MEET THE BAND: Laura Rain (vocals), Steven Bostik (bass), Scott Veenstra (drums), George Friend (guitar)
A DETROIT SOUND: Rain grew up just south of Detroit,, listening to Motor City acts such as Aretha Franklin. "I have been singing ever since I can remember," says Rain. "It called to me. It was a seed planted inside of me. I keep trying to live up to the potential because I really don't know where it came from." After she moved to Los Angeles a couple of years ago, she started booking her own shows. "In the little community I lived in north of Burbank, the people were really receptive to what I was doing, which was Detroit music," she says. "I kept along with that time." A few years ago, Rain and Friend independently moved from Los Angeles to Detroit. They met in the summer of 2012 and started writing about two weeks after they met.
AN ELECTRIFYING DEBUT: The group released its debut, Electrified, in 2013. "It was just meant to be," says Rain. "It was easy and fun. Everything just came together. It was an interesting process. I had written some songs before I moved back to Detroit. Some we wrote together. In the first three or four months of us meeting, we wrote everything quickly." They recorded it and its followup in their living room with a variety of Detroit musicians. For the last two albums and the single "Pleasure Zone," they went to a vintage studio in Pontiac. "We recorded to tape while we were all in a room," she says. "That studio is no longer there, so I'm glad we got to capture that room and that sound and energy." The group is currently in the process of recording its next album and will enlist a few different producers this time around. "We're really trying to reach out," says Rain when asked about the release. "We'll do some of the songs at the Music Box show. It's slowly coming together."
WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: Songs such as "Super Duper Love" and "Soul Creature" are straight-up blues jams that allow Friend to show off his chops. Rain shakes a mean tambourine on the tracks as well. "In My Life" features more of a soul/R&B vibe as Rain really wails on the tune.
WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: laurarain.net.
WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Laura Rain and the Caesars perform at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, at the Music Box Supper Club.
