An Interview with Lonesome House
By Eric Gasa with reporting from Dylan Mills
After a long winded hour of hardcore guitar mangling, blood curdling death metal screams and people leaving through the backdoor, the boys and girls of Springfield band Lonesome House did something miraculous in that hot, dark underbelly of the Outland Ballroom’s center stage.
The previous band, a flash in the pan metal outfit with an affinity of spitting onstage, had already left its mark on the audience with many people leaving in cliques and hanging back towards the bar. A few hipsters chatted towards the front with their backs towards the music but the crowd was steadily dwindling; with the arrival of this new act, one could feel a timid curiosity building in the room.
A brave few inched closer towards the stage as Lonesome House set up their equipment and cleared the sound check. Vocalist Erin Malone flashed an acoustic guitar, a rare sight in the set list that night, and played a quick chord over the speakers. Heads around the room began to turn. As said before, Lonesome House did something miraculous when they hit the Outland main stage that night; boasting the instrumental diversity of Arcade Fire and the melodic guitars of Kings of Leon, the band was making tidal waves out of the crowd as they played.
One by one, the mass of bodies centered towards the stage began to sway like willows. The odd rage and mediocrity of the previous set was assuaged with the performance of this genteel band. During “Spirits and Stories” hands started filling the air, not to fist pump or hold up a beer, but just to experience the music. Lonesome House had calmed the night like a sea.
Several weeks later Lonesome House reclines at a coffee shop only a block away from the venue where their first show was held. The might of the band sits behind a long wooden table in the center of the room; across from the interview is electric guitarist and vocalist Jared Statler, smiling behind a pair of rimmed eyeglasses; to his left, Erin Malone, acoustic guitarist and vocalist.
Positioned further down and to the right is bassist, Cody Bivins and drummer Chris Ragain. Two members of the band were unavailable today, Erin Malone’s sister Esther, who supplies keyboard and vocals, as well as the band’s violinist, Alicia Dair. But despite the two absentees, the band’s camaraderie remains intact as they joke about throwing in an accordion on their next gig and why Cody should be ashamed for not having watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It sounds like a big deal.
To epitomize the band in a handful of words, Lonesome House could best be described by their namesake, which ironically, according to Statler, actually means nothing.
“Okay, so we were figuring out different words and putting the word ‘house’ after it, right?” says Statler, turning his head to Erin, “Right?” She smiles as Cody laughs from the corner of the table, “And I just thought lonesome? Lonesome… House? Hey that sounds great,” goes Statler.
“But we can always change it tomorrow!” warns Malone. “You know it doesn’t really mean anything but we just like it,” continues Statler, “The imagery definitely fits our music.”
But the actual sound of Lonesome House is not so easily categorized. Between the six songs on the band’s EP Stories the group spans an impressive range of moods. “Untitled” is actually a ballad written by Esther Malone and inspired by The Secret Life of Walter Mitty; a special movie that the band cites as a mission statement to their music. Meant to emulate some of the adventurous elements of the movie, “Untitled” is blessed with a certain free-spiritedness between Esther’s vocals and the song’s excellent violin-electric guitar cohesion.
“MMXIV” braces the more somber elements of the EP with a gray-washed air towards life’s adversity. Vocalist Jared Statler seems to lyrically expose his demons in a song that he says was inspired by “some of the darker times in my life.” Statler takes a moment as he looks back upon his thoughts behind “MMXIV”.
“The soft spot of the song is my favorite because I just want to cry when I sing it,” he says, “The chorus is like God calling me by name.”
“I’d say that everyone in the band is Christian. We wouldn’t like to be labeled as a Christian band but as Christians who make music,” explains Statler, concerning the Biblical references on the album. But despite the religious undertones, what Lonesome House produces on Stories is pure emotion.
Capping off the album is the powerful “To Those Who Wander”, featuring guest vocalists Juan Pardo and Zach Mayfield in a reeling tour-de-force spoken word account. Easily the most gripping song from the band “To Those Who Wander” shows how music if not faith can transcend boundaries. Cast in the melodies and riffs of the music is something purely human regardless of faith, or as Erin says, “Forget the lyrics whether you’re Christian or not and just enjoy the music.”
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