Olivia Mancini is hands down the most featured woman ever on BYT.
From live shows to reviews to listening parties and interviews, this is the third band she’s in that we’ve splattered all over our “front page” (don’t believe me? check out this and this)
Not too shabby for a girl that spent all her childhood Christmases asking for a drum set and an electric guitar and never, ever got one, so didn’t really “get going on this band stuff till later in College”.
But! Olivia & The Housemates is HER band, most reflective of her personal tastes (”You know what”-she told me as we squeezed in a phone call this weekend -”No matter what you end up liking, and a lot of musicians like a lot of types of music, for me it always comes back to the early Beatles”) and is the little outfit that came on almost by chance (”Well, how it all happened was that I was offered a gig before I had a band”-she laughs-”And I used to get so horribly nervous when I am on stage alone that I had to surround myself by my friends who just happened to be great musicians”) and now has a full length under their belt, a series of well publicized and well received shows in the last few months and a tour ahead.
Even if they are (quite possibly) changing their name.
You know, considering that none of the members of the band (featuring the all-star cast of Ed Donohue, Dan Swenson, Kristin Forbes, Jon Roth, Randy Scope) live together anymore, it makes sense. (“Plus”-as Olivia says-“Its not like any of us particularly liked “The Housemates” as a band name, it just worked, because it was true. Now, we’re leaning towards Homewreckers”)

Names and plans aside, when we got “This kind of Life” in the mail (with handwritten note inside) and listened to the 10 songs of sweet-even-when-sad pop music inside, we decided we HAD to do a listening party prior to their CD release at the Cat this Thursday

Listen, and if you make it out, and you should…expect handclaps, unstoppable drums, bursts of trumpets and things that look sort of like this.

and now for the songs

I Wouldn’t Worry:

This was a tune I had been working on for awhile that didn’t come alive until we started playing it as the Housemates. First, Ed kicks off with this terrific guitar lick that still gives me a thrill whenever I hear it. That was a good start. Then, we start playing the
song and, all of a sudden, I hear this flawless early-Beatles-esque harmony kick in at the start of the second verse. I actually stopped playing, it was that good. Kristin and Dan had created a magical music moment – they had simultaneously launched into the unplanned harmony and it totally made the song.

Jealous Type:
This song has a good story. We’d been playing it for about a year and I’d never gotten around to writing a second verse I was happy with, or fleshing out the counter-melody rant at the end of the song. One winter afternoon, I took myself to the Childe Herald (RIP, though I think that was one of, like, two times I ever went in there) with a notebook and my iPod and sat down with a beer to figure out the rest of the lyrics. For whatever reason, this activity attracted the attention of some grizzled regulars and before I know it, there are three barflies singing “I’m, I’m not the jealous type,” over and over while I worked out the lyrics over them. I think that easily qualifies as my oddest songwriting experience, but thanks, guys!

The Deal is Off:

This is the saddest song on the record, the tale of a husband and wife who have been together for years, but when their children finally leave home, they find that there’s not much left between them. Right. Really depressing. The music, however, is uplifted tremendously by Kristin’s gorgeous harmonies on the choruses and Randy and Dan’s lovely guitar and trumpet lines throughout. Sad, yes, but pretty.

This Kind of Life:

The title track. Always risky to name the album after a song because it can bring undue attention to the tune of the same name. In this case, though, we’ve got a best-case scenario because I love the way this one turned out. When we recorded the original tracks in the studio, something was wrong with one of the guitar parts and the solo at the end had to be removed and replaced. I asked Randy - who produced and mixed the record as well as engineered the vocals and overdubs - to put in a “noise solo.” What I meant, I think, was a guitar part that was calamitous and exciting and really brash. But, in fact, there is a technical definition of the term “noise solo.” Please fast-forward to 2:24 in this song to find out what it is.

Let’s Do This:

The depressing subject of “The Deal is Off” didn’t hold a candle to the original version of this song, entitled “She Died Alone.” One of
those occasions where the music was agreeable but the lyrics were really god-awful, we decided to record the song in the studio anyway with the intention of changing the vocals at a later point. The music turned out very nicely (Ed’s offbeat guitar gives it a great ’60’s feel) but I was stumped about how to effect a lyrical turnaround. My friend Katie Cleary saved the day by writing the words that changed this song from a beat-down account of my grandmother’s death to an adorable ode to the start of a new love. Randy added some really great percussion and Kristin and Dan’s stair-stepping vocals on the chorus and the soaring choral effect on the bridge make it one of my true favorites on the record.

want more:

befriend them on the myspace
attend the CD release fiesta this Thursday
and whatever else you decide to do to proclaim your love.

all live photos: Chris Chen (http://www.furcafe.com/

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