Shortly after it formed in 2008, the local indie rock group 70 Lewis entered a Battle of the Bands contest. It had its sights set on the prize — recording time at Lava Room Recording — and after winning the contest, it was finally able to cut the tracks for its debut album, East Coast Sunday Morning, which it released in 2010.
“We got $3,000 to record our songs, and that steamrolled the album,” says singer Mike Gray in a Zoom call with drummer Chris Hoffman. “After that, we moved forward and started working with Lava Room’s Mike Brown and established a good relationship with him. Even all these years later, we have continued to work with him and Lava Room.”
When East Coast Sunday Morning came out, the band played a release show at the Winchester in Lakewood.
“That was a big show for us,” says Hoffman. “We had played there five or six times before that. That’s always been our homecoming venue. We did our headlining show. I think we sold out that show.”
Recently reunited, the band has just announced it’ll play a reunion show on Friday, Jan. 9. In a full circle moment, the gig will take place at the Winchester. The group will also release The Briefcase, its first new album in years as well. A collection of Flaming Lips-like tunes, the release showcases the group’s ability to deliver accessible indie rock.
After East Coast Sunday Morning’s release, the group gigged around town and appeared regularly on Inner Sanctum, a local radio program that was popular at the time. It had started building momentum as it sought a record label deal.
“That got us into what I would call the confusing phase of being steered by the industry to conform to radio ready music,” says Gray when asked about the time period.
The group played showcases in Nashville and other cities to get national exposure and signed to a label.
“We were trying to write something more commercial that was still within our scope,” says Hoffman.
“When we started writing, the music was vast,” says Gray. “It was jazz to progressive to alternative to piano rock and pop. We were writing and drew people into our music because it was so different. We got caught in this vortex and thought that getting signed or at least working with a production company was what we wanted to do. The messaging we were getting was that they needed a banger four-minute song they could put on the radio. The writing started trending that way, and it felt like we were moving away from ourselves. We have now gone back to writing what feels good and what we want to play and what is fun. It feels like we’re back where we’re started.”
The group would split in 2012, but band members kept in touch, and during the pandemic shutdown, Gray got back in touch with guitarist Scott Young.
“A lot of artists went into the deep, dark cave and started writing during the pandemic,” Gray says. “I’m sure COVID had something to do with it for me, and I just felt this calling back to music.”
Gray says he’s also experienced a lot of personal growth since the band’s first incarnation.
“I’ve gotten married and had a kid and taken my career more seriously and seen friends go through tragedies,” he says. “I was finally coming to terms with my issues and the things I go to therapy for and have to get off my chest. I just wanted to get that out there. When I started writing material again, it just felt right. I felt like I was on a new level of writing, and I liked that feeling. That’s where Scott [Young] comes into the fold. I love writing a good melody, but I am terrible at song structure.”
During the pandemic, he and Young met up at Young’s house and rekindled their friendship. That led to new songs. Since Young has a home studio, the guys had a place to record and finished the tunes that would make up the album The Briefcase.
“I don’t know that we talked about playing live at the time,” says Gray. “We just wanted to put the songs out because they sound like us. We then checked with everyone else to see if playing a show resonated with them. There were some things to work out about how to play the material and mesh the songs into a live show.”
In addition to the new album, the band has put out a 15th anniversary edition of East Coast Sunday Morning that includes pre-production demos and live material. They’ve also released East Coast Sunday Sessions with more older demos and live material.
Gray and Hoffman say that the live show will be “a nice mix of older material and newer material.”
“The songs all feel cohesive, and the new material doesn’t feel jarring,” says Gray. “What Chris [Hoffman] does really well is putting together a set list. That is an art form. I think the set list we have is really powerful and fun. Colour Phase is another local band that will open the show for us. They’re great and have a good following. We’ll do something like 20 songs.”
Since the guys all grew up together and went to Lakewood High School, the Winchester show will also mark a return to their roots.
“The majority of us were in the music program,” says Hoffman. “It’s nice playing music again and taking the pressures off and having fun again and playing together as friends. We’ll see how it goes and then start to look to the future. We pride ourselves on performing and trying to put on a show for everyone. That is always a huge thing. I wanna go on stage and get lost in the moment with the people I love the most.”
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