24 Hours with The Backseat Lovers

At the tail end of my last fall semester of college, I got to go on tour (from Logan, Utah, to Rexburg, Idaho) with a local up-and-coming indie rock band from Provo, Utah, called The Backseat Lovers.

This was to be the first out of state show for the Lovers since they formed in June 2018. From the beginning, the Lovers have been steadily gaining popularity. They began their career by winning the Battle of the Bands in Provo. After a series of live shows sprinkled throughout Utah over the course of several months, they have amassed almost 15,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and have plans to release an album late-January 2019.

For the Backseat Lovers, the goal of the past few months has been name recognition. Trying to get the name of the group out there as much of possible. After getting the attention of local indie-rock fans in Utah, the natural next step was to take their group one state over. They wanted to see if they had managed to grow their fan base outside of their home state.

The Night Before

The plan was to drive guitar-player Jonas Swanson’s dad’s work van from Logan, Utah, to Rexburg, Idaho. Rexburg, much like Logan, is a small college town. The change of scenery would be minimal.

The Backseat Lovers came to Logan, Utah, on November 16, 2018 for the first Logan show since their debut at the Big Agg Show. WhySound, one of Logan’s music venues, was full of college students hoping to catch a closer glimpse of the young rock and roll musicians they had seen months before.

The group performed hits from their first EP as a group, “Elevator Days.” They also showed off new songs and singles from upcoming projects, including newer crowd favorites “Pool House” and “Maple Syrup.”

Josh Harmon, the 18-year-old frontman, got the audience excited, as per usual, with his rough around the edges yet pleasant voice and his exciting stage presence. When he’s singing, he’s a Rockstar. But in between songs, he usually surprises people with his soft-spoken tone of voice and various accents he uses when he engages with fans from the stage.

Jonas Swanson, the 18-year-old guitar player for the Backseat Lovers brings the “sauce” to all the songs, as Josh once said.

Then there’s Juice Welch, the 22-year-old local legend of a drummer. His expertise on the drums lends the Backseat Lovers a rhythm that makes it seemingly impossible for audiences not to dance. Almost every Backseat Lovers show I have ever been to has evolved into a dance party at some point, thanks in part to Juice’s expert drumming.

And finally, Ethan Christensen. The Backseat Lover’s 19-year-old red headed bass player provides the Backseat Lovers with ever so laid-back bass lines. Without them, the Backseat Lovers’ songs would be left with something to be desired.

Olivia Henry

The road to Rexburg

The Day Of

They had outfitted the empty back seat of the van with a sofa. Perfect for two band-mates at a time, it is used for napping while on the road, messing with instruments and as a space to sit when recording Instagram live videos for their followers.

All four Backseat Lovers piled in to “Van Juan” to begin the three hour journey north. I rode in a white Xterra with Olivia Henry and Zoey Marty, girlfriends of two of the Lovers.

The show was to be held at a venue called The Basement. After wandering the block where the venue was supposed to be located, the Lovers gave the owner a call, who explained how to find it. The venue was located in the basement of a cookie shop. The owners of the Basement, local musicians from Rexburg, wouldn’t be there to open the venue until 7:00. An hour before the show.

We took the opportunity to get out of the cold and find something to eat. There was a Little Caesars right down the street. It was so crowded in the restaurant that we ended up eating the pizza outside, standing around a fire pit. It was 22 degrees outside.

Even though it was fairly early in November, there was already snow and ice on the ground. We had to keep pacing around to keep warm. Our oversized denim jackets just wouldn’t do the trick. The venue would surely warm up with the addition of body heat, but for now the concrete walls and floors of the Basement were doing little by way of warmth.

Once we got to the venue, the Lovers started unloading all their gear. The walls of the Basement were covered in various different paintings from different artists. One of the walls, the wall directly behind the stage was covered in hand painted eyes of different sizes. Thanks to the glow-in-the-dark paint that was used to make them, they omitted a dim green glow behind the bands. There were wayward couches and chairs in the back of the venue. That is where the girls and I found our home.

