The side rock ‘n’ roll project of friends from several Grand Rapids bands has produced a fresh, ‘goofy but serious’ debut album. (Story, video podcast)
‘Fun Outlet’: Singer Rob Froh and Lambo showed their humorous side during the HopCat presents Local Spins Live at River City Studios session. (Photo/Brennan Heldt)
Take it from Lambo: This Grand Rapids rock band unabashedly capitalizes on the talents of members who propel several other West Michigan groups.
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And more than anything, the entertaining side project is all just “super fun.”
Friends and a ‘Strange Balance’: Lambo performing at River City Studios. (Photo/Local Spins)
“It’s a strange balance, but I think that we do it really well. We work under the auspices that we’re friends and that sort of comes first,” says guitarist Luke Shoemaker.
“All these extra-curricular things really bring us together tighter and makes the songwriting process so much more fluid and easy. There’s no ego, so it’s really really fun.”
So even though the members of Lambo – Shoemaker (Blanca Luz, Brave Youth), singer Rob Froh (The Little Village), guitarist Erin Lenau (Hollywood Makeout, Tokyo Morose), bassist Cedric Canero (Hollywood Makeout, Ghost Heart) and drummer Grant Floering (KINS) – juggle plenty of other musical ventures, the band managed to release its long-awaited debut album late last year.
“All the other bands kept going, but this was always this fun outlet to be, I would say, goofy, but also serious because at the end of the day we actually wrote some pretty decent tunes,” says Froh, who describes Lambo’s music as cheeky and self-deprecating. “We’re not trying to be super deep.”
About the time Lambo released that self-titled recording, the band rocked a session of HopCat presents Local Spins Live at River City Studios, performing in front of a small studio audience. Watch a video of the interview-and-performance session here, with a podcast below.
VIDEO: Lambo at River City Studios
Video by Brennan Heldt and the River City Studios Team
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Froh and Shoemaker formed Lambo after leaving other bands, recruiting Lenau and Canero to join them, eventually followed by Floering (who Froh describes as “drummer master” who also scores music for movies).
Busy Musicians: Erin Lenau, at right, and Cedric Canero are also part of Hollywood Makeout.
With so many other projects in the offing (Hollywood Makeout will release a much-anticipated new album, “Speedo Spider,” on May 18), fans probably won’t see a lot of gigging and touring from Lambo. But don’t expect the band to go away, either.
After all, playing for competing bands over the years has infused Lambo with a unique vibe, spawned by genuine musical camaraderie.
“It’s nice to compete with the people that you know and love and can make you a better person and better musically, put on better shows,” says Shoemaker. “We have such a competition in this city where it’s so healthy.”
As such, Lambo serves as a healthy, alternative rock ‘n’ roll avenue for its talented members.
“I think this is my most important outlet,” Froh says. “The biggest thing is just to be able to have a record that I made with my best friends that my mom can enjoy as much as my baby nephew. … I just think that this is something that’s fun to do and it’s very important to me.”
Get more information about Lambo online here, and purchase its debut album at bandcamp.com.
PODCAST: Hopcat presents Local Spins Live at River Studios with Lambo
Engineering by Roy Wallace, River City Studios
Copyright 2017, Spins on Music LLC
