Part electronic-tribal hip hop, part melodic-synth pop, Brooklyn trio Lolawolf are pushing boundaries and opening doors with their newly debuted album, 'Calm Down'.
The fresh-faced, electro-pop supergroup is comprised of Jimmy Giannaopoulos and James Levy (who are members of the very Joy Division-esque indie-rock trio, Reputante), and Zoe Kravitz (the super-talented, only child of iconic, celebrity couple Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, and a star in films including ‘X-Men: First Class’).
Despite their already existing positions of prominence in the music and entertainment industry, the newly formed, hybrid trio originally tried to shroud their individual identities. As Zoe explains: “it was only because I knew eventually [our identities] would come out and people would focus on that more than they would pay attention to the music.
“We just … wanted to trick people into giving an honest opinion [about our music] before they could judge us [based on our names].”
The music industry is hard to crack, but at the moment, with a surging dominance of young, powerful, and highly-talented female musicians – such as Iggy Azalea, Solange and Sky Ferreira – Lolawolf is swiftly becoming known a leader of this pack. “We don't really think about that, I guess,” Zoe says humbly.
“I guess after you do something long enough … you just kind of become a part of this community... and so now it's really cool to call all of those people friends of mine, or people who support the band enough to bring us on tour with them.
“It's awesome to be a part of a group of artists that I think are really pushing the boundaries and inspiring us and other people. It's rad.”
Lolawolf are currently on tour in Australia supporting Miley Cyrus. “I think it's really cool that really successful women are supporting me and supporting the band so ... it's fun. We also like the people, so it just ends up being a really good time.
“It's cool and we learn a lot from the shows, seeing their [Lily Allen and Miley Cyrus] shows [and doing our own] over and over again every night. It's awesome, it's fun.”
The Bangerz tour hasn't been the only thing on Lolawolf's to-do list in Australia. The band made a headlining appearance in Sydney to play at the Oxford Arts Factory’s 7th Birthday Bash at the weekend. “We really wanted to do some local shit while we're here [in Australia] … we were stoked [to play at the Oxford Arts Factory]."
Lolawolf continue the Bangerz tour with Miley Cyrus at the Perth Arena on Thursday 23rd October. Lolawolf’s debut album, ‘Calm Down’, is out on Tuesday 21st October.
