The Feather Lungs

I had the pleasure of hosting the Maine based band The Feather Lungs on The Wicked Good Music Hour on March 1st.  The Feather Lungs is a rock and roll band on the move.  The band consists of singer Laura Wood, guitarists David Young and Caleb Orion, Nick Perry on bass and Richard Fortin on drums.  They are a fairly new band, having only been jamming together since late May 2013, but they've already made great strides towards their dream of success on a larger scale.  Band members come from all over Maine with Laura being from Orono, Nick originally from Rumford and now residing in Portland, Caleb and Dave from Augusta, and Richard in Hallowell, which serves as the band's home base.
The Feather Lungs have been recording their album in Richard's home studio in Hallowell.  Laura describes it as "a lot to balance," but their work is paying off with four songs officially in the can and some killer shows on the horizon.  They have one coming up next week at Bayside Bowl in Portland with Volcano Rabbit and Yes We Kin also appearing and another in April when they'll be sharing the stage with local band Chamberlain at Nocturnem in Bangor.  They have one video up online for the song "Subtraction" that was filmed before newest member Caleb joined the band, but they're working on another.  The band has "good energy" and is really moving in a positive direction according to Laura.
The band merges Laura's expressive vocal talents with complimentary instrumentation from the guys.  The backbone of The Feather Lungs' sound is definitely the driving rhythm and guitar swagger.  The band cites an eclectic array of influences from Laura's appreciation for the vocals and songwriting talents of PJ Harvey, Dave's affinity for Beethoven to Nick's preference for The Kinks and ELO. And everyone was in agreement about Fleetwood Mac and The Pixies.  The band name, The Feather Lungs, was actually just a "placeholder" name until they came up with another.  But they never did, and the name stuck.
Dave and Richard, interestingly enough, have known each other since kindergarten and have been working on music together for 17 years, and Caleb and Nick played together previously as well.  Richard says "David and I, for about the past 5 years, have been trying to get something off the ground."  They were looking for a singer, and Laura came into the mix after she heard some of the music the guys had recorded. "It was completely amazing.  It sounded like what I feel inside of me."says Laura.  She took one of their tracks and recorded some vocals, and the rest is history.  The guys were immediately impressed.  Laura agrees. " We really clicked.  We have very good synergy."
In the coming months, the band will be in the studio, tying up the loose ends of the album.  Expect the finished product sometime in the summer of 2014.  We'll definitely share album on the air at WERU, and maybe we can ask The Feather Lungs to come back for another Wicked Good Music Hour gig?  As we wrapped up the show, bass player Nick gave a special shout out to his grandmother, Stella.  I mean, I liked them already, but a talented musician who also loves grandma?  Smitten.

The Feather Lungs website
The Feather Lungs on Bandcamp
The Feather Lungs on Facebook