LAWRENCE, an eight-piece soul-pop band led by sibling duo Clyde & Gracie is back with a 2021 anthem that will instantly lift your spirits. "Don't Lose Sight", out now, is a song about perseverance and determination; in it, the band preaches the importance of staying strong and ignoring the haters. Co-produced by Jon Bellion & Jorgen Odegard and written by the band, the single is filled with high-energy vocals and explosive melodies that will make you want to stand up and dance.
As NPR writes, “siblings Clyde and Gracie Lawrence are not your typical pair.” Clyde Lawrence and Gracie Lawrence have been writing songs and listening to countless Stevie Wonder, Randy Newman, and Aretha Franklin records in their family’s New York City apartment since they were little kids. After years of playing together, they officially created Lawrence, a band comprised of musician friends from childhood and college. The band has since gained a devoted following for its high-energy, keyboard-driven sound, which features tight, energetic horns, explosive lead vocals, and fully-live arrangements. In June 2019, Lawrence became the first band to sign with Beautiful Mind Records, the label of Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/artist Jon Bellion.
In this feature Lawrence talks to Lakeside Entertainment Group about their journey, what it’s like to work with Jon Bellion, and their message of perseverance and optimism behind their newest single, “Don’t Lose Sight.”
LEG: Can you talk to us about the journey of Lawrence. It seems as though many of the members are friends from throughout various points of your lives. Did the band grow organically? What were your expectations of it in the very beginning?
Clyde: Yes, we’re all friends from different points in our lives! Gracie and I obviously grew up together in New York City as siblings, our tenor sax player Jordan is one of our closest childhood friends, our drummer Sam is a friend of mine since middle school, and the other four guys (Marc, Sumner, Jonny, and Michael) are all friends of mine from college. I’d say our growth was a healthy mix of organic and planned. Gracie and I always envisioned making music professionally, and we definitely always approached our decisions creatively and strategically from a professional mindset rather than a hobby or amateur one, but we didn’t have an exact route planned beyond just playing music as much as we could and hoping other people cared enough about it to make it into a real thing. We feel so lucky that six of our best friends and favorite people in the world were excited and stupid enough to dive into it with us.
LEG: Lawrence comes alive onstage as an 8-piece band with infectious energy. It’s clear to see you love performing for fans. What part of being on the road again are you most excited about? Do you plan on being on tour again soon now that the pandemic is under control?
Gracie: Performing is the most fun I ever have -- I feel like I even sing better or do things vocally that I didn’t know I was capable of because of the intensity and energy of an audience. It’s probably unhealthy to need that kind of attention, or to do your job better because of it, but I’ll deal with that in therapy. We plan to hit the road in the fall after our album comes out. I can’t wait to see how it feels to hear an audience sing the songs off of our new album.
Clyde: I’d say I’m most excited about just being able to look out and engage with people in the crowd during high-energy moments of the songs. When we’re writing and producing songs, I spend so much time thinking about how awesome it’s going to be to play it live, and we’ve never had this experience of making most of an album with no shows to play during that process. The hummus that we have in our dressing room every night is a close second place for things I’m most excited about.
LEG: What are your goals as a group and individually for the next year or two? Any out-of-the-box ones that we might not expect?
Clyde: I’d love to just once not be the second-to-last person ready to go in the hotel lobby (Gracie obviously being the last one ready everyday).
Gracie: And I’d love to be the second-to-last person ready to go in the hotel lobby rather than the last.
LEG: There’s so much fantastic music being put out these days making it harder than ever for artists to stand out above the crowd. What have you found to be the biggest challenge? What would be your best piece of advice to an artist just starting out?
Gracie: I think people really look down on the idea of blending in and praise the idea of standing out as it pertains to art, but if your sole motivating factor is either of those ends of the spectrum I don’t think it’s necessarily productive, and as you’re saying, it can be super overwhelming. Standing out is awesome, but it should be as a result of making something that feels like you. I think the question is “how can I make something that is the most me?” and if you are able to do that it will stand out because no two bands or people or artists are exactly the same. We were told that our music was really different than other artists our age because of how we were combining a lot of old-school 70s Motown elements with modern production, and while I’m glad it got that reaction and that we didn’t take that feedback as a sign to attempt to “blend in,” our goal was always just to make music that we loved. I know nothing, but that’s the advice I would give. Just make something you like and that sounds like you.
LEG: You are the first artist to get signed to Jon Bellion’s Beautiful Mind Records. Can you tell us how that all came about and what it’s like to work with Jon?
Gracie: We opened for Jon at a college show at NC State for their big spring annual event. We didn’t know him at all, but his band watched our set and must have told him really nice things about us because we ended up meeting him after the show and exchanging info...and for the next two years we kept in touch until one day he was like, “I really like this music and I’d like to work with you guys.” It was a total surprise to us that he was listening to our music, not to mention that he liked it and wanted to start a label and sign us to it. Now, he’s worked with us on our entire new album “Hotel TV” and not to be so cliche, but it’s a total dream come true. Whether he’s involved in a song from its origin or comes into the studio to help us polish a near-fully written song, his intention is only to make the music better without overhauling anything about who we are, which is so awesome and appreciated. He’s the best collaborator.
