A rock band with Michigan roots is on tour to promote a new album. Before heading overseas, Lord Huron and its front man Ben Schneider will return to his home state for a concert on Saturday.
Schneider, a singer, songwriter and guitarist, is originally from Okemos. Last week, his group headlined a concert at Madison Square Garden.
The band opens performances on this tour with the song "Who Laughs Last" from its new album "The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1." It features a throbbing bass and a story narrated by actor Kristen Stewart.
Schneider said "Who Laughs Last" started out as a short story he decided to set to music. He liked the attitude of Kristen Stewart’s voice and was excited when she agreed to do it. She also appears in the song’s video.
In concert, her voice emerges through a prop pay phone.
“You’re not sure where she’s calling from, whether it’s the holding cell in some jail or somewhere beyond,” he explained.
The new Lord Huron album includes the hit song "Nothing I Need."
It feels hard to believe that no one has ever written the lyric: "I got everything I want, and I got nothing that I need" before. Schneider agrees.
“Great old country songs seem to have that magic element, you know, where it’s something that you’ve thought a lot about or seems so,” Schneider said.
“It seems like such an obvious, universal sentiment that no one has quite expressed in that way before. I think that’s what makes some of the best songs resonate.”
Lord Huron’s biggest hit has been "The Night We Met" from the 2015 album "Strange Trails." You may have heard it in the TV series "13 Reasons Why."
Schneider says with songs like "The Night We Met," he tries to include details that help listeners identify with the lyrics, while leaving space for them to insert their own biographies.
“Some people hear it as sort of a happy song .... to be honest, wasn’t exactly how it was intended, but people do use it in their wedding and things like that, "he said.
“The interpretation of the listener is a really important part of that song, and I think that’s true with a lot of the best songs. The writer does half the job, and the listener does the other half.”
The band has a growing following and has sold out notable venues like the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, but topping the bill at Madison Square Garden was a step up.
Ben Schneider thinks intimacy with an audience gets harder in larger spaces, but Lord Huron’s embrace of video and other technology helps them connect with fans at bigger venues like the most famous arena in the world.
“It’s nothing that can replace being literally within spitting distance and sweating distance of your audience, but we try to find other ways to make it immersive and feel like we’re all in it together.”
Lord Huron will be at the Meadow Brook Amphitheatre in Rochester Hills on Saturday, August 9. It will be the band’s last show in the U.S. for now before heading to Europe.
