ANCHR's Artist of the Week: The Backseat Lovers

Photo by Alex Justice

We’ve all had that experience when we hear a song for the first time and need to know who it’s by so we can immediately look up more songs by them. That was my experience listening to “Kilby Girl” by The Backseat Lovers for the first time while checking out a Lollapalooza playlist ahead of this year’s festival. With over 55 million streams on Spotify, it’s clear I’m not the only one hooked on this song.

Upon that first listen of the band, I thought that the band’s lead singer Joshua Harmon sings with a hint of British inflection, so I was surprised to learn they were actually from Utah. The Backseat Lovers were formed when Harmon asked their now drummer Juice Welch if he wanted to start a band together, and the two began forming full arrangements of songs that Harmon had written. Their lineup further came together when Hamon met the lead guitarist Jonas Swanson in line for an open mic night in Provo City, Utah. As Harmon and Swanson played their music for each other, Harmon finally decided to share his song “Out of Tune,” and that was the first piece the entire group worked on arranging together.

From there, The Backseat Lovers moved on to start recording together in 2018, releasing an EP entitled Elevator Days later that year. They soon followed up the first release with a debut album called When We Were Friends in early 2019, and they’ve said they’re continuing to work on even more new material at the moment.

If you enjoy the pep and warm Summer vibes that the likes of bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Wallows, and Cage The Elephant conjure, make sure you check The Backseat Lovers’ album. “Kilby Girl” has one of those choruses that makes for an easy crowd sing-a-long, and that was certainly the case for their packed afternoon set at Lollapalooza and their sold out after show.

See where you can catch the band performing next here, and watch the music video for their song “Heavy” below.