Why The Lumineers Didn't Jump Ship On Their Indie Label

The Lumineers, much like their indie counterparts London Grammar and rock brothers Royal Blood, faced the monumental task to follow up to their hugely successful debut album. Time might have only handed them a matter of days to record their first LP, but they had almost a decade to write and hone the songs that would appear on it.

This time around, they had almost two months to spend in the studio, but key pieces, such as the lyrics, came together in the middle of recording. They had something to prove. They wanted the world to know they were bigger than ‘Ho Hey’, and they weren’t going to disappear into the background of indie rock, swallowed up by their multi-platinum-selling first album.

Their proof of expertise arrived early April in the form of Cleopatra, boasting deep, emotive lyrics. Lead singer Wesley Schultz, co-founder Jeremiah Fraites and cellist Neyla Pekarek retreated to New York’s Catskill mountain range to record with cult band The Felice Brothers’ Simone Felice, and the ensuing album captured that raw, human experience.

Despite their runaway success with debut LP The Lumineers, the band retained their indie label Dualtone Records to release their new album, opting for the sweat and tears dedication of the little guy versus the cashed-up might of major labels.

“It wasn’t anything around money, I guess it was around the freedom to put out records when you want them, and how you want them,” Schultz explained. “The other thing I’ve learned, is that, particularly on major labels, there’s a lot of turnover of personnel and changes, so the guy who advocates for you and wants to help you may not be there in six months.

“We tried to have ultimate freedom, so we signed a one record deal on the first album and the second album. That allows us to know who we’re working with, and know that they support the record. With all that being said, we were able to make the record we wanted to make, and we delivered it. No one was in the studio with us, no one heard it before it was done, so we were able to just say ‘hey, can you help us promote this now?’,” Schultz laughed.

“We got a couple of big songs from the first record in ‘Ho Hey’ and ‘Stubborn Love’, and it lead to an album being heard by a lot of people. It’s been something to overcome now, and I feel lucky that we have been able to establish that we are more than one record, more than one song. I think that having a label understand that and be supporting of that, versus trying to be about singles only, or something like that.”

Some artists opt for bombastic, black-and-white changes in their second album to distance themselves from the runaway success of their first LP, but the changes that The Lumineers made were more subtle to allow for a cohesive live experience. Schultz found a way to sonically connect the two albums for their extensive tours, and is more than pleased with the way the relationship between the two.

“They seem to mingle really well, and part of the reason is that by the end of the recording cycle of the first album, I was playing electric guitar on a lot of those songs. That’s why I played a lot more electric guitar on the second album, and that bridges the gap, so aesthetically there’s not this dramatic shift. At the end of the day we wanted to make songs that really worked on a primal, visceral level, so it could work in a coffee shop, or it could work in an arena. We wanted the songs to be strong,” Schultz enthused.

“The reaction from fans at the shows has been really big for these new songs. When we play ‘Ho Hey’, it’s almost like we’re covering someone else’s song, and we usually play it pretty early and get it out of the way so they know there’s more to this show. We’ve always done that,” Schultz frankly explained. “It helps to alleviate the tension around the people stressing out because they want to hear that particular song. It’s nice to be able to mix in some new songs, particularly the first half of Cleopatra, because it’s more of an upbeat climb.”

Part of the reason Cleopatra can meld so easily with The Lumineers’ eponymous release is because the band had so much time to breathe and capture their true aesthetic and personality once again within the removed surroundings of the Catskills mountain range.

“It was a completely different recording experience between the first album and the second. The first one was very rushed. It’s not something that most bands can’t relate to, getting into the studio for the first time, but for Jeremiah and I, we had recorded independently of professional recording studios on our own rig for seven years, so we finally got into a real studio, and it was a rushed experience because it cost so much per day.

“We had ten total days to record, and four days to mix, and then the second album we had six weeks to record, and another couple of weeks to mix. Speaking from my own selfish viewpoint as a singer, I was able to sink my teeth into the performance of a song a day, rather than four or five songs a day. A lot of it was done live, like ‘Long Way from Home’, ‘Gale Song’, ‘In My Eyes’, the whole vocal take from ‘Gun Song’, with no edits.

“It’s something that appeals to us, there’s an imperfection to it that makes it so much more, it’s human. It’s exciting to hear someone let it all out on the record, they’re not going in and trying to fix everything.”

“Our producer, Simone Felice, used to be in this amazing band called The Felice Brothers, and they have a pretty cult following everywhere in America. We’re both into lyrics, like, total nerds, we get such a kick out of lyricists, out of the poetry of music. We rode motorcycles every day, and that’s where I wrote a lot of lyrics if I didn’t have them finished. I’d be singing them to myself, on a bike, and then I’d stop and try to remember and jot it down in some way.

“I got to be around someone who was so obsessed with lyrics like I was, so I could bounce ideas off him on the fly,” Schultz recounted. “The last verse in ‘Cleopatra’ was something that Simone thought [we should add]. We finally did, and we were on this gravel driveway, walking back and forth and singing these parts to ourselves, and we were crying. That was how moved we were by the song and by what we were doing. It was one of those experiences that wasn’t even borderline spiritual. It was spiritual.”

With a story like that, you can’t help but imagine the immense undertaking the band went through to produce Cleopatra. The band’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed, however, with quite a few celebrities placing their weighty marks on recognition on the band, including a knightly slap to Jeremiah’s cheek.

“We were at the Grammys and we were walking the red carpet, heading to our seats. We crossed paths with Elton John,” Schultz recounted excitedly. “He says, ‘ah! The Lumineers!’, and Jeremiah responds with, ‘What? You’ve never heard our music!’ So, Elton John gives him a little slap on the cheek and goes, ‘oh yes I have. I love you guys!’ It was very correcting of him, and he kinda just kept walking.

“It was like he hypnotised us, and we were all so excited that Jeremiah just got slapped by Elton John. I think he mentioned ‘Flowers in Your Hair’ is a song he really liked. It was one of those moments when you feel very anonymous, and then someone says something like that to you. It happened with Taylor Swift one time, and it’s happened with random iconic people in the media and the world. Your brain can’t really understand that math.”

It’s the same math that the indie fans have calculated, resulting in the world-wide adoration of the American trio. While it is a stretch to say there will be any guest appearances from their celebrity fans, The Lumineers will be appearing at Bluesfest 2017, with sideshows in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.