Boston will be welcoming Family and Friends on Friday as the band continues on their second and longest tour. Family and Friends includes guitarist and vocalist Mike MacDonald, vocalist Casey Harper, percussionists Alejandro Rios and Ryan Houchens, guitarist JP McKenzie, bassist Tuna Fortuna and violist Maria Kindt.
After forming in 2013 under the idea of “Good People. Good Music,” these individuals have evolved into a joyfully explosive group, discovering passion through indie folk rock. The seven members created Family and Friends in their hometown of Athens, Georgia, a place that they hold close to their hearts and that serves as the last stop on this 2015 tour.
It’s hard not to smile when you watch Family and Friends perform. The members experience each song so fully, bent over their guitars, throwing back their heads to sing their hearts out. This emotion keeps their songs down-to-earth and incredibly pure.
Family and Friends’ music is upbeat, but comforting. There aren’t a lot of neon tech displays or light shows in their performances, but the energy and passion is undeniable.
“What’s really important is the caring and compassion that everyone in the group has for each other,” MacDonald said in an interview with The Daily Free Press.
This is what keeps them constantly inspired and enthused to keep pushing their boundaries. Though a few members went to high school together, the seven musicians have created a sound that is completely their own.
Their quirky charm and heartfelt energy are easily reflected in their songs, and even their name. These people truly embody the warmth and comfort of your own family and friends.
Family and Friend’s latest EP focuses on reminiscing memories and has a particular fondness for the past. Fittingly, the name, “Xoxo,” comes from a mysterious bar napkin with a phone number and a lipstick print on it, signed “XOXO.” Finding something from the past holds a special fragility, MacDonald explained.
“Someone left that for someone else,” he said. “It’s part of the remembrance, something tangible that reflects something from before.”
On Oct. 26, Family and Friends released their first official music video for “Amadeus,” an upbeat song that urges the world to seize the moment and reminds people that love will always carry on, even after we’re gone.
To capture the bittersweetness of passing time, the video features a Calvin and Hobbes-inspired storyline, following a young boy and his best friend, a stuffed bear that comes to life. The two entertain themselves with endless shenanigans. They have pillow fights, throw water balloons at unsuspecting passers-by, go biking through the woods, run around with sparklers, make scary faces underneath the blankets, go fishing and, at the end of a long and busy day, fall asleep.
“We wanted to reflect a certain nostalgia,” MacDonald said. “The video was trying to evoke a feeling of childlike wonder.”
The message of the EP easily weaves its way into the music video, reminding listeners how important passing moments are because in a second, they become the past.
It took on a very “grassroots approach,” and because of this, the EP ended up being more about the journey of creating something together, rather than the final product.
Despite the emphasis in “Xoxo” on treasuring the past, Family and Friends has big plans for the future, eager to release their first full-length album soon, hopefully next year. However, MacDonald said the main goal is to simply make music, meet new people and have fun.
Family and Friends will play at Paradise Rock Club Friday night. Doors open at 7 p.m.
