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The Atlanta based pop/rock band, Last November, is currently touring the US picking up rave reviews along the way. Their overwhelming charm and personality spills out of their music and into the jammed packed crowds each night. As fans cheer for Last November from coast to coast, it is not too late to jump on the bandwagon and catch Last November coming to a city near you!
Last November consist of lead singer/guitarist Luke Pilgrim, bass player Tyler Ayers, and on the drums and lending his voice to tracks is Taylor Woodruff. Hailing from the home of the peach, these pop-rockers offer audiences passionate lyrics that are paired with amazing beats. PopStar spoke with lead singer Luke Pilgrim about the unique story behind their hit music video "Seventeen at Three in the Morning."
There are many admirable things about Last November; their raw lyrics that speak truth, their upbeat quirky personalities that seep into their music, and their wilingness to try anything. After teaming up with production teams on two previous music videos, the band decided they wanted to create and film their own music video for their upcoming song "Seventeen at Three in the Morning."
Credit to the band, the friends, the cast and family members that stood behind them, this music video turned out to be the big break for Last November. PopStar spoke with lead singer and guitarist Luke Pilgrim who talks about his cousin being his mentor, his goals as a songwriter, and gives us detailed exclusives from the two-day video shoot.
PopStar: Can you tell our readers how you got started playing music? I read that you wrote your first album at 15, is that true?
Luke Pilgrim : I was about eleven when I got my first guitar. My cousin is this phenomenal guitar player who went to school and studied music. He started teaching me and I guess I picked up on it pretty fast. So he kept showing me stuff and then he turned me on to different types of music, different blues artists. Eventually, I started writing songs at 13, I am sure they were terrible, but that is when I started. I started keeping a notebook full of thoughts; I don't even know what I wrote about back then.
PopStar: Can you give us some back story on Last November?
Luke Pilgrim: We formed Last November in the 10th grade of high school and since then it has been routing cast members. Taylor, our drummer, and myself are the original, remaining members. We did a record that we recorded independently that we recorded in my parent's basement where we built a studio. We packed and released it ourselves and Southern Tracks approached us and wanted to release the album with their label. That was the first time we had real distribution, so that was really cool. When the time came around to do another album we did it with Southern Tracks. We recorded at Southern Tracks studio which was a big difference from our basement studio. Southern Tracks is a phenomenal studio where everyone from Incubus to Bruce Springsteen to Stone Temple Pilots recorded. It was an amazing opportunity and it was great to work with producer Steven Hagler.
PopStar: Outside of your cousin, were you professional trained?
Luke Pilgrim : I have always had a pretty good ear so I have played by ear for the most part. I took lessons for about a year or two and I did learn classical guitar. At the time I was a kid and I was like "I don't want to play this." I didn't really stick with it very long, I learned to read the music, but I never really got that into guitar lessons. Most of what I learned was from my cousin or stuff I picked up along the way.
PopStar: Many have tagged your music as pop. Would you classify your music as pop and do you see your sound changing in the future?
Luke Pilgrim: Yeah, it is definitely pop music. To me pop music is a good thing, people have this stigma that goes along with pop but to me it is a cool thing. I write a lot of different styles so we are working on some stuff that is different, almost country rock. We will see what the future holds for us.
PopStar: You have such beautiful and passionate lyrics, what inspires you to write?
Luke Pilgrim: I guess it always varies. Usually there is something that sparks my initial thought process whether it is a good idea or something that has happened to me. A lot of times it ends up being somewhat fictious, I embellish, maybe it was interesting to me, but I have to juice it up a little bit for other people to enjoy the story.
PopStar: Your music video "Seventeen at Three in the Morning " is amazing. Can you tell us about filming the music video for that song?
Luke Pilgrim: When it came down to doing the musical video for "Seventeen at Three in the Morning" we wanted to do it ourselves. We bought this really cool HD camera and we literally did everything in the video ourselves. Our lights were construction lights, all the kids in the video were found off of a casting call we did on MySpace, we sat down and drew up storyboards.
PopStar: Oh wow! That is a major undertaking. Can you tell us more?
Luke Pilgrim: The funny thing is that classroom we shot was my middle school classroom. The classroom was completely empty and we brought in all the desks ourselves. The chalkboard was really just a corkboard that I spray painted with chalk board spray paint to make it look like a chalk board. The gym scene had 50-75 kids and we had to teach them to clap in unison and we only had eight hours to shoot. We did the video in two days. It was a fun experience, I almost had a nervous breakdown but it was worth it.
PopStar: You guys are currently on tour. Do you find time to write on tour?
Luke Pilgrim: I write a pretty good bit on the road lyrically. I don't have a lot of time to be on the guitar so I just write. We love being on the road; it's fun and it is a different kind of experience.
PopStar: Luke, what is your goal as a musician?
Luke Pilgrim: As a songwriter I want to write lyrics that are timeless that everyone can relate to. You put on an Elton John song written twenty years ago and you put it on today and it is still great; that is what I want to do.
PopStar: Message to the fans.
Luke Pilgrim: A huge thank you! The most fun and rewarding thing about being on tour is meeting the fans in all these cities we visit.
Can't get enough of lead singer Luke and his band Last November? Well head over to their website lastnovember.com to sign up for newsletters, read recent blogs, and check out their music video "Seventeen at Three in the Morning."
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