Catch up with Arizona based blues-rock band Loveless Effect's Seth Loveless and Forest Towers and look for their forthcoming debut EP to be released soon.
What brought you all together?
Seth: Forest and I have known each other since we were 5 and 4 years old - that was when we first met - but we didn't start playing music together until we were about 13 and 12. I was 13 and I started playing guitar and was learning Johnny Cash and AC/DC songs and Forest was interested in the guitar so he picked it up a bit, but then he figured out that he liked bass better; he started playing a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers and funky bass stuff like that. We didn't meet Justin, the drummer, until I was a freshman in high school and then we started playing music together when Justin and I were sophomores and Forest was a freshman in high school - he was a year behind us. That was when we all started and we didn't really get serious until later.
Forest: Yeah, at first it was just a hobby; we'd get with our friends and make a lot of noise.
How did you decide on your name, Loveless Effect?
Seth: Well, they thought that my last name had a cool sound to it. It was actually their idea and Forest thought of the band name. We wanted it to be Loveless something, so we were writing down a bunch of ideas and then Forest came up with Loveless Effect and we liked the way that sounded; it kind of reminded me of Hendrix Experience or something when he thought of that, so I thought that was cool. We kind of joke, saying we hope that our music effects people in a good way [laughs].
Which musicians have you been influenced by, individually or as a group?
Seth: I've listened to music since I was young and my favorite guitarist is Chet Atkins; he was a finger style guitarist and he played all sorts of types of music like jazz and classical and country and he's my greatest guitar influence. I also listen to a lot of classic rock music and, growing up, I loved AC/DC and Aerosmith and Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and guys like that. I also really got into Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, so some of the older country acts and classic rock and Chet Atkins, those are the guys that influenced me.
Forest: A lot of people.
Seth: That's a lot of people [laughs].
Forest: For me, it was Iron Maiden. I love Iron Maiden, Steve Harris' bass lines are amazing. And Red Hot Chili Peppers; Flea is one crazy guy. That's about it for me [laughs].
What's in your playlist now?
Forest: We've been listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin lately.
Seth: Yeah, the Led Zeppelin 1 album.
Forest: A lot of Led Zeppelin.
Seth: In general [laughs].
How would you describe your own sound?
Seth: Our own sound is an amalgamation of all these influences we have. Forest does a lot of melodic bass lines and he gets that from Iron Maiden and stuff and then I do a lot of fingerpick guitar on the acoustic and electric and then Justin, the drummer, he really likes Rush, so he does a lot of cool drum solos and drum grooves. My voice is raspy, so there's a kind of soul thing going there. I would say a little bit of Fleetwood Mac, a little bit of Led Zeppelin, a little bit of blues - there's definitely a blues element in there. So, a lot of classic rock influences you can definitely hear in it, but we also really like Foo Fighters and they're more alternative and punk rock, so there's a little bit of that edge, especially in the newer stuff we've been writing.
You're heading out on tour with American Young and Sasha McVeigh, do you have a favorite song to perform on stage?
Forest: With Sasha, I like "Someone To Break My Heart". I like to play that one a lot.
Seth: I like playing her song "Hot Mess" because I get to do a lot of lead guitar on that one [laughs].
Forest: Of our own songs, I like "Street Corner Jim".
Seth: Yeah, he likes "Street Corner Jim" off the EP. Off or our EP, my favorite song to play would probably be "Black Smoke Rising".
Forest: Yeah, that one's pretty cool.
Seth: I like to jam and there's an instrumental jam at the end of that one, so it's my favorite one to play.
Could you tell us more about that EP?
Seth: Well, you can definitely expect to hear -
Forest: Variety
Seth: A variety, that's for sure, 'cause each song is different from the other. You'll definitely get a variety, you'll definitely hear those influences we talked about in the music. There's a lot of guitar work, fingerpick guitar and lead guitar, and heavy hitting drums and some cool bass grooves, so that's what you'll be hearing. We hope that you like it [laughs].
Forest: [Laughs] That's true.
How would you sum up your debut EP in one sentence?
Seth: It is a good EP [laughs]. Let's try a good one, I'm just messing.
Forest: I don't know, I guess that works [laughs].
Seth: It will take you on a musical journey.
What do you want your listeners to be able to take away from your music?
Seth: When I listen to music I definitely get lost in it and I guess I would like our listeners to listen to our music and get lost into it and forget about any troubles they could be having. They just turn the songs on, they get lost in them, and they jam to them, and they forget about any other troubles they have going on and, if we can do that with our music, then that's pretty cool. That's what I hope our listeners would take away from our music.
Forest: That'd be pretty cool. For me, I think as long as it makes them happy and I can see smiles on faces when I'm playing, that always makes me feel better, about myself even.
Is there anything you'd like to add?
Forest: Look us up on Facebook.
Seth: Look us up on our social media. We have a Facebook and Twitter and a website.
