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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Interviews by Dave Simpson

‘It sounds terrible but I listen to it 30 times a day’: how the Lumineers made Ho Hey

‘When we played an original, people would flee to the billiard table’ … Jeremiah Fraites, Wesley Schultz and Neyla Pekarek.
‘When we played an original, people would flee to the billiard table’ … Jeremiah Fraites, Wesley Schultz and Neyla Pekarek. Photograph: Scarlet Page

Wesley Schultz, songwriter, vocals, guitar

After growing up in Ramsey, a small town in New Jersey, we moved to New York to try to make it in music but found it a very difficult circuit to break into. Bars would let you play because they wanted your friends to buy drinks, but then they’d kick everybody out to get the next group in. Whenever I would meet people, I’d tell them, “I’m a waiter but I play music,” and they’d go, “Yeah, so does my cousin.” The prospect of playing somewhere like the [iconic New York venue] Mercury Lounge felt about as likely as playing a stadium.

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