5 Minutes with The Lagoons

For those out of the loop, "The Lagoons" are Los Angeles based band composed of brothers Ryan and Joey Selan. Recently, they began touring with three additional members- Alex Duck (drummer), Stefan Ringer (bass), and Jelly Ellington (guitar). The group just finished up their Surf Rock tour with a show at Soda Bar in San Diego. With genre-bending inspirations from jazz to indie to rock, the band has a song to capture every feeling. Before going on to give a killer performance, the two brothers let me interview them.

Outside a very green smelling greenroom-if you catch the drift- I inquire about how things have changed since 2015 when the two first were starting out.

Joey: When we first started, you know, we didn't really have our live show down. Since then, we've released two albums and a bunch of EPs and a lot of music and our fan base has continued to grow. And it's been really awesome and incredible to see, you know, after two years of not being able to tour, just being back out here and seeing the response that we've been getting. It has been really, really powerful.

He pauses for a moment before going on to add another key element of change since the start.

Joey: This actually our first tour with a full five piece live band.. So that's a big difference. I think our live show has definitely changed a lot. Since we first started off, I think we're finally figuring out how to, kind of get ourselves out there a little more.

Of course, I have to ask some of the hard hitting questions-

Erin: How do you think being brothers affects touring and such ?

Ryan: It's great, it's fun. Like we push each other's buttons, but we also have each other's back. So it's good.

Joey: Yeah. There's no BS. And I think it actually like makes things more efficient because there's no beating around the bush. It's kind of more straight to the point and we've lived together before, so touring and being on the road for extended period of time. We're used to this.

Beyond sharing genes, the two share an admiration for a variety of musical talents that influence their own sound.

Erin: With influences ranging from Bowie, to the Beatles, to Sublime ,when you're honing in on a making a song, how do you decide which genres you want to draw from?

Joey: Yeah. I mean, we have a lot of, like you said, different influences that impact our songwriting. Sometimes it depends on the day, like sometimes we'll hear a song and be like, oh- that's an awesome vibe- that will inspire us to create something along those lines. I think at the end of the day, we always try to think of, what is "The Lagoons," sound, and vibe, and our brand. We try to make music that fits with that. But then also at the same time we have so many different genres. So we do kind of expand off that as well.

Ryan: Yeah. I mean my dog's name is Ziggy.

Add "good at naming pets" to the brothers' list of talents. Ryan continues on with his response.

Ryan: Yeah, we just incorporate all of our influences and everything.

Since both brothers share a clear love for music, it's fair to assume their parents may be part of the reason behind it. Before I can finish asking the question, the two are nodding their heads.

Ryan: Yeah definitely.

Joey: So the reason why we like have this like kind of classic rock, Laurel Canyon- like, yacht rock vibe is because our dad's favorite band is Steely Dan. And I mean I'm wearing an Eagle's shirt right now.

We all pause to admire his shirt (pictured below) for a moment.

Joey: Yeah. So this is the music that we grew up listening to and I think those are the bands that we aspire to be like.

Despite the seemingly obvious answers given Joey's wardrobe choice, I follow up with the question we're all asking- if you could choose one band to tour with, would it be?

Ryan: Probably Steely Dan.

Joey: I mean, or Dave Matthew's band, we love Dave. Dave has been a big influence on us, especially our live show. I think the Eagles would be pretty cool.

Ryan shakes his head in agreement. As do I, because the moment I hear of a Lagoons X Eagles tour, I'll be camping out for barricade.

To conclude our interview, I ask their favorite moment of being a band thus far.

Joey: You know, I think for me, when we play a show and see the fans singing along to songs that we wrote in our bedroom, that have reached millions of people by just the power of the internet, I think it's like an incredibly powerful and really magical to experience that moment and feeling and it's kind of hard to replicate that exact feeling. And so I think for me, like every time we go out there and whether it's playing for a hundred people, or three hundred people, or however many people are out there listening, I think when you have that connection with an audience, it's really, you know, what this is all about for us and having that connection through music.

Ryan: Definitely. Yeah. When you release music and you see people listening to it and responding to it and DMing you and stuff like that, like you get DMs about like how this song means so much and that's so cool.

Being one of the fans who DMed them, it's nice to hear they find it endearing and not annoying. Special thank you to the Lagoons for participating in this Interview, and best of luck to them as they continue to work on new projects. I'm excited to see where they'll go in the future, and can't wait to catch another one of their shows.

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