Tonight indie rock darlings The Lighthouse and The Whaler return to their hometown as part of the Bad Racket Summer Series, coordinated by Bad Racket Recording Studios, at BUCKBUCK Art Gallery. Joining them will be Maza Blaska.
In anticipation of this performance, I chatted with The Lighthouse and the Whaler’s frontman Michael LoPresti to talk about the Whalers near-constant touring, how it feels to represent our city, and the balancing act a band maintains between tour life and family life.
How does it feel to be coming home and playing Cleveland again?
It’s the best ending to a great tour for us. There’s nothing like coming back and playing for the people who care for us the most.
When you’re on tour, how does it feel to be a representative for our city?
It’s a big honor really, people ask us all the time what Cleveland is like and we make sure they know it’s the greatest city in America. Also rocking a CLE Clothing shirt tends to help too.
What is the most rewarding part of touring so frequently?
Really honing our craft. We’ve learned a lot from other bands, what they’ve experienced, and that makes us better. We’ve learned what it takes to do this at a professional level and to do it well.
It’s a lot harder than people think to travel and play a killer show over and over again. We’ve learned from all the different experiences we’ve had playing countless shows large and small, and we’ve grown together as a band.
Does it ever get hard to balance a family life and touring?
It can be hard sometimes but you have to sacrifice for what you love and we all love doing this. Our families are very supportive of us and have taken on our dreams as their own and we’re grateful for that. As we’ve toured more and more we appreciate the time we have with family and that’s something that I think is unique to our profession or anyone who travels frequently.
Was there a slight lineup change?
Yes, we added Lisa Kim to the band, she had been touring with us for six months before, so it was an easy transition. Steve Diaz decided life on the road was too wearisome and left in May. We’ve had a touring musician in that spot ever since and it’s been a pretty good transition for the band.
Which bands would you like to tour with in the future?
I’ve always wanted to tour with Local Natives and The National.
You’ll be bringing three new songs to our ears tonight. Who was the catalyst behind these new tunes?
I wrote the ideas for these new songs a few months ago. We started writing some songs for a new album and we really wanted to take some of them on tour with us, so we worked hard to get them ready and I think they are a pretty good representation of where we want to go with our new album.
What’s the best part of this adventure?
Seeing the growth of our band and seeing how our music affects people. We get emails all the time about how our music has helped people and that is something that continually moves me.
The Lighthouse and The Whaler’s beautiful full-length album, This is An Adventure, is available on vinyl and can be found at a record store near you! To catch a live performance of the band near you, you can find their tour schedule here.