Olivia, Zoey and I killed time before the show by inventing our own imaginary, all-female Frank Ocean cover band. For the three of us, the only people in the Basement at the time who weren’t performing that night, we did this to not feel like the odd ones out. Regardless, the three of us were enjoying every second of being behind the scenes.

Olivia Henry

The Girls. Zoey Marty, Allison Allred and Olivia Henry.

After an hour of all this, the show began with a group from Rexburg called Bleached. They performed an abrasive punk set that appeared to genuinely frighten some of the more timid-looking members of the audience. You could feel most of the audience’s unwillingness to participate when the lead singer stepped down from the stage to engage with an audience member in trying to start a mosh pit. It was definitely interesting, but also inspiring to watch people create music that was true to their own unique styles.

Next up was a funky trio that goes by the name of RCS. The lead singer was named Patrick and he reminded us of Jimi Hendrix. They helped bring the vibe of the venue back from angst to excitement.

Finally, the show we had come all this way for. The Backseat Lovers. They were going to preform third out of four performers. This show, Ethan said, was a little different compared to ones they had done in the past. It was going to be their first out of state show. How were they to know if the people would like them? What if no one knew who they were?

Fears were quickly calmed once the Lovers took the stage. It could have been the fact that we were standing front and center, but the people around us seemed to know the songs. Even more, they were singing and dancing along.

In comparison to their show in Logan, the Lovers seemed a little more laid-back, but no less precise. The same individuals who tried to start the mosh pit for Bleached tried to do the same thing with the Backseat Lovers. It got a little wild, and Olivia even got pushed on to the stage. She recovered gracefully. We linked arms for the rest of the set.

After their set, we headed back to the merchandise table to wait for the Lovers and to try and sell as much as possible. Most of the Lover’s money comes from merchandise sales, something not at all uncommon among groups just starting out. To help out, Ethan jokingly tried to sell the three remaining pieces of cold Little Caesar’s pizza.

The show ended around 11 p.m. The owners of the venue were going to let us sleep on the floor of the venue to keep us from sleeping in the car.

We all piled into the green room with our blankets and pillows and air mattresses. The Backseat Lovers were networking with other musicians in the room, most notably the guitar player for Sammy Brue and the Grinders, K.J. Ward. The networking would prove to be beneficial for the Lovers. Since the show in Rexburg, the Lovers have played shows with Sammy Brue and the Grinders, and have more planned for the future.

We were all exhausted, and had to wake up early for the drive back to Logan. After socializing, drinking, joking around and thoroughly tiring ourselves out, it was time to sleep. But not before a small crisis.

The keys for Van Juan were missing. Without them, there would be no way to leave the venue. Tensions were high as they scoured the green room for the keys. After looking for a better part of the night, the Lovers decided to cut their losses and resume looking in the morning.

Juice, Jonas, Ethan and Zoey were all on the couches. Josh and Olivia shared a twin size air mattress, as the other air mattress kept deflating. I was on the floor, just happy to be here.

The Next Morning

We had plans to wake up early, but since we were in a basement with no windows, we didn’t wake up until around 10 a.m. The keys had been found in Jonas’ backpack when he opened it that morning. With that, we were on the road back to Logan.

It was a Sunday morning. Gray and foggy. We got a solid look at Rexburg in the daylight before we left. To the unassuming passerby, Rexburg looks like your typical suburban, rural-ish college town. It has the chain restaurants, small family-owned establishments, gas stations, hotels, and one main drag of road cutting through the town. To the untrained eye, it appears boring. And who knows? Maybe  —  on a normal day  —  it is.

But for the Backseat Lovers, Rexburg was exciting. It was an important show for the group. They proved that the Backseat Lovers name can and has traveled over the Utah border and in to (at the very least) south eastern Idaho.

Since their show in Rexburg, the Backseat Lovers have announced a full length album, due to be released at the end of January. In the relatively short months that they have been a group, the Backseat Lovers have proven themselves to their fans and associates that they’re serious about making their music work. They are going to move in to a house together this spring. They hope to tour around the U.S. some day. If they keep moving at their current trajectory, it appears that they’ll have a good chance of making it.

— allisonallreddd@gmail.com

@allisonallreddd