Lumineers: We knew we’d made it when Obama’s a fan

Their single Stubborn Love caught the attention of the President 
Band: Wesley Schultz, Neyla Pekarek and Jeremiah Fraites
The Weekender

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The frontman of The Lumineers says the band “knew they’d made it” when they heard Barack Obama was a fan.

The multi-Grammy-nominated folk rock band exploded on to the charts in October 2012 with their single Ho Hey, which spent 62 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. But it was their follow-up single Stubborn Love that caught the attention of the President — it features on one of his Spotify playlists.

Frontman Wesley Schultz, 33, told the Standard: “That felt amazing. It was a big surprise. I guess having any president listening to your stuff is a good thing — but we all like and respect Obama as a president so that was a bonus.”

Schultz, who was born in New Jersey but studied in London, said the city “very much changed me. I was studying at Goldsmiths and would play anywhere people would let me. It was very different to the States where everyone dressed the same and looked the same. You were encouraged to be weird.”

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Drummer Jeremiah Fraites and cellist Neyla Pekarek are planning to busk incognito on the Tube, he added. “Looking at people’s faces when we play Ho Hey would be hilarious — ‘Oh those guys sound just like the Lumineers.’”

The band release new single Ophelia today and second album Cleopatra is out in April. Next week, they are playing a secret London venue ahead of a UK and European tour.

Schultz said the “grittier” new work was “more electric guitar, plugged in and heavier”, adding: “This is pretty much the first time we will have performed it.”

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