Indie Rock collective Bluphoria is making massive waves with their Blues and Rock ‘n Roll inspired sound. Taking inspiration from the likes of everyone from The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix to Deftones, Bluphoria creates a rich and complex soundscape with every track they release.
The Nashville based band consists of frontman and lead guitarist Reign LaFreniere, bassist Rex Wolf, rhythm guitarist Dakota Landrum and drummer Dani Janae.
Beginning in the basements of Eugene, Oregon the band has slowly refined their sound moving from their more Psychedelic, Surf Rock inspired singles “You Got This/ Devil” to their more Blues inspired tracks like “Ain’t Got Me.” After cycling their way through a few line ups Bluphoria has finally found their forever members, with the band having this intrinsic connection that was palpable, even over the phone.
I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with all four members of Bluphoria recently, having the joy of witnessing their effortless banter and candor. The band sat down with us to talk all about their lowe for music as a community builder, the art of the live performance and driving through a blizzard.
What was the formation of Bluphoria?
Reign LaFreniere: Well, it started out as a little project on my part. And I slowly met all these guys. I met Dakota at a house show, because we were one of the only two Black people there. So I remember he shouted, ‘Hey, another Black guy.’ And that’s how we started talking and started jamming. We had a little three piece going on at that time and somebody took a picture of us performing and Rex was actually in the audience making an astonished face
Rex Wolf: Jaw on the floor, watching the show
LaFreniere: I remember I was in class and I was like, “Oh, I need an actual bassist because Dakota is a guitarist and subbing on bass at the time.” And I just saw this Instagram follow notification and it said Rex Wolf, musician, and I clicked and it was these bass photos with the cheesy filters on and him jamming out. I asked him to jam with us and he joined. Then Danni actually interviewed me for a podcast and mentioned that she played drums and about a year later she joined our band as well.
That’s awesome! In the past you’ve cited a lot of psychedelic rock and classic rock influences. Reign mentioned once The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, how do you think those inspirations manifest themselves in the music you guys currently make?
LaFreniere: I’d probably say in structure and the chord theory. I take a lot of inspiration from that old 60s and 50s, backup, vocal type deal and all that and yeah, it’s an end guitar, obviously to that.
Wolf: We keep it relatively simplistic
LaFreniere: Me and Dakota are more of the psychedelic rock guys and Dani and Rex are more 90’s
Dani Janae: There’s a lot of different inspirations
Wolf: Dani and I are a lot more grunge and punk with it
Janae: It’s what we grew up on
What grunge and punk stuff do you guys take into your music?
Janae: Not much really, I guess more in stage presence Rex and I are more punk adjacent. I grew up with an insane, insane mixture of music because of my family. But I would say, I guess hard Rock was where a lot of my inspiration comes from.
Wolf: I think with my bass parts and stuff, I tend to go more heavy riffs. A lot of low end stuff, a lot of heavy stuff. It mixes well with how you guys structure the chords and what not. It comes together very nicely.
LaFreniere: Kind of makes a whole hodgepodge of sound.
A perfect genre mesh! Well, speaking of stage presence, you guys mentioned in an interview that you guys hijacked a basement show one time. Can you share that story with us?
LaFreniere: We had just released a new EP at the time and a friend of ours was starting a band.
Dakota Landrum: They had their first ever, exclusive show at their house. And they played a little bit and then they were like, “Hey, does anybody else want to just hop on and jam”
LaFreniere: It was supposed to be a jam. They invited us to be there to watch and they only had a 15 minute set. So I go on to jam and take the first guitar and then [Dakota] picks up the second one. This was over 20 minutes. And then Rex picked up the bass and we started playing our songs.
Landrum: I was like “You guys want to play “Girl [Like You]” or what?”
*Band laughs*
Landrum: It got to the point where the guy that threw the thing came up was like “guys stop.”
LaFreniere: The rest of the band was like “No keep playing” and he was like “no, no, no”
Wolf: We got kicked off
Did you have that planned?
