The Lauras

While jamming a new bossanova-style song at drummer Tri Le’s house around 9:45pm a few weeks ago, The Lauras received their first-ever noise complaint and subsequent (outrageous) fine. “Everyone was straight-goofing and living their life,” recounts Kathleen Prinsen, who was surprised by the use of force. “We’re three little wusses playing a bossanova song.” Led by Graeme Stewart, The Lauras is a creative departure from his other two bands, Monomyth and Moon. “I’m inspired by a lot of shoegaze/C86-style stuff, along with a general fondness for the ’80s and ’90s,” he says. “I love The Byrds and The Beach Boys. A lot of the stuff from the ’60s isn’t afraid to have complex chord progressions, which I find cool. I also like what’s going on with guitar-based pop in Canada right now: Mac DeMarco, Freelove Fenner, Each Other.”

As The Lauras work on an EP, Stewart hopes stylistic changes from song to song aren’t too drastic: “I just roll with it and hope it meshes. I’m trying to write good pop songs that sound coherent. I mean, I don’t want to sound derivative but I’m not taking any huge leaps experimentally.” Better listen up, police cops: if you’re going to fine The Lauras, it should be for getting too groovy.