Don’t call us hippies
“The music definitely comes from a democratic place. Everybody has equal input. Does that make us hippies? I don’t know”
“You were on this island, miles from the life you knew, with all the time in the world and nothing to do but be creative”
CHRISTIAN Zucconi woke up this morning and pinched himself. “I still can’t believe this band has taken off the way it has,” says the lead singer with Los Angeles pop quintet, Grouplove. “The way we all got to know each other was so random. I keep thinking, ‘What if we hadn’t bumped into one another in the manner we did. What would be doing now?’ It feels like something from a dream.”
Grouplove’s formation was serendipitous. Best-known for their transcendental summer hit, ‘Colours’, the five-piece began when Zucconi bumped into co-vocalist Hannah Hooper at a gallery opening in New York. The couple fell for one another on the spot and travelled to an artists’ colony in Greece the next day. They’ve hardly paused for breath since.
“It happened incredibly quickly,” says Zucconi. “Hannah was going to Greece in the morning and asked me to come along. I thought, ‘Why not?’. I knew she was a special person. I wasn’t doing anything that seemed more important. It was a last-minute decision that I haven’t regretted for a moment.”
At the commune in Crete, they met the musicians with whom they would form Grouplove. On the fringes of Europe, these random Americans were brought together by a shared sense of being strangers in a strange land. That and the discovery that the Mediterranean paradise wasn’t what had been promised.
“I wouldn’t say the commune in Greece was by any means grim,” says Zucconi. “It was still finding its feet. My understanding was that it was the first year it was operating as an artists’ colony — there were still a few rough edges. Hannah and I shared a single bed. Sean [Gadd, the band’s future bassist] was camped out in an old run-down building.
It was very basic — not at all what you would think a Greek island commune would be like. It didn’t stop us having the most amazing time. I feel we went into it with the right attitude.”
Five days into the sojourn, they finished their first song. They didn’t have a name for their band — just a sense they were meant to make music together.
What Zucconi remembers most about the experience is the tremendous freedom. “You were on this beautiful island, miles from the life you knew, with all the time in the world and nothing to do but be creative. You don’t get to do that in your normal life,” he says.
Returning to the US, the band moved to Los Angeles and recorded a debut EP. Unabashedly uplifting, the record split opinions. Some warmed to Grouplove’s upbeat melodies and deft pop sensibility. Others found the unstinting positivity off-putting.
It was then the ‘h’ word started to crop up. Zucconi grimaces at its mention. “I have no idea what a ‘hippy’ is supposed to be in the world today,” says Zucconi. “We do have a very communal sense of what a rock group should be like, how it should function. The fact we met in a commune is something that a lot of people can’t get over. The music definitely comes from a democratic place. Everybody has equal input. Does that make us hippies? I don’t know. I have to tell you, it isn’t something we think about on a daily basis.”
The band’s break arrived last summer when they got a phone-call from Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine: did they want to tour the United States with her? They didn’t have to think about it.
“She has such a fantastic audience. They are totally open-minded and gave us the most amazing reception,” say Zucconi. “Plus, it was great to perform in these big venues. It was such a step-up for us. Seeing Florence be a total pro every night was an education. So it was a real vindication to be asked to go on the road with her.”
Grouplove’s music channels the zeitgeist. Ever since MGMT had an international hit with ‘Time To Pretend’, there has been a vogue for upbeat synthpop tinged with ’70s psychedelia. With MGMT declining to churn out more of the same — 2010’s Congratulations sounded like the work of a different group — there is a vacancy for artists seeking to inherit their crown. Many have sought to fill this gap in the market, from Passion Pit to Hockey to Foster the People to the Naked and Famous. Of all the wannabes, it is arguable that Grouplove are best-placed for a proper career. On long-play debut, Never Trust A Happy Song, they demonstrate a skill for solid songwriting — unlike their peers, they have produced a record lacking in filler. And excellent though it is, you sense the album is merely the start for them.
Zucconi says he is surprised people interpret their songs as hopelessly upbeat. Yes, the melodies are unabashedly sunny. The lyrics are rather darker.
“We’ve always enjoyed that juxtaposition between sunny songs and dark words,” he says. “We called our album Never Trust a Happy Song for that very reason. It’s a wry commentary on the fact that people have one idea about us, when the reality might be quite different. Things aren’t always black and white — certainly not where the band is concerned. So we are being tongue-in-cheek about the way we are regarded.”
As for their much-commented upon commitment to democratic values — do these ideals become difficult to maintain when they’ve spent three months on the road and people are getting on each other’s nerves? Zucconi shakes his head.
“We feel lucky to be in a position where we can tour. We’ve all been in groups that haven’t been successful. To be able to play in front of great audiences every night is an honour.
“If any of that negative stuff starts to go around your head, you remind yourself of that — and it goes away,” he says. With Grouplove revolving around a couple, does Zucconi worry what might happen should he and Hooper break up? “It does cross my mind. But we are pretty easy people to get along with. So far, the touring hasn’t put any strain on us. We’re in a good place, I think,” he says.
He stops and laughs. “I guess, the band is a good encouragement for us to stay together.”
* Grouplove play Academy, Dublin tonight.
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