Wolf: It fully just happened randomly
LaFreniere: I remember they were just in the crowd and somebody would just hand them a guitar and be like “play”
Now that it’s the four of you, when you guys play house shows what is the one song guaranteed to get everyone moving?
Wolf: Set me up, and Colombia.
Landrum: Colombia, for sure.
Janae: Definitely Colombia!
LaFreniere: We’re actually releasing that one on March 31. So that’s the next single coming out.
Wolf: It’s funny Colombia is… God, it’s my favorite song. It’s so different. It’s one of the
best!
LaFreniere: Very high energy.
Wolf: Very heavy. That will always get people going. We typically like to close with it. Because it’s such a great closer.
Janae: It takes it out of you every time we play it because it’s just such a high energy song but it’s great. We love closing with it.
Wolf: Can’t wait to release it as the new single, it’s gonna be sweet.
Did you have a favorite memory of either performing or recording Columbia?
LaFreniere: Most of the time recording it was separate because they laid down the original tracks and then I did my solo and vocals separately. While recording it, I was able to use [Jimi] Hendrix’s first guitar. […] So the studio we were recording in was like, “Yeah, we have Hendrix’s guitar here. Do you want to use it on the song?” I was like, “Yeah!” I started playing it. I didn’t mess up a single time while playing that guitar! It can be a little iffy sometimes. But I touched that guitar and I was like “Oh yeah!”
Wolf: The power was there in that guitar!
*Band laughs*
LaFreniere: [Mark Needham] was like, “Put two takes in there and we’ll comp it all together and make something cool.”
Wolf: And it worked out fucking well
LaFreniere: It was probably the coolest thing. It’s the easiest guitar to play too, it’s super nice.
That must have been a very spiritual experience. I know, Reig, you’ve talked about how much inspiration you draw from Hendrix. What was that experience like being handed his guitar?
LaFreniere: I was told that it was a possibility but I didn’t go around asking or being like,“hey, can I play it?” I just knew it was in the house. And I don’t know if it was surreal, because I was tired when I got there and it was early in the morning. And then Mark, the producer, was literally like, “Oh, yeah. So we got that guitar for you to play on the song. You were telling me this is the solo song.” And I was like, “Alright.” He just puts [the guitar] in my lap and I’m just holding in. I even took a video of me just going like *pulls shocked face* I was so happy, I felt like a kid coming back from Toys-R-Us
Wolf: What was the other thing they had? Roy Orbison’s Tele?
LaFreniere: Oh yeah, I also played Roy Orbison’s Telecaster. I was just getting spoiled with all the guitars getting handed to me, big time.
You guys touched on this a bit already but you got to work with the larger than life Mark Needham! What was that like?
LaFreniere: He’s just a great dude.
Landrum: He’s just the most awesome to be around.
Wolf: He’s an amazing guy.
Janae: He’s so humble, he does not realize how much of a legend he is. He’s like, “I’m just a normal person.” But yeah, he’s a really great guy.
LaFreniere: Yeah, he really meshed well with what we had going on. Because we came into the studio with a lot of the songs written but we still needed things to be worked out and his main mantra was just “let’s try it. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, we throw it out.”
Landrum: Mark really helped us figure out what “Set Me Up” was going to be. It came in very rough and Mark was like “Alright fuck it, lets go”
LaFreniere: I think when we first wrote that song, it was slower, it was a little ballad-y thing. And then it turned into this angry thing.
Wolf: He found that sweet spot to really turn up that energy.
LaFreniere: He did that with a lot of them honestly. We also had the drummer from Toto there. He also was there helping out a lot.
Wolf: Shout out Shannon [Forrest]!
LaFreniere: He was cool, he was super nice.
Sounds like a life changing experience. Outside of recording, you guys play the local basement circuit a lot. Has that been like what’s your favorite part of translating music from a recorded format into a live performance?
Landrum: Energy.
Wolf: It’s all about stage presence.
