Luyas work hard for a living

What began as a side-project is now ‘a band to come home to’

Jessie Stein and friends Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider of The Luyas hail from Montreal’s budding art scene.
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Jessie Stein and friends Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider of The Luyas hail from Montreal’s budding art scene.

When you search the Internet for The Luyas, a three-piece Montreal-based band, you’ll find their official website listed under the title “i am a sad website working hard for a living.” Though the bandmates themselves don’t seem to be all that sad, they can certainly relate to the feeling.

The Luyas are working tirelessly to keep their band alive, but you won’t hear them complaining. Jessie Stein (also of Miracle Fortress and formerly SS Cardiacs), Pietro Amato (Bell Orchestre, Torngat and formerly Arcade Fire) and Stefan Schneider (Bell Orchestra and Amon Tobin) all seem pretty content with their multi-tasking arrangement.

“We all have other projects with more infrastructures and more time must be dedicated to them,” Stein said, “but it’s pretty amazing to have a band to come home to.” Formed in 2006, The Luyas have quickly accomplished a great deal for what’s essentially a side project. The band independently pressed and released an album, Faker Death, last August.

“This is just a band we are in because we like making songs and we like working together,” Stein said. “We just decided, let’s not even try and get a record label, let’s just put out this record.” Although Faker Death got some attention in the Canadian music scene and on the radio, the band felt they were “being lazy” and formed Pome Records to release the album commercially on Feb. 9.

Stein admits the album is autobiographical, although she was initially reticent to discuss the overarching inspiration behind it.

“It’s not starkly a concept record but it definitely came from a time,” she said, allowing that the album was based on her personal life.

“When you go through something shitty you talk yourself blind.”

This theme—one of conflicted and explored emotion—also helped define the discordant sound of the album, which mixes dreamy pop with offbeat instrumentation, including French horn and bells.

“The album didn’t have a happy [theme] so the musical intervals that you gravitate to are slightly more uncomfortable,” she said. But Stein, who sings lead vocals and plays guitar, wouldn’t call her band’s sound dissonant.

“I think that as you listen to more music your vocabulary becomes broader and acceptable syntax becomes broader. … You hear [dissonance] as more regular.” Stein lends this tone and her musical prowess to the band as she writes both the vocal and guitar melodies, but The Luyas maintain an inherent collaborative aspect in their creative process.

“Everybody writes for their own instruments and we talk about what we can do in terms of arrangements.” This approach, Stein admits, isn’t always easy.

“I’ve never been in an entirely democratic band where every member of the band jams the songs and the ideas happen spontaneously through hours and hours of attempts, but it’s kind of unsustainable not to give the people that you’re playing with a voice.”

Though they enjoy playing together, The Luyas find it difficult to make the time to officially tour because of their commitments to other bands. Although some might consider this a liability to their success, the band is of a different mind.

“Currently, I feel like if we play really, really good shows and we write good songs and we make good records. … maybe someday we’ll tour but it’s not really the priority.” The Luyas regularly take the time to play shows in Ontario and Quebec, and have made it as far as Halifax.

Nonetheless, they always return home to Montreal, the focus of the Canadian music scene lately, and a breeding ground for the extensive musical collaboration The Luyas exemplify.

To Stein, the reasons behind Montreal’s outflow of creativity and collaboration are simple.

“I feel like if you’re interested in something specific, you find out where that specific thing lies and you go there and talk about your interests.

“[In Montreal] you kind of end up knowing everybody by a few degrees and if you have any interest in something that anybody else is doing its very easy to access them.”

This urban artistic community has kept the members of The Luyas busy working on multiple projects, but Stein expects the band will continue to find the time to write and perform together.

“We’re all really good friends and none of us want to break up. Hopefully, we’ll just make really beautiful records and work really hard on them for a long time.”

The Luyas are re-releasing their album Faker Death in February, with national distribution. The band plays with Katie Stelmanis at The Artel this Saturday, Jan. 12, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.

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