Hailing from Philadelphia by way of Charlottesville, VA, Left & Right used to be a sloppy college band of four university transit bus drivers in Charlottesville: Daniel, Phil, Andrew, and Zak. Daniel Merchant and Phil Dameron (guitars/vocals) started the band after their old band broke up. Andrew Abbott was really good at playing bass so they asked him to join. Zak Krone lied about being able to drum so he could also be a part of the band. (It worked out in the end.)
After college, they cut the shit, kept the name, and headed for Philadelphia, where they snagged jobs as baristas and “ice-cream scoopsmen.” You might think they sound kinda like those cool North Carolina indie bands from the 90s that your older brother used to listen to, like Archers of Loaf and Superchunk. After all, they’ve got that raucous lo-fi sound, those clever lyrics, and that unstoppable drive. They’re going for it– in a 2004 Honda Odyssey that has 168,000 miles on it and 168,000 more miles to go!
Five Year Plan is Left & Right’s third album and their first for Infinity Cat Recordings. Drawing heavily from Gen-X indie rock, the album twists and turns between relentlessly energetic pop-punk and soaring slow-jams, capturing both the melancholia and joy of a quarter-life crisis with its endless hooks. It’s music for getting together, breaking up, grabbing a slice of pizza, and doing it all over again. Never has being bummed out sounded so fun.
