This piece is part of our Q+A series. Do you know someone we should interview? Nominate them at hello@noogatoday.com.
Lenox Hills is a Nashville-based Indie rock quartet that formed their roots here in Chattanooga. The group recently announced their upcoming EP “Golden Town” which is set to release Wed., March 23 on all streaming platforms.
The band will return to Chattanooga to play one of three EP release shows on Fri., March 25 at Songbirds — psst… the guys said they’ve got some surprises up their sleeves for the upcoming show, so you won’t want to miss out.
To hold you over until then, one of the EP’s singles, “Misnomer” will be released tomorrow, which gives you plenty of time to memorize the lyrics to sing along at the show.
We talked with the group’s vocalist + guitarist Luke Mullins to hear more about Lenox Hills’ origin, being on the Riverbend lineup, and the difference between Chattanooga and Nashville’s music scenes.
Could you tell us a little bit about how Lenox Hills came to be?
Lenox Hills — you know that neighborhood over in Cleveland, right? That’s the neighborhood we all grew up in together, so we named the band after it. We got started, I’d say it was 2017, we were all at UTC at the time. We were just writing songs together… then in 2018 is when we kind of started considering ourselves a band and really pursuing being artists.
We played in Chattanooga a lot over those years and got to expand in other areas of the southeast over the next couple of years. Then in August, I finished up school so we were all good to finally give this thing a real shot, so we decided moving to Nashville was our next move.
It’s exciting to see you all on the Riverbend lineup, will Riverbend be one of your biggest shows?
I think it will be our biggest show, especially considering the caliber of artists they put on the lineup. To just be listed alongside some of those people is just so cool. Even taking away that, just being from Chattanooga and getting to play Riverbend is just so cool.
We grew up going [to Riverbend]. I remember whenever we just thought of being musicians in middle school, whenever you just daydream and say, “Man, playing Riverbend would be the real deal,” and now we’re finally getting to do it.
It’s really neat to see that dream coming full circle for you guys so early on.
Yeah, we’re so excited about that. We actually got booked for [Riverbend] in 2020 when Covid hit, so this is our second time getting booked, but it looks like this one is going to happen, hopefully. We’re all looking forward to it.
There’s some big names on this year’s lineup, who are some of the artists you all are most excited to see?
Cage the Elephant is probably the biggest one, and Jason Isbill. Moon Taxi is another band that is big for us. We could really just go down the list, everybody is really great and we are just so excited to be a part of it.
I grew up listening to Grace Potter, my dad was a big fan of her. We would listen to her CD in the car sometimes, I never thought I would be able to see her at Riverbend. So people like that, Devon Gilfillian we listen to a lot too, there’s just so many people. It’s such a good lineup, we’re really excited for it. The people who booked Riverbend did such a great job.
What’s your favorite part of Chattanooga’s music scene + how would you say it differs from Nashville’s music scene?
That’s a tough question, I would have to say my favorite part of the Chattanooga music scene is how genuine it is. Everyone is doing music because they love it, and everybody is very helpful. We’ve come across a lot of great people in the city of Chattanooga, it’s where we cut our teeth and we grew up there.
We had the opportunity to play some shows, probably when we weren’t ready to play, and…the crowds were always very receptive to us as well as other artists. There’s definitely just this strong sense of community within the Chattanooga music scene that we’ve always really enjoyed.
Nashville has that too, but we’re still kind of new here and making our rounds meeting other artists. It’s so much bigger of a place as a city and so much different than Chattanooga, so the music scene is very different too.
A lot of the artists that we surround ourselves with are really great people and we’ve found that to be the case in both Nashville and Chattanooga. I will say Nashville does feel a bit more business oriented when it comes to music, there’s a whole other side to it in that regard. Both music scenes are great in their own way, but there are differences for sure.
Do you have a favorite venue to play in Chattanooga or to watch shows?
Songbirds is such a cool place and the people who run it are such incredible people. We’ve always loved to play there and it’s right up there as one of our favorite venues to play anywhere. It’s such a cool environment and obviously I miss downstairs, that was a really special room to play in and see a show in. Getting to play upstairs has really surprised me, it’s so nice up there. There’s all these priceless guitars and it doesn’t feel like a rock club, but somehow when you get on stage there and everything gets going it feels like a rock club, it’s a pleasant surprise.
I’ve never seen anything like [Songbirds], it kind of stands alone in what it is. I not only think it’s the best venue in Chattanooga, but also one of the best venues out there truly.
Are there any other fellow Chattanoogan artists you guys love listening to?
Oh absolutely, I’d say Afternooners have been our boys for a long time, we’ll always be rooting for them, and Behold the Brave, those are guys I’ve really enjoyed playing shows with and working together with them.
One that I haven’t met, but I’m a huge fan of her work, is Anna Baldree. She kind of has the Phoebe Bridgers vibe and is really good.
There’s a ton of great people, it’s really hard [to name all of them], I think I’m missing some.
Another doesn’t really feel like Chattanooga, but he’s from Chattanooga, his name is Austin Sawyer, he has a band called Drumming Bird, we play with them a lot. I think they’re one of the best bands and he’s one of the best writers I know. He’s been in Nashville for awhile, but he’s from Chattanooga so we can throw him in there with the Chattanooga artists.
We have some readers who are big fans of Behold the Brave, myself included.
They’re really cool dudes, I remember being a freshman in college and I was wrestling at UTC at the time and I hated it because I wanted to be in a band. I was at study hall and was supposed to be studying. I might get in trouble for saying this — well I guess not anymore — but instead of studying I was watching Behold the Brave on Audiotree and thinking,’Wait these guys are from Chattanooga? That’s insane, I want to play with these guys one day and get to see them.’ Then a couple years later, we’ve played with them a few times and really like those guys.
It’s so cool, that’s one of my favorite stories. I just remember watching them and really wanting to be like them and a couple of years later we’re playing with them. They’re really great guys and a great band, they’re just fun.
