Rising Oregon Rockers Bluphoria Defy Doomsayers With “Set Me Up” (INTERVIEW)

Photo credit: Jena Yannone

Bluphoria is an Oregon-based Alternative Pop-Rock band who incorporate Psychedelic and Southern Rock influences. Already known for playing live sets in the Pacific Northwest, the band consisting of Reign LaFreniere (lead vocal and lead guitar), Dakota Landrum (rhythm guitar, background vocals), Dani Janae (drums, background vocals) and Rex Wolf (21, bass, background vocals) had released a debut EP when they joined EDGEOUT Records/UMe as part of their development program. Under that umbrella, they headed to Nashville to record a full-length album with Mark Needham. The first single from that new album, “Set Me Up”, has recently been released.

Ahead of these releases, Reign LaFreniere has made some statements about songwriting and his approach to Rock right now: “I wrote these songs as a black man making rock ‘n’ roll in America. Rock ‘n’ roll started as a black art pioneered by black men and women. I’m taking my people’s music back. We’re reframing it together in our way. The rhythm is the focal point. The Blues is in there. Rock ‘n’ Roll is definitely not dying.”

I asked the band a few questions about their recent experiences as a live act, recording their first full studio album, and crafting “Set Me Up” as an indication of what we might expect from the upcoming album.

Hannah Means-Shannon: Has experience playing live or watching live shows impacted the different genres and traditions that Bluphoria currently embraces?

Bluphoria: I think playing live impacts tremendously on that kind of music we embrace. There are times where, when you play a song live, there is a certain energy reciprocated from the crowd that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to notice. There have also been liveshows that I’ve seen that made me stop in my tracks and think, “I’ve gotta try that!” I remember one time I was in Nashville and this band just played the coolest cover of “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones and I am just waiting for the chance to try out something like that with one of our songs.

HMS: What were some highlights of going to Nashville to record with Mark Needham? Are there benefits to going somewhere totally new to work on music together?

Bluphoria: I think it really broadened our horizons. Before then neither of us would have assumed we would go to Tennessee since we had been West Coast kids all of our lives. It really helped me understand how big the world is and how different it can be which was overall a really inspiring experience. Despite being so far from home, I never particularly felt that way while I was out there.

HMS: “Set Me Up” is very high energy even though it has heavier themes of a relationship that’s taken some wrong turns. It feels like being confessional and talking about this uncomfortable situation is freeing, in a way. Why did you want to explore these feelings head-on in a song?

Bluphoria: A lot of the songs in the album sort of explore that theme, which has been very therapeutic for me. My intention for the song was to be exploring the feeling of an entrapping relationship with someone who is expecting you to fail, almost. So while it comes off as a confessional, it really is a sort of angry rail against something you can’t succeed with. That whole theme is pretty in line with many of my experiences, where sometimes it feels as though the world is just rigged against you. 

ADD NEW SONG

HMS: Does “Set Me Up” give any hints at the sound-direction of the upcoming album on the whole, or is each song on the album more of its own sound-world?

Bluphoria: I think “Set Me Up” marks the transition that we are taking towards this album that is largely upbeat, catchy, and carries itself with identifiable choruses and catchy riffs. The album has a general theme similar to “Set Me Up” of the progression of love during a world that seems chaotic at every turn.

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