since from coming together people on the street, and at meet n' greets, and fans at shows. It's almost like a confessional anthology, that'south met with people confessing to you some inner feeling that they didn't really experience permission to feel, or similar there was an audience for. But if you lot put yourself out in that location for a moment, it'due south amazing to realize that addiction is very much a taboo. And it doesn't need to be, in the style it is. I retrieve, but non necessarily having an reply, only saying I think it's important that we acknowledge it amongst each other and talk virtually it, I recollect that'south a first stride, for me, of the healing – and non causing someone to behave around secrets needlessly, when the brunt of what they're going through is already heavy enough.

I'd exist remiss if we didn't talk nigh "Democracy." I understand why it'southward not on the anthology as a part of this story, but I too call up about how in "Jimmy Sparks" y'all sing, "It's u.s.a. or them." At the very end, we take this coda with songs that don't necessarily fit into the trilogy. "Democracy" talks all virtually the struggles that we're having right now, and I'd merely dear to hear a little bit about your take on this, and where this song came from personally.

Schultz: It's a Leonard Cohen song, so it came from growing up listening to this album, The Future. It's one of my favorite albums and one of my favorite songs off there, and so it just came from loving that song and then being invited to perform it. His son was throwing a memorial show for him, and he invited the states, and we were honored – so we said yes, and that was the song nosotros concluded up playing. It was written, I believe, in the late '80s, early '90s, but it'southward oddly super appropriate at present, and I think that shows the ability of his writing. I originally wanted to put it on the album, merely information technology kind of got squeezed out because of this family that emerged. It didn't really fit, only I was still really proud of the vocal, so I wanted it to be on the record in some form.

Finishing off, I know you're going to exist touring the States with Mt. Joy (one of my favorite acts) very soon, only I'd like to stop by asking who you're listening to, and who nosotros should have on our radar?

Schultz: I actually like this guy named Daniel Rodriguez. He used to be in a band chosen Elephant Revival.I think they've disbanded, only he's doing his ain matter and he has an album coming out, and he has this actually beautiful EP. I've been listening to that really constantly.

I would as well say Gregory Alan Isakov. I toured with him years ago, and I'm just a huge fan. His nearly recent tape, I just saw, got nominated for a Grammy for folk album, and it's this amazing, amazing anthology. It doesn't surprise me that it was nominated; it'south this awesome work, and I'm really, really happy for him. And so I would say those two are artists that I've been listening to a lot lately.

Oh, and Big Thief! I really love them. I've been listening to this band Big Thief a ton; they're astonishing. Just unbelievable songwriting, and they have their own sound and universe. When you lot hear information technology, you lot immediately know you lot're in Big Thief'south world.

Songs of Triumph and Redemption: Gregory Alan Isakov's Breathtaking 'Evening Machines'

:: INTERVIEW ::

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Three

an album by The Lumineers

**Watch III: The Moving-picture show**

:: The Lumineers Bout ::

* with Mt. Joy

Feb 1 – Asheville, NC – U.S. Cellular Center
Feb 4 – Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Arena*
February 5 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Centre*
Feb 7 – Detroit, MI – Trivial Caesars Arena*
Feb 8 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse*
February eleven – K Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena*
Feb xiii – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center*
February 16 – Charlottesville, VA – John Paul Jones Arena*
Feb 18 – Indianapolis, IN – Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Feb 19 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena*
February 22 – Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena
February 25 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paint Arena
February 26 – Buffalo, NY – Key Depository financial institution Middle*
Feb 28 – Washington DC – Capital letter One Loonshit
Feb 29 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena*
Mar four – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena*
Mar 7 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Center*
May fifteen – Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Wood Mitchell Pavilion
May 16 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion
May 19 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily'south Place
May 20 — Jacksonville, FL — Daily's Place
May 22 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Matrimony Amphitheatre
May 23 – Due west Palm Beach, FL – Coral Sky Amphitheatre
May 27 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Amphitheater
May 29 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
May xxx – Lakewood, GA – Cellaris Amphitheater at Lakewood
Jun 2 – Raleigh, NC – Credit Coast Wedlock Music Park
Jun v – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion
Jun 6 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Heart
June 9 — Gilford, NJ — Depository financial institution of New Hampshire Pavilion
Jun ten – Gilford, NH – Banking company of New Hampshire Pavilion
Jun 12 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
June 13 — Wood Hills, NY — Forest Hills Stadium
Aug 12 — Common salt Lake City, UT — Maverik Center
Aug 14 — Portland, OR — Moda Middle
Aug 15 — George, WA — Gorge Amphitheatre
Aug 18 — San Francisco, CA — Hunt Center
Aug 21 — Los Angeles, CA — STAPLES Middle
Aug 25 — San Diego, CA — Pechanga Arena San Diego
Aug 26 — Glendale, AZ — Gila River Arena
Aug 29 — Denver, CO — Coors Field
Sept 2 — Calgary, AB — Scotiabank Saddledome
Sept four — Edmonton, AB — Rogers Place
Sept 8 — Vancouver, BC — Rogers Arena
Sept 11 — Saskatoon, SK — SaskTel Centre
Sept 12 — Winnipeg, MB — Bell MTS Identify
Sept 15 — Kansas City, MO — Sprint Eye
Sept 18 — Austin, TX — Frank Erwin Centre

tix & more info @ thelumineers.com

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The Lumineers' 3 Is a Sonic and Cinematic Masterpiece

:: OUR Accept ::

The Lumineers' "The Ballad of Cleopatra," a Life Story Filled with Wisdom

:: REVIEW ::