LEG: As true music lovers across many different genres we’d be curious to know what 5 albums you’d take with you to a desert island and why?
Clyde: The Randy Newman Songbook (Randy Newman), Tapestry (Carole King), Abbey Road (Beatles), Songs In The Key Of Life (Stevie Wonder), Hitsville USA - The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971. I know two of those are compilations, but that feels like a good way to cheat and bring as much music to the desert island as possible. Honorable mentions include Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys), Gumbo (PJ Morton), East Side Story (Squeeze), Voodoo (D’Angelo), Acid Rap (Chance The Rapper), Fountains of Wayne (Fountains of Wayne), and of course for the holiday season… The Spirit of Christmas (Ray Charles).
Gracie: Clyde and I are going to have a lot of overlap here… Tapestry (Carole King) bc it will make the desert island feels like home, Abbey Road or The White Album (The Beatles) to differentiate from Clyde, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Aretha Franklin) because Aretha Franklin is my favorite of all time, Songs In the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder) because you need that joy in your life, and maaaaaybe East Side Story (Squeeze) to shake it up. Honorable mention goes to Dirty Projectors (Dirty Projectors), Cuz I Love You (Lizzo), and a bajillion others...
LEG: Clyde – we know you’ve been a successful songwriter from a very early age. Can you tell us how you got started writing and some of the early projects you worked on? What is the songwriting process like now with you and Gracie and how have you evolved as a writer over the years?
Clyde: Songwriting has always been my favorite way of not only expressing myself but also of working through things in my own life. I always wrote songs for myself, but I also was exposed to the idea of writing music for film at an early age because our dad is a screenwriter/director. So I got the chance to write some music for his films as a kid (like Miss Congeniality, Music and Lyrics, and others), and those were pretty legit professional projects for a young kid, but I sort of took my own songs that weren’t being seen by millions of people on screen just as seriously. Weirdly, I feel like my process for writing hasn’t changed all that much since I was kid, whether it’s coming up with song ideas for Lawrence or for film/tv projects (of which I still do many). The main difference is of course, as you point out, that I’m now regularly collaborating with Gracie rather than writing alone.
LEG: Gracie – You have an impressive acting resume which includes being on Broadway at age 12. What are the differences between acting on Broadway or in front of a camera, and performing on stage playing music for fans? Is there one show or acting performance that stands out to you as the most memorable?
Gracie: I think of performing, no matter in what forum, as making choices to serve the story and the character. I love the ability as a singer and an actor to try to understand what I’m saying or singing and try to make appropriate choices to convey the story. No matter if you’re singing or acting you’re always asking yourself, “what would the character in this movie or this song do?” The funny difference for me is that in Lawrence, I am the character… so the question of how does this narrator feel is pretty easy to access since I’m often writing about my own real experiences, whereas as an actor you’re telling someone else’s story. But it’s the same exact evaluation taking place. “Should I give more here? Should I do less? Should this line or lyric read as emotional? Is it more emotional if I make a big thing out of it or if I make nothing out of it?” I love grappling with those questions as a singer and an actor. Once you make those choices, you often have to re-calibrate given the medium...as you said, I was on Broadway and what reads on stage as a subtle moment can read on camera as a large one, and what reads in a live venue as a small vocal flourish can read in a recorded version of the song as a big melodic choice. So you have to pay attention to those things. But regardless of the size of the choices, the choices themselves are still based in story and emotion and character.
LEG: What is the best and also the most challenging part of being in band with your brother/sister?
Clyde: Knowing what the other is thinking at all times (best and most challenging).
Gracie: I knew you were going to say that!
LEG: We love the message of persistence and optimism behind your newest release “Don’t Lose Sight”. Can you tell us why you wrote it and what advice you would give to others in pursuit of their dreams?
Gracie: “Don’t Lose Sight” is an uplifting jam about perseverance and wading through setbacks. When we wrote it, we were in LA and I had just found out that I didn’t get an acting part that I really wanted...which is something I’m used to and therefore, I’m pretty unflappable when it comes to not getting jobs (this is the saddest brag). But something about being in LA rather than home in NYC felt like I was at the scene of the crime, and the feelings of failure and disappointment were drowning out all of the other possible song ideas we could write about. So when we had a writing session set for the next day, as Jorgen Odegard (one of the producers on the song) and Clyde were started to build out the chords and the groove, I asked if we could write about this experience. Luckily, everyone was really on board and even excited to incorporate the cynicism I was feeling into the verses, and the optimism I secretly felt into the choruses. I’m so glad the song has both of those viewpoints, because I think it invites everyone into the song rather than hitting the listener over the head with loads of optimism that can feel unrelatable. I hope that even the cynics (like me) can feel a smidgen more happy or relieved or hopeful after they listen to this song, even just for a moment.