Landrum: It’s so different.
LaFreniere: I think the big difference is just how the crowd is reacting.
Landrum: Yes 100%
LaFreniere: Because the songs always feel the same but the second the crowd starts to actually hear them and feel them it becomes a completely different vibe.
Landrum: It’s mostly just that you build it up the entire show and then you get to the point where normally people are gonna respond. And just watching them just move is really amazing. And then you somehow play better. I don’t know, it’s just, it’s an amazing experience.
Wolf: Feeding off the energy from the crowd is really what drives it.
LaFreniere: We definitely feed off the crowd.
Is there a favorite performance memory of yours? And is there a venue or place you’d like to shout out?
LaFreniere: Oh, I feel like our favorite show was Wow Hall
Landrum: Oh yeah! Wow Hall, the Halloween show!
LaFreniere: We played Wow Hall on Halloween and then again on New Year’s.
Wolf: The crowd was awesome.
Landrum: You could see the crowd just lifting and moving.
LaFreniere: It was quite surreal. But then, the show after that was probably when we felt the most hype. None of these are basement shows but the basement ones are always once we get loud and high energy. It’s always super fun. But then, when we take that to a bigger stage, it’s very different, it’s a lot more transient. We played at UC Davis
*Band hums in agreement*
LaFreniere: It was there’s so many people, you’d assume that if it’s our first time playing in front of a lot of people that we would choke. But it’s always when we’re in front of the most people that we’re more on
Wolf: We’re always just more happy.
Well, you guys have said in a few statements in the past that you take major inspiration from The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. If you could mashup a Beatles song and a Hendrix song, which would you pick?
Landrum: Oh, oh, oh! “Hey, Jude” and “She’s So Heavy”
Janae: That’s two Beatles songs!
*Band laughs*
That’s a valid answer too, I’ll take it.
Landrum: You know what, I meant “Hey Joe” and “She’s So Heavy” that would be amazing
Wolf: I would do “Manic Depression”
LaFreniere: Oh, yes!
Wolf: “Manic Depression” because that drumbeat is insane. And maybe mash that with “She’s So Heavy.” If that riff and that drumbeat came together, that’d be so crazy.
LaFreniere: I think the “Hey Jude” thing that you were on, that would be pretty good. But I don’t know which Hendrix song. If he just covered that and just made it a completely different vibe.
Janae: I feel like “Drive My Car” and “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix.
*Band ooh’s*
Wolf: Wow. Yeah. That’s a good answer! That’s awesome
Landrum: You know what, “Daytripper” and “Spanish Castle Magic”
Wolf: Ooh, yeah!
Amazing answers, all around. Almost a month ago now, you released your song “Ain’t Got Me,” it’s a stellar track. What’s the inspiration behind it and the creative process?
LaFreniere: It was one of the first songs that I had written for Bluphoria. It’s a very old one. It’s probably going on five years now. But it was just one of those songs that I had a cool chord progression for and the rest of it kind of wrote itself around that. It’s gone through so many different styles, from jam band rock to where it is now.
Wolf: We used to play it a lot differently. A couple years ago, back in college, it was completely different
Landrum: Yeah, there was a bridge
LaFreniere: After the bridge the song would end and then it was a completely different one too. It used to be a medley type situation. It was just one of those songs that just kept popping up sometimes when we do Like, “Oh, we need a song” and then “Ain’t Got Me” would be there. And we’d be like, Okay. When we started making the record, I was like, I feel this has to be it.
Wolf: I’m really glad it got revived because I remember playing it way back in the day. And it was always one of those songs that was good. It always had a good energy to it. And now we have already released it all these years later. Which is crazy.
LaFreniere: That one would be the most related to that 60’s, 50’s kind of early rock. I kept the same chord progression and melody going through. I kept trying to change it up and add new things but it just works. It’s one of those songs that just seemed like it happened and you just gotta leave it there, you know?
What was the point in the process where you decided to switch the song’s genre?
