Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Lacoste.
Christina, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started singing as any child would- in my bedroom into a hairbrush. The music my mother bought me was a cassette tape of Whitney Houston’s Bodyguard. I wore that tape out, learning every song down to the note. I would buy albums and learn every word and melody throughout my childhood and into my teenage years. My father always joked that I’d buy a record on Tuesday and know every song on it by Wednesday morning. It was true; that’s how I taught myself to sing. My love and obsession for music has never gone away. Luckily, I now have plenty of opportunities to perform with my band Lady Lupine.
I’ve been lucky enough to have been playing music with our lead guitarist Fran McConville Jr. for several years now. We previously released an EP together in 2015 entitled Walk with the Moon. It was our first batch of original songs- many of which have carried over into Lady Lupine. It wasn’t until recently that we found the combination of Josh Cuadra on drums and Xander “Z” Hayes on bass to glue our whole sound together.
While Fran and I share a common background in soul and blues music, Josh and Z both grew from a foundation of heavier rock. This combination has lead us to describe our sound as heavy soul.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The path has not been easy, but I’ve learned a lot and it’s been rewarding. Learning can be extremely uncomfortable and frustrating, but I find that I am able to clear the path for new experiences as long as I reflect consciously. Sometimes the issues are with logistics: forgotten gear, set time confusion, traffic etc.
And sometimes the issues are personal: I’m sick, I’m having a bad day or I’m nervous about a new song. A major take away from these challenges is the ability to push aside anxieties about logistics and insecurities in order to ground myself and share my craft. I am grateful for each gig, even the most challenging ones because I walk away knowing more about myself and how to work more effectively to forge connections through music.
Currently one of my biggest challenges is balancing the free and playful creative side of music with the more disciplined business side. Indie musicians have to wear so many hats with so much going on behind the scenes between practicing, playing shows, promoting, producing content, maintaining a social media presence and creating.
This summer has definitely been a continuous lesson in how to deliver quality live performances on a regular basis while creating new content and refining our current work. It takes a special kind of discipline to shift from discussing show logistics into the creative space to write. The list of challenges is endless, however, endless challenges means endless opportunities to learn and grow.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Lady Lupine – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We (Lady Lupine) are the best at sweating it out on stage, getting completely lost in our music and taking the audience with us. We want people to leave our shows feeling a weight lifted and endorphins buzzing.
I hate thinking of music as competitive. I’ve heard healthy competition is good (not sure I buy that) but I always thought of competition as alienating. I think what humans crave more than anything in connection with one another. I certainly love sharing a bill with more experienced musicians because it energizes the whole band and encourages us to push ourselves, but I would call that admiration and inspiration more than I’d call it competition. Music is for everyone and it’s supposed to bring us together in a common space.
For me, good music isn’t about acrobatic scales (although impressive), it’s about what is raw and visceral and real- the stuff that can’t really be taught. I know there is a lot of subjectivity going on here, but a majority of us can detect when someone is reaching inward without inhibition versus when someone is phoning it in. And I think music is so much more conversational than people realize. Conversational, not only between the performers themselves but also between the audience and performers.
Music is vicarious, empathic and engages someone on a level that cuts through social niceties and habitual defense mechanisms. This is the kind of music we play: visceral, raw and real.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
It’s not so much a moment as it is a collection of moments. Anytime we deliver a performance that connects with an audience is extremely rewarding. Or anytime an original piece comes together. Or when we are playing live and the improvising goes off in directions we never planned. Moments like that are why we do this thing at all. It’s absolute high.
Contact Info:
- Email: clacoste178@gmail.com
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