Memphis Music Feature: Massey Lane
Massey Lane is a rock band composed of members, in no particular order of rock-ability, Grant Carr, Miles Norwood, Phillip Dominguez, and Logan Harvey.
Massey Lane is a rock band composed of members, in no particular order of rock-ability, Grant Carr, Miles Norwood, Phillip Dominguez, and Logan Harvey.
We sat down with them to discuss their process as writers, their experience as a rock band in Memphis, and more.
The initial concept of Massey Lane was a culmination of solo projects from lead singer and guitarist, Grant. Miles (guitarist) and Grant began the first official phase of Massey Lane around 2020. Soon after, Logan (drummer) was brought in, and Phillip (bassist) is the newest member rounding out the team of four.
Being that the band first formed in 2020 amongst the pandemic, it wasn’t until April of 2021 that they first stepped out as Massey Lane, giving them ample time to hone in on their sound. “We had a lot of time to kind of practice some stuff around which was very beneficial for us. We had a whole lot of time to get to know one another. We were never awkward strangers on the stage or in the studio or anything like that.” (Grant). With no desire for the “responsibility” and “pressure” that often comes with being a solo artist, the four have naturally gravitated towards the collaborative writing process that creates their fortified sound. Everyone in the band contributes to the songwriting, each member picking up where the other may leave off. They’ve become able to translate each other’s “gibberish” into cohesive ideas and songs. Phillip noted that as someone who initially began making music on his own on his computer, playing in bands “brought a new frame for me to appreciate music. And being able to delegate writing drums, I suck at writing drums, but being able to have somebody who plays drums, write them, is awesome! It’s very helpful!”
Recently, Massey Lane has taken on a grungier and heavier sound that differs from earlier works where they tended to lean more towards 90s alt rock sounds. They are enjoying experimenting and “testing boundaries” with their sound. Seeing what works and what doesn’t in order to ultimately make something they’re proud to show others. According to Miles, a lot of it is about “being accessible to everyone. When you go to a show, I want to see every type of person at our show. There’s a lot of bands that I’ve gone to their shows and it’s just like a mish-mosh of everyone you could think of. Frat dudes and old guys with their kids and young people. That’s kind of how I want our stuff to be…Everyone can go to a Massey Lane show and have a good time.”
Along that vein, though, they do have to find the balance between creating what is authentic to them and what they feel will keep the crowd on their feet. Logan mentions, “We don’t want to be too pop/mainstream, but at the same time we want people to like us…We’re always thinking of how we come across live, too…We’re always thinking about ways that our songs can be different live.” You may think you know one of their songs by listening to it on your phone, but if you hear it live it could sound totally different. They may add in intros and outros, find ways to play it even louder and crazier than normal in an effort to take the song to a new level. Ultimately, they want to keep their performance memorable not only for them, but for their audiences. For Grant, they “definitely don’t want to have too many slowburners. I like to see people move and have a good time, and I like to have songs that are fun to play and jump around on stage.
There is also a certain level of healthy competition among other bands that leaves them eager to keep their live sets fresh and new. Being in a city with so many other great rock bands who are also performing at their highest level, Grant says that, “There’s a bit of fighting-tooth-and-nail to try and make sure that you’re consistently bettering yourself, and trying to be a little bit better every single day at your craft, at your performance, and being memorable.” It’s a friendly system of ‘If they jump, you jump higher’ that drives them. If the band before them is thrashing around and screaming, they’ll get on stage and roll around and try to be even louder. They feel this ecosystem of Memphis bands they’ve found themselves in only makes them better as artists and performers in the end.
It’s not only local bands that Massey Lane bounces off of. They also hope to continue to find support from bands outside of Memphis as well, as they feel the more bands that are coming outside of Memphis, helps to fuel the local scene. “There’s a lot of room for medium size bands to come through,” in the words of Logan, “but that doesn’t happen as much. That would also help local bands, because then it gives them someone to open for…There are so many local bands that have been playing in Memphis for years that don’t get picked up when they’ve been cutting their teeth. I feel like there’s a lot of room for the rock scene to grow.
Credit is due to local fans, as well, as they feel Memphians are really returning to a desire to see live bands and invest in them which leaves so much opportunity for Massey Lane to grow. Phillip feels,“It’s interesting to play in a scene where not everyone listens to the same music, and people are a lot more open to different types of music…In Memphis, it’s very egalitarian in how people approach music, and people are just interested in the craft of seeing live music which is something to be very appreciative of.” They hope that as the Memphis music scene continues to grow, the drive for high end musicality continues on as well as “keep[ing] local support and musicianship alive.” (Grant)
A large part of that future, though, lies also in local recording studios. Miles would like to see “Recording studios getting a little bit more traffic wherever it is, STAX, Young Ave, Ardent, Crosstown Studios, just more bands coming through, more variety. Even the shows here, even the festivals, Memphis, Riverbeat…a consistent circle at these smaller, sometimes DIY, places, sometimes bigger venues…I don’t like seeing a venue going away. Anything to keep the places we’ve played at still going…Just people coming out and supporting.” While they have seen some of their favorite venues close down, such as Carolina Watershed, there are still plenty of rock-friendly venues that they frequent. They mentioned Minglewood Hall’s various performance spaces, HiTone, and Growler’s as their current favorite venues.
The Memphis spots that Massey Lane says you must visit or else you haven’t really been to Memphis are:
Petals of Peony
Shelby Farms (to see the buffalo of course)
Memphis Zoo
Metal Museum
Tom Lee Park
Paula and Raiford’s Disco
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