LaFreniere: It was probably starting with the new dynamic that we had, adding Dani and everything. A lot of the drummers before they were more psych jazz. Then getting Dani in there it created a whole new vibe with how the song was relayed. So we decided to go away from the jam rock.
Wolf: The beat that Dani wrote, it really makes it heavy. It’s not like that other stuff we played back in the day. It’s heavy. It’s really nice. Shout out to you Dani!
Well, the four of you seem to just bounce off each other really well. Now, as a four person collective, how has the transition into this official line up been like?
Janae: It flowed when I first met them. I didn’t really know Reign super well, obviously. And I randomly interviewed him for this podcast. I used to do a show in high school called “Part Time Punk” where I would just interview musicians. And maybe I’ll revive that because it was COVID. And my theater job was nonexistent. So I was like, “I’ll try and revive this.” But we didn’t really hit it off until we started jamming together. We very easily got into the flow of things. It felt very, very natural. And I was lucky enough to have a great music program in high school where I was constantly working with other musicians and being very collaborative as a drummer. And it was the first time I’d felt like I’d actually flowed with people in a very long time. So I don’t know if it was just a gut feeling. Because I knew they were I saw them on Instagram but didn’t really go to their shows. I wasn’t really part of the house show scene. But I thought they were super cool and then when we all met, the stars aligned. It was really weird. And then just after that first practice, I was like, “Okay, yeah, I think we could turn this into something.”
Wolf: Yeah that jam in the garage!
*Band nods*
LaFreniere: With everybody that joined the band. It seemed like if it took too much effort to have that person join it just wasn’t happening. It was always those moments like Dani said where it was the stars aligning. Dakota being at the house show, Rex following me on Instagram when I was so bored in French, right I looked down on my phone, you know?
Landrum: It is really crazy
Wolf: I remember I was in some astronomy class freshman year, and I was literally just in class and I saw your DM and I was like *shocked face*
Janae: Oh my god, I remember being so stoked about it. I was texting my mom, like “I think I’m gonna join this band.” I was so excited. And here we are two years later.
Wolf: I remember that jam in the garage.We played “Girl” and Dani and I were in the pocket and Dani did some kind of fill in one of the breaks. And I was playing and I turned around. I looked at her and I was like, “Whoa!”
LaFreniere: It sounded very grunge. Yeah, those two came together and it was completely different.
Janae: When Rex and I got to talking we realized we grew up with whatever the white dads and suburbia were listening to in the 90s. Which was Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters and shit. So all of my inspiration for drumming came from Death Cab [for Cutie] and Rex and I were just straight up in the pocket.
Wolf: Yeah. The rhythm that we locked into was, oh god, it was so good. It’s like you were just saying, we have that same taste so we were in the same style with it and it just works so great.
Was there a moment that it clicked for the four of you that this was it?
LaFreniere: I think probably a show for me.
Landrum: Yeah, same.
LaFreniere: Because when we did that first show, I remember Dani hated flash photography.
Janae: Oh my God!
*Band laughs*
LaFreniere: Somebody had a camera and she was like “Turn the flash off!” and I was like, “Dani, you’re gonna have to get used to it.”
Janae: I was so overstimulated because we’re in this sweaty ass house and everyone’s jumping and the whole house was moving. And I’m on the sweaty drum kit. There’s no ventilation because they put foam padding on the windows to block the sound so the cops wouldn’t get called. It was so overstimulating. And then on top of that, there’s this bright light, I’m getting flashbang essentially, every five seconds.
LaFreniere: It was probably the show after that when we were like “Okay this is it.”
Wolf: I was sick during that show too. That was a weird night. I can’t believe that was our first show with Dani. It all blurs together.
Speaking of niche house show pet peeves, what is your least favorite thing at a house show?
LaFreniere: People thinking I can’t hear them when they’re standing right in front of me. People will say embarrassing things, they’ll be talking about us and I’ll be standing there looking at them. They act like we’re on stage or something. Or when people start falling on your equipment.
