The Rare Occasions on Bats and Boston

Cover photo from Atwood Magazine

Name: The Rare Occasions (Brian McLaughlin, Jeremy Cohen, and Luke Imbusch)

Pronouns: he/him

Age: 82 (combined years of experience)

Zodiac: Brian is a Libra, and Luke and Jeremy are Tauruses

OFF THE RECORD: If your band had a spirit animal, what would the animal be?

THE RARE OCCASIONS: A bat because we use sound to figure out where we’re going (and also because we sleep hanging upside down from our feet).

OTR: What was it like winning the WBRU Rock Hunt? Would you classify that as your “turning point” as a band?

TRO: Growing up in Rhode Island, WBRU was always an important piece of the local culture, acting as the primary connection between the local scene and the broader music industry. As teenagers we would listen to the station and go to the shows they sponsored. We’re super grateful for the opportunities WBRU provided us after we won the Rock Hunt—opening up for their Birthday Bash at Lupo’s and headlining at Waterplace Park will always be some of our fondest memories, not to mention all the radio play they gave us. Many bands who won the Rock Hunt in the early 2000s ended up signing to labels and really jump started their music careers from it. By the time we rolled around it wasn’t quite as big a deal since radio had less of an influence, but it definitely gave us the practice and confidence to continue our journey as songwriters and performers. What they did for RI’s music scene at their peak was incredible and it’s a shame they went off the air.

OTR: If you could only use two words to describe your sound as a whole, what would the words be?

TRO: Cooler and Warmer

OTR: What would you say is the biggest difference between the New England music scene and the Los Angeles music scene? Do you guys ever miss Boston?

TRO: Out here DIY shows happen in backyards instead of basements! There are certainly more similarities than differences, but since L.A. is a city that artists flock to from around the world, there is a wider variety of different music scenes going on with many different genres. The industry presence can be strange—you hear about artists signing record deals before really making any music, which is pretty antithetical to what we grew up with in New England. Out in the Inland Empire and down in Orange County there are some really cool things happening—more all-ages shows and a really down-to-earth DIY scene that has been very welcoming. We absolutely miss Boston and really hope to be back once shows start happening again.

OTR: How has self isolation/quarantine been treating you all? What do you currently miss the most about the outside world?

TRO: It’s not so bad. Obviously we miss playing live shows the most! It’s been nice to work from home. Unlike the office I work in, my apartment has windows! And I have a small area where I can go outside. To be honest I feel freer now constrained to my yard than I did before, constrained by society.

OTR: If you could only recommend one song for people to listen to that encapsulates The Rare Occasions, what song would you pick?

TRO: Of the songs that are currently released, “Notion” is probably the song that best encapsulates what we’re about. Musically with how it starts out a certain way and ends up someplace else entirely. Lyrically with how it touches on a sense of detachment from certain aspects of society. It seems to be the song that folks have gravitated towards, and it’s something we’re really proud to have made, though I think we’ve come a long way since then.

OTR: What are you guys working on right now? Anything that we should keep an eye out for?

TRO: Luckily, before this whole pandemic thing happened, we recorded a bunch of new music and even shot a music video! So we’ve been keeping busy by mixing those new songs. We’re all really excited about the direction it’s taking. These are definitely the best songs we’ve made so far and the overall cohesion and quality is something we’re really hyped on. We have almost enough material to make an album, though we’re not sure whether we’ll release it all at once or bit by bit as we have been doing.

OTR: This is kind of putting you on the spot, but I’m very obsessed with the song “Loans”. I wish I was able to create that song. Can you talk about the production of it?

TRO: We wrote that song at a time when all of us had either just graduated or were about to graduate college. We’re super grateful to have had the opportunity to pursue higher education, but we wanted to point out the absurdity of the student debt crisis and the uncomfortable situation so many young people find themselves in. You’re told all your life you need to go to these extreme lengths to attend “the best school” so you can get “a good job”. The pressure from family and community to “achieve” can be so strong that you don’t stop to think about what you actually want. Then once you get there you’re stuck in that job whether you like it or not because now you have to pay off the cost of getting into that job in the first place.

TRO: We recorded that whole EP with our friend Steve Sacco. It was really fun working with him because he was open to all our ideas but also challenged us to try some things we wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. We had a few of our friends over to sing the group vocals you hear in the verses. Another fun fact about that EP is that when we recorded it, some of us were living on the West Coast and some of us were still on the East Coast. We were sending files back and forth over Google Drive in order to write and then record those songs.

OTR: What are your favorite colors?

THE RARE OCCASIONS - BRIAN MCLAUGHLIN: Blue.

THE RARE OCCASIONS - LUKE IMBUSCH: Orange.

THE RARE OCCASIONS - JEREMY COHEN: Spider-Man colors.

OTR: What are your opinions on Friends, the TV show?

TRO: Phoebe is cool, and “Smelly Cat” slaps.

OTR: What is something on your bucket list that you want to complete. Not as a band, but personally?

TRO: Travel. Whether on tour with the band or not, there are so many cool places we want to go.

OTR: Lastly, this is like asking your favorite child because there are probably many moments to choose from, but what would you all say is the proudest moment of your career as a band thus far?

TRO: Something that’s still hard to believe we actually did was winning the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. We had been paying attention to the contest over the years and felt that our material was strong enough to have a shot at winning, so we entered some of our best songs at the time. After a few rounds of preliminary selections, the judges ultimately picked our song “Dysphoric” as the Song of the Year. With the prize money we were able to fund our first album and rent a van to go on tour, which was a huge step we hadn’t been able to take before. That album has now paid for itself, so in a way we are still running off the steam that contest gave us. I think something a lot of people forget is that, when you have a band, you’re really operating a business, and if you want to grow that business without transferring ownership to third parties like record labels and publishing companies, you have to think outside the box to make it happen. Contests can be corny in a way because music is absolutely not a competition, but we saw an opportunity to fund our passion and went with it. Plus the JLSC uses its proceeds to provide music programs at schools around the country, so it was an organization we were happy to be aligned with.

Thanks again, The Rare Occasions, for chatting with us! Make sure to check out their Spotify below!