As a set of fresh new faces to the music scene, Atlanta natives Luke Pilgrim (vocals and guitar), Tyler Ayers (bass), Zach Baxter (guitar and keyboards), and Taylor Woodruff (drums) have begun to rise to notoriety in the music scene.  They recently put out their second album and have big plans for 2009 from focusing on touring to making a true name for themselves.

 

I had a chance to catch up with Luke Pilgrim, of Last November not long after the band’s first visit to Chicago where they played several shows around the Chicagoland area and even had some time to grab some tasty-freeze!  Here’s what Luke had to say….

 

PUM: I read in your bio that in your first album you wrote most of the songs at the young age of 15!  That’s quite impressive!

 

LP:   Yeah, we were in high school when we started the band, but I guess I started writing songs when I was about 12 or so.  But about 15 or 16 was when I started writing songs for the album most of the time during class instead of paying attention!  What was pretty cool was we built a studio in my parent’s basement where we recorded most of the first album.  We didn’t really know what we were doing then so we took it down to Atlanta to a studio to finish it off.

 

PUM:  Tell me about the rest of the band, how did you meet and start playing with Tyler, Zach, and Taylor?

 

LP:  We’ve had a rotating cast of members!  Taylor, our drummer is the only surviving member.  Tyler I’ve known for like 10 years.  He actually just started playing with us.  Zach’s our guitar player. He joined in about April.  He was actually a huge fan of ours.  He’d be at all of our local shows because we’re from the same town.  We did this thing online to find someone to play with us… Zach ended up sending me an e-mail and from there he just started playing with us.

 

PUM:  You guys were nominated new top 40 group in 2008.  What do you hope to accomplish in 2009?

 

LP:  2009…. Um, well.  We’re trying to tour a lot more now.  We spent the last two years working on the album and then we spent some time on a music video we created for one of our songs, which was quite of an experience because we shot and edited it all ourselves.

 

PUM:  That’s impressive, so do you have any preset dates for the tour for this year?

 

LP:  Right now a few… we’re looking to book out several months in advance.  Our MySpace has it all listed but we hope to come back to Chicago and play again soon.

 

 

PUM: Now this is your sophomore album, what have you learned since the first album?

 

LP:  A lot, I think!  The first album we were kind of young so I think the second album is a lot more mature lyrically and musically.  We worked with a producer on this one too.  Steven Haigler (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Butch Walker, Pearl Jam, etc.) He definitely kicked our asses though.  He showed us all the things we were doing wrong and didn’t know we were doing wrong.  I think we’re much better musicians because of it.  I learned a lot about production and engineering as well.

 

PUM: I like how the tracks on Over the Top or Under the Weather seems to be so down to earth and realistic to everyday challenges in life, I’m guessing these are based off of real life encounters?

 

LP:  I think they all start out about a real person or a real girl.  I think they’ve molded into something a little different.  But, I try to write a little every day.  I write all this crap and just go through it with what sucks and what doesn’t.  But a lot of times it’s based on what’s real.

 

PUM:  What message are you hoping to portray to your listeners?

 

LP:  I don’t know…. My real goal when I’m writing is to write stuff that’s timeless.  Someone or anyone in the world, any age, can relate to.  They can use my lyrics and apply them to their own life.

 

PUM: What’s your favorite track on Last November?  Why?

 

LP:  That’s a tough one, like picking your favorite child!  Um… (sigh) some of them I like musically more and then some of them I like lyrically more.  I’d say probably “Jesus had Breakfast in Bed.”  I helped produce that one.  When we were finishing up the record our producer had to go to Australia for another band.  So we had to finish up, it turned out really cool.  It’s probably the heaviest song on the album.

 

PUM:  What do you think is the demographic of your audience?  How do you appeal to them?

 

LP:  I would say younger people more.  But, I try to write stuff that anyone can relate to.   A lot of our lyrics are risqué so I think a lot of times older people can relate to them as well.

 

PUM:  Here’s the fun part!  When playing a venue are there any specific requests/needs you have?

 

LP:  We’re not very much divas or anything! (laughs)  But this is kind of interesting.  I have a severe peanut allergy.  So when we play a show we have to make sure peanut oil or anything like that hasn’t touched anything around me.  Other than that sometimes we’ll ask for a few things but I don’t ask them to bring out Lucky Charms or anything…. 

 

PUM:  Ha, exactly!  If you had to pick your top 3 bands, who would they be?

 

LP:  Ohh….  I’d say Beatles, Jimmy Eat World, and Tom Petty.

 

PUM:  A classic! If you could perform alongside one group/artist who would you choose?

 

LP:  I’ think as far as musicianship goes the Eagles!    I love listening to them.

 

PUM:  If you could cover/remix one song what would it be?

 

LP:  We’ve thought about that before.  We actually do this medley live it’s a few Beatles songs:  “Getting Better” to “Birthday” to “Back in the USSR.”  And if people hadn’t heard those songs then they need to go buy The White Album!   Other than that we do cover Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta!”

 

PUM:  What’s the band’s ultimate goal?

 

LP:  I think our ultimate goal is to reach the most amount of people around the world we can!  Basically, it would be to leave some impression on people long after we’re dead and gone.

 

By: Kim Evans - Contributing Writer