Landrum: Yeah, that! Just when people start moving and stepping all over the microphone stand and knocking it onto me. I’m like, “Come on.”
Wolf: Or stepping on chords.
Landrum: Exactly. Or unplugging amps and stuff.
Wolf: Like we’re playing right here, and the whole crowd just right in front of your face.
Janae: Someone spilled beer all over my cymbal, one time, right when I got it. I was like, “This is my baby” and he spilled PBR all over it.
Well, you all definitely bring that high energy into your recordings too. In “Ain’t Got Me” you can hear some screaming and some ad libs in the final cut, it sounded like lots of fun. What about your dynamic brought that out?
LaFreniere: I think that was just natural. We were all super excited to be in the studio. And it was a very, very cool experience for all of us. And I think our goal was to bring that live sound into the record, how we actually play and sound and just polish it up.
Wolf: The screams that you do is what gets me. That really brings the live energy.
Janae: I think you’re just so overwhelmed with the feeling of, “Holy shit. We’ve all been doing music our entire lives and now we’re here, this is our job.” I think we were just overwhelmed with joy and gratitude in doing that. You can’t help but have fun.
Do you think that younger you would have expected all of you to be where you are now?
Janae: No!
Wolf: Yes!
LaFreniere: We moved to Nashville and I wouldn’t have expected that.
Landrum: No, I wouldn’t have expected that
LaFreniere: Probably younger me had had even higher unrealistic hopes. But where I am now. I’m very happy how everything turned out.
Wolf: I think younger me would have expected this. This is what I wanted to do. This is exactly where I wanted to be at this point.
Landrum: And we’ve been manifesting!
Wolf: Yeah, we’ve been manifesting we are going to do this.
Landrum: My younger self would have been like, “Yeah, I get it.” But not Nashville. He would not have understood that.
Wolf: Yeah. Never thought I’d ever move to the south. But hey, we love it here.
Janae: I would have never pictured me in Nashville. I wanted to do music, but I thought, it’s not really realistic, I need to find a real job. With how we met was so coincidental and then in Nashville, it’s a huge musical [hub] because people just can’t afford to live in New York or LA. So I think we’re here at the right time, which is all super exciting.
What brought you guys to Nashville?
LaFreniere: We recorded our record here. And when we drove across the United States and got here, after a month we had just been floating the idea around. It was either we moved to LA or Nashville.
Wolf: We did not want to move to LA
LaFreniere: I’m from California, I’ve been to LA enough times to know, I’m not a person who would want to live there. And it just seemed like we needed something new.
Wolf: We wanted to get out of Eugene, after school.
LaFreniere: We needed that next step. And I felt like there were a lot of opportunities out here even for touring. Like if you’re on the West Coast, it’s hard to tour because every big city is six hours away from each other. And over here, it’s three.
Wolf: Yeah, everything’s close together.
Yeah, a good amount of bands I’ve interviewed recently have just all been going to Nashville. You guys are flocking there. It’s crazy.
LaFreniere: It’s home base. It’s a center point to every big music market around.
Wolf: It’s such a hub. So many great bands, so many great artists are here. There’s so much collaboration going on too. [So many people are] co-writing and doing different projects. It’s just an insane mix. It’s really awesome.
LaFreniere: My favorite part is the collaboration. The culture of people together is a lot different than the West Coast.
Wolf: The West Coast is way more band centric.
Who have you had the chance to collaborate with in Nashville?
LaFreniere: We’ve been playing and hanging out with a lot of bands. YearB4 is probably the closest to.
Janae: And Sewing Club
Wolf: I was gonna shout out Sewing Club, they make phenomenal music.
LaFreniere: Most of the collaborations have been very casual.
Landrum: It’s not writing credits or anything.
Wolf: A lot of just jamming. We just bring our instrument, we jam together, we switch. It’s so great.
Y’all mentioned that you drove over to Nashville together, What was the soundtrack to your drive?
