The suburban boredom of growing up in a town like Burlington gave rise to the sound of the five-piece band Beautiful Nothing — an eclectic blend of 80s-inspired music with a mix of harsh guitar, synthesizers and heavy electronic drums.
The group stopped at The Mansion on Saturday night as part of their tour through Ontario. Before their set, I sat down with lead vocalist Anthony Ludgate and guitar/keyboard player Luke Ludgate. The band is certainly very close as Anthony, Luke and Shane Ludgate are all brothers and James Featherstone and Sven Petrovic are childhood friends.
“They’re basically honorary family members,” Luke said about his bandmates.
Their group dynamic is energetic, yet effortlessly smooth. “We always do a group huddle before we go on stage. We gotta pump ourselves up before we get out there and do our set,” Luke said.
Touring through Toronto, Barrie, Niagara and Montreal, Beautiful Nothing brings a cool, eclectic sound to college towns.
“Our current record has a lot of 80s-influenced new wave stuff. We’re inspired by Orange Juice and New Order,” Anthony said. “We have a solid rock/pop foundation, but take it to the next level by experimenting with synthesizers and electronic drum machines.”
When I asked about their writing process, their answer outlined an unconventional process that involved the entire group.
“It all starts with just one idea and it’s followed by a lot of experimenting and a whole lot of winging it,” Luke admitted. “I tend to take it bit out there and Anthony needs to bring me back down and pick through the material to find some usable stuff. He keeps us grounded.”
With such a vibrant music scene in Toronto, it’s a great place for musicians to learn from others.
“There’s tons of energy in Toronto … we see things that we like and want to incorporate into our own sets and often we see what not to do,” Luke said with a laugh.
“It’s easy to get inspired. Walking around outside at 3 a.m., you can feel the vibrations of the world around you and that’s what we want to capture.”
Making their own cinematic music videos is a perfect outlet for all this bustling creativity. The music video for their single ‘The Unknown’ is a visually-dynamic piece of the band performing in an empty warehouse that was filmed as one complete shot.
With their newly released single ‘Million Different Ways’ on Spotify and their upcoming album Sleep Walk arriving on March 10, there’s no doubt that Beautiful Nothing should be kept on the radar.
“Our dream venue would be Osheaga,” the brothers agree, but for now they’re more than happy hitting up college radios and university town bars.
Tags
Band profile, live, Music, The Mansion
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