by arin nicole segal

Lauren Shera

January 15, 2013

On the road with Augustana, Lauren Shera spent a few minutes on the phone with me this weekend on a day off between Denver and Minneapolis. She blends indie and folk to create a pleasant singer/songwriter sound. After funding a Kickstarter campaign, Lauren recently recorded new music for her third album Gold + Rust. Songs from the new album and the past two can be heard at the live shows; but if you want a taste of her music before then, head over to Noisetrade.com/LaurenShera for a free download of a sampler featuring a few tracks from the new album and some older ones as well. Tour dates and ticket links are below the interview.

Arin: You are a few days into tour, so how has it been?
Lauren: We just did our 5th show or something last night and I’m in Denver right now and I’m gonna start to head towards Minneapolis for the show tomorrow, and everything’s been really great. Most of the shows have been sold-out and Augustana fans are super friendly and they’ve been really warm and receptive and I have some friends of my own that have been coming out to the shows, and it’s been really fun and super positive so far.

A: What initially got you into music and interested in this whole world?
L: I was raised in a pretty musical family; both of my parents play and I just grew up kind of near it always. If my parents weren’t playing, then there was something on the stereo. So it was just something that I was drawn to and I started writing poems and stories and stuff when I was really young and always had my nose in a book; and eventually my love for writing turned into this thing that I married with an interest in playing music and learning guitar, and [I] started writing songs when I was a young teenager. It’s just always been part of my life; it’s really special to me.

A: When people come out to a live show, what can they expect to see from you?
L: Well, typically when I’m touring – as is the case for this tour – I’m playing solo acoustic, so it’s a pretty stripped down [and] raw sort of set. I think it’s cool because people are getting to hear the songs in their original state. If you buy my record or if you listen to my recordings, you’ll get to hear me play with more full band instrumentations. If you come to the shows, you’ll get to hear the songs the way they sounded in my head when I wrote them sitting alone in my living room.

A: Explain how the new album is being released and the timeframe for it?
L: There’s not an exact date yet. We had done a big Kickstarter campaign to fund it and my main goal these last few months has just been to get the album finished and then get it to the people who helped me make it; and after I get it to my backers, I’ll probably do a little game-planning and regrouping and just decide when this year I would like to release the record. The album I’m really excited about. It’s called Gold + Rust and I do step in a slightly less folky and slightly more indie kind of direction. It still kind of hangs on to those folky roots because that’s how I wrote a lot of the songs – just along with the guitar – but the way that we decided to produce the album and the way that we decided to arrange it with a full band is definitely going to be a bit of a new direction for me which I feel really excited about.

A: Are you playing those songs live on this tour?
L: I am, yeah. I’m playing a bunch of new stuff and then, I’m also playing some stuff off my last two records as well.

A: Social media has become a huge part of music, especially when you are a ‘smaller’ artist, so how have you used it to your advantage?
L: It’s one of those things that’s a learning curve for me. I’m not an expert at it by any means, it’s just I like to be in touch with my fans. I like to be communicating with them and I’m lucky enough to have [a] small but really supportive and positive group of people that follow me and keep in touch with me and were so just ready to jump on board for something like the Kickstarter campaign. I really had no idea what to expect and was totally just blown away and humbled by the response that I got from it. Social media is really key and it’s just one of those things that I have to constantly remind myself to try and stay on top of the game with because it’s always evolving and changing.

DATES & TICKET LINKS

January 15th-Chicago, IL-Double Door

http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/192387?utm_medium=bks

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January 17th-Philadelphia, PA-TLA

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0200497ECE40A237

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January 18th-Boston, MA-Paradise Rock Club

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0100497DDF25DAD3

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January 19th-New York City, NY-Gramercy Theatre

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000497E1F46ABE6