*Band laughs*
LaFreniere: Oh! I put on the Eagles and a lot of Yacht Rock
Landrum: And then some Reggae every now and then to spice it up.
LaFreniere: Through the desert of Arizona-
Wolf: Wait, wait what were the podcasts you put on?
Landrum: Welcome to Night Vale?
Wolf: And The Black Tapes too?
LaFreniere: There was an entire playlist. If there was music it was classic Yacht Rock and some Bob Marley. Sometimes there was just too much happening and just shut everything off.
Wolf: Reign and I were the ones who drove and so when we would switch and whoever was driving was on aux and the difference of what we would play was crazy.
LaFreniere: He turned on Pearl Jam the second he got behind the wheel.
Wolf: Are you kidding? I would turned on Deftones, super heavy stuff
LaFreniere: Kenny Loggins.
Janae: I have this specific memory of where I was like “awww” I was counting my lucky stars, being super grateful to be in the band. Reign was driving and I was in the front seat and we put on “Take It Easy” by The Eagles, and it was right after we left Sedona. Sedona was a spiritual experience for all of us. Reign and I got readings and shit and we were both just singing along to “Take It Easy”. I was like, “Oh, I’m really grateful for all this.” And then the next day I woke up in the back of the van with Dakota snoring up a storm next to me.
*Band laughs*
Janae: We’re listening to a true crime podcasts and we’re in the middle of a blizzard. It was so bad.
Landrum: Yeah that was bad.
LaFreniere: Man, that blizzard.
Wolf: I thought we were gonna die for sure. I was so scared.
LaFreniere: I believed in myself.
Landrum: I’m happy you did, man. I woke up in the middle of it, like “What’s going on now? Ah, we got it.” and went back to sleep.
Wolf: We made it! Yeah, I mean it was the middle of the night on the edge of Arkansas. [Reign was] driving and had *makes circle with hand* this hole of visibility in the window, on the highway, during a blizzard in Arkansas.
Janae: The car pile ups and semis that got tipped over we kept passing them and we were like “Awesome, so we’re gonna die for sure.”
Wolf: *Looks at Reign* You did it.
LaFreniere: I tried, I did it.
Landrum: *Mocking Reign* I’m a fucking God!
*Band laughs*
LaFreniere: Anytime I survived an unbelievable feat, I just started screaming “I’m a God!” over and over again
Janae: I woke up to you all the time, over and over again. We hit the rain in the snowstorm, so it wasn’t snowing anymore and I just hear Reign yell “I’m a motherfucking God!”
Did your spiritual readings predict the blizzard?
LaFreniere & Janae: No! but-
LaFreniere: We had a weirder one than that.
Wolf: They were crazy.
LaFreniere: Dani and I’s readings matched up; they essentially knew we were musicians. Janae: They said that we’ve had multiple past lives together, the four of us, and we were supposed to be helping people. So she was reading and she was like, “You had a past life for all four of you were men. And I see you on horseback and you’re like helping people. And there was another where we were all women and apparently it was World War Two, and we were all nurses.”
*Band laughs*
Janae: She said, “I see one of you guys sewing an arm back!” Not really, I’m being facetious, but something like that. And then she said that we had a fifth energy. But I remember telling [Reign] that and you were like “It’s Momo!” who’s his cat.
Wolf: He’s right over here!
Janae: Yeah, she was like “Just like your past lives together, go out and help people.” So that was cool.
Do you guys see it in the cards for you, you’re helping people with your music?
*Band nods in agreement*
Wolf: I hope so.
LaFreniere: Yeah, music has helped me so much. I hope that we can do that too.
Wolf: Music is healing.
I agree, there’s something profound about music consumption. I was at a show recently and I remember looking at the crowd while we were all head banging at the exact same time. Music is such a spiritual experience, everybody’s experiencing it the exact same way. What is it about music that calls to you guys?
Janae: Oh God, that’s a big question.
LaFreniere: It’s a meaning, an existential thing.
