Arts & Entertainment

McLovins Play Norwalk's Sono Arts Fest [Update with Video]

The Hartford-area teenage group has impressed a Phish fans, musicians and others.

Update, 5:54 a.m.:

Here's a video (attached) of The McLovins playing at the SoNo Arts Celebration on Sunday, with excerpts from "Close to the Line," from their upcoming album, to be released sometime before Christmas.

Original article:

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The McLovins band, a teenage group based in Connecticut and playing today at the SoNo Arts Celebration, so impressed Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall, both lyricists for Phish, that Marshall got in touch with them and ended up singing at a gig with the group.

That kind of interest gives a lot of people high hopes for the band, made up of two 18-year-olds, who have just graduated from high school, and a 17-year-old going into his senior year. They live in Granby, Canton and Simsbury, in the Hartford area.

Find out what's happening in Norwalkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We're never going to get them again," said Festival Director Susan Gordon. By next year, she believes, the band will be too popular to do a SoNo Arts Celebration gig. "They're going to blow up."

The band plays for two sets today, one at 2 p.m. and the other at 4 p.m., on the main stage in the food court at the SoNo arts fest. The bands have played through light rain at the SoNo Arts Celebration, although a thunderstorm is possible today.

It was the boys cover for Phish's "Farmhouse" that sparked Anastasio to pass on a link to the music to Marshall. Marshall ended up singing with the boys at the Brooklyn Bowl months ago, as Relix magazine reported.

"That kind of mentorship between Anthony and Tom and the band has been wonderful for all of them," said Carol Huffman, McLovins manager and mother of Jake Huffman, lead singer and drummer for the band.

The band's musical influences come from "pretty much anything we can find," Jake said, but core influences include Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin and The Police.

Jake had heard Jeffrey Howard and Jason Ott at a music competition and got together with them to play music. "I liked the way they played, and we got along really well," Jake said.

When they uploaded a cover for a Phish song, Phish fans noticed a resemblence of Howard and Ott to the McLovin character in the 2007 movie "Superbad" and started calling the group "The McLovins." They accepted the name and became a band.

That cover of "You Enjoy Myself," Jake said, "overnight ... got a lot of views. It became a sort of viral video. That's kind of how we got our start. We realized, 'Oh, people do really like our music. We can actually do something with it.'"

Each of the boys started playing at a young age, with a lot of support from their parents, although the parents haven't been controlling, Carol Huffman said.

"Every family made sure music was a priority," she said.

When Jake was growing up, she said, music education was as important in their home as math or any other subject, but it was Jake's choice to play what instrument or music he wanted.

Jake Huffman, 18, is now about to start school at Western Connecticut State University, Jason Ott, 18, at the Hart School of Music in Hartford, and Jeffrey Howard, 17, has another year to go in high school.

So far, the band has stuck to playing in the Northeast as it hones its skills, but Carol Huffman said she hopes to get a tour for them out west.

"One good thing about the McLovins is they really appeal to all ages," Carol said. "It's something people can listen to with whole families or by themselves. It's a rare thing when you can appeal to a three-year-old dancing and a 95-year-old dancing. ... We've had both."


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