Interview: Lucius

After establishing themselves as some of modern music’s go-to backup vocalists through collaborations with The War on Drugs, Grace Potter, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, and many more top artists — not to mention touring as part of Roger Waters’ band — Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe were in Nashville in March 2020, working on Lucius’ new album, when they heard the news.

“We were writing and we were in Sheryl Crow's living room as they were announcing lockdown,” Laessig says. “And we had to act fast. We got a flight home early because we were worried that we were going to get stuck.”

By that point, the duo had written the soulful and soul-searching ballad “The Man I’ll Never Find” — inspired by Wolfe’s divorce from bandmate/multi-instrumentalist Dan Molad — and portions of a few other songs that would wind up on their third LP, Second Nature. Back at their respective homes in Los Angeles, they continued to create as best they could while the COVID-19 pandemic held the world captive, and wound up (virtually) seeking co-writes for the first time in their career.

“We had been out with Roger for so long and we were getting back into the writing. We were talking about writing maybe for other people or for commercial work, so we were just sort of exploring what that would even be like because we've never done that before,” Laessig says. “We had a couple sessions in-person before lockdown, and we thought, ‘Well, we've got all this time. Why not explore co-writing with other people and just keep the ball rolling?’”

From that experimentation, the pair clicked particularly well with Trent Dabbs, Eli Teplin, and Jenn Decilveo, prompting them to continue working with them while touring and travel were resticted. Multiple songs arose from each partnership, but their biggest team-up occurred when their friend and collaborator Brandi Carlile invited them back to Nashville, offering to co-produce the album with Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit; Chris Stapleton) — who had his own game-changing idea for Second Nature.

“It was Dave’s idea to make a disco record,” Wolfe says. “At first, we just had to pour our hearts out. There was a lot going on in our lives — in all of our lives. And then we were over digging through the trenches and wanted to make light of something difficult. And that's when the dance party started.”

Photo by Chloe Chippendale

In tandem with their supportive bandmates Molad and fellow multi-instrumentalist Peter Lalish — both of whom Laessig calls “total sound nerds and wizards who are always experimenting with this and that” — the vocalists went synth-heavy on the album’s numerous upbeat tracks. With goosebump-inducing rising “oo-ooh”s leading into its energetic chorus, “Next to Normal” plays like a lost ABBA song, and on the empowering “Dance Around It,” Lucius turned the tables on Carlile and Crow, pulling in the noted lead vocalists as background singers — a role the superstars were more than willing to embrace.

“It was awesome. They were so down for it and supportive. They came in and were like, ‘Anything you want us to do, you tell us. We're here to support you guys,’” Laessig recalls before laughing at the memory. “It was strange because these rock stars are in the room, singing the most ridiculous things: ‘Dance, dance, dance!’”

“We had Sheryl doing some Mariah [Carey] shit,” Wolfe says. “They were total badasses, but I'm sure they joked about it later, though. Like, ‘Did you hear what we just did today?’”

Lucius will bring that poppy, fun sense of sisterhood to Greenville, S.C.’s Peace Pavilion on Friday, April 14, where they’ll also show off more on-stage activity than on past tours. Rather than keep to a keyboard station or around one mic, they’ve challenged themselves with help from the songs off Second Nature to move their bodies and traverse the stage more than usual.

“I'm still not sure that we're that comfortable with it,” Wolfe says with a laugh. “But it's good practice and it's been really fun just to keep moving and to try and connect with people in a different way. It would be very weird if we were stationary the whole time, singing these dance songs. If we're expecting other people to get up and move, we better be willing to do these things, too.”

IF YOU GO

Who: Lucius with Danielle Ponder
When: Friday, April 14, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Peace Pavilion, 300 S. Main St., Greenville, SC, peacecenter.org
Tickets: $35-$109

(Photo by Max Wanger)