Wolf: It feels like a purpose. You know a lot of the time when I’m sitting and playing bass I feel like I was born to play that instrument. You know it’s the thing that drives me. And I think that pretty much goes for all of us.
Landrum: I think it’s the best way to get the creativity out of my head. It’s just the way I can do it. I would like to think, at the end of the day, that somebody hears it and they feel the same way. And that’s the reason I do it.
Wolf: It’s expressive. It’s just a way to express ourselves.
LaFreniere: Every now and then we will get a dm like “This music really helped me” or “I played this at my wedding and it meant so much to me.” We never anticipate that somebody’s actually out there listening.
Wolf: And that means so much to us because that’s why we do it. It’s bringing people together. That’s what music does. It builds that sense of community. It’s like you were saying at the show, it was a collective thing. That’s exactly what it does. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful.
Janae: I had a great teacher growing up Vince Martini from Folsom, California who runs a great music program. And he’s a big Beatles guy, and I’d walk into class and he’s playing his hollow guitar and he’s just ranting about how experiencing music is just being fully present in it. And that’s something that I’ve always carried. There’s been many moments where I’ve been on stage and Rex and I will make eye contact or Reign will look back if I fuck up or if he’s or if he’s fucking up or if the solo is going really well or something. And those moments of connection on stage with these three dudes, I don’t know, it definitely makes me count my lucky stars and it makes me very happy when I see people singing along. When I listen to music, I’m just in it for the words. And a lot of lyrics have completely changed the trajectory of my life. I got to meet my favorite writer last year who completely changed my life. I got to meet my favorite writer last year, who completely changed my life, Jake Ewald. And I remember the first time I had that was when I was 14, listening to “Ambulance” by TV on the Radio. And that’s when I was like, “Fuck, I want to be able to write like this because I relate to it so fiercely.” So that’s where my journey with music began. Oh and the outfits!
LaFreniere: The chemistry is-
Wolf: Ah it’s undeniable. I mean, [Reign,] you’ve gone through so many member changes when you started this band back in college. But this lineup is the best form of this band for sure. I mean, when we’re on stage, we’re doing what we do and we look at each other jumping around. It’s all there. It’s all there.
That’s something special. So what’s next for Bluphoria?
Wolf: Colombia!
LaFreniere: Yeah, we got a new single dropping on March 31st, “Columbia”
Wolf: The heavy one!
LaFreniere: We have a very exciting potential show announcement coming up. And our album is slotted for May 5th. Between that hopefully, we get a couple more pieces of content for you. We got a music video on the way too, coming out in March.
Wolf: I can’t wait for that record.
Landrum: It’s gonna be amazing.
Does the album have a name yet?
LaFreniere: We don’t have a name yet
Janae: Yeah, we gotta get on that.
What are some contenders?
LaFreniere: He *Points at Dakota* will send a sentence and be like “This is the album name” and I’ll be like “What does this even mean?” He’ll be like “I just had a dream of a robot man.”
*Band laughs*
LaFreniere: The most random and unrelated things. […] We need to find one, we’ll find one.
Landrum: And if we don’t it’ll just be self titled
Wolf: It’s a debut record so it usually is self titled. But I think if we find a cool enough name, that’d be dope.
And finally, Bluphoria, who are you counting in?
Landrum: I work with this amazing guy, Dan Spencer, he’s about to drop an album. He’s just a great person and his music is so fucking amazing.
LaFreniere: I think for all of us, Sewing Club and YearB4 . Blvck Hippie too
Wolf: Pretty Embers. I work with the singer from their band and their music is really great. They do some really fun stuff and I love listening to them that way.
LaFreniere: There’s so many talented people.
Janae: Chapelle Roan, she’s already on the rise, but she’s still a really small artist and doesn’t have a label. I think it’s gonna write a lot of girl pop anthems of our generation. She has a song called “Casual” that I am obsessed with. She just came to Nashville a couple nights ago and I missed her which is so pissed about but she’s amazing.
