Weekly Feature: The Neighbourhood

This week's featured band is a group that was formed in California in 2011. The Neighbourhood has a hit song on the radio called "Sweater Weather" and has performed on late night talk shows, toured with Imagine Dragons and have had a few of their songs featured on TV shows.

The band first appeared online in 2012 with their first single "Female Robbery" and left many searching the web to find any biographical info or history on these guys. Nothing. Many thought they were British because of the way they spell their name (in reality, The Neighborhood band name was already taken several decades ago). Finally, pieces started to come together as to who they were, where they were from and why there was hardly any information available.

After reading articles and interviews, I believe The Neighbourhood purposely withheld the names of the band members and other info pertaining to their creation because they wanted listeners to focus on the music. The band shoots almost everything in black and white, which they dub as their style due to its confident inspirations. The lead singer, Jesse Rutherford, told oohbrilliant.com in an interview that the band is largely based on rhythm. He went on to say that their aim was to have a hip-hop aesthetic on an indie platform.

The band has talent. No doubting that. What drew me to these guys is that they put their art, their music first. To me, they're a breath of fresh air in an industry that is so caught up in prioritizing the look or image before the sound. The rock/R&B/hip-hop combo works well for them and their dark videos promote the mysterious image the band evidently wants (and I like). If The Neighbourhood never has another hit on the radio (which I believe they will...many of them) and fades fast, at least they know the attention they received was based on the one thing that should matter the most to any musician; their sound.

Band Members:
Jesse Rutherford - Vocals
Jeremy Freedman- Guitar
Zach Abels – Guitar
Mikey Margott – Bass
Bryan Sammis- Drums