Pop rock band Parachute hails from Charlottesville, Virginia, but is making its way down South for Friday night’s Groovin’ at the Baton Rouge River Center, which will be one of several performances in Louisiana for the band and only its second show in Baton Rouge. It has gained a significant following since its formation and has consistently released new albums. The Daily Reveille sat down with Parachute’s saxophone, keyboard player and vocalist, Kit French to discuss the band’s upcoming performance and plans for the future.
The Daily Reveille: How’s it going? How’s the band?
Kit French: The band is excellent. We just finished up a tour with Mat Kearney in Nashville. Excellent, excellent tour, and just kind of wrapping this up. Now, we’re visiting some colleges and playing some fun shows for the students.
TDR: Is there anything different about playing a college show as opposed to a regular show?
KF: That’s a good question. It can be very different or it can be kind of similar to playing big, club shows. It just kind of depends on what else is going on and if people feel like coming out and having a good time. Sometimes it is not what’s going on for that night where you show up and people are just chilling, which is great — we’re down to chill too, but I think this show is going to be awesome. We’ve been looking forward to it. Young the Giant and COIN — it’s going to be a good night. We’re big fans of both those bands.
TDR: You all have played several shows in Louisiana before? How’s it feel to be coming back?
KF: In my opinion, we haven’t played enough. I love New Orleans, and we’ve only played a handful of shows down there.
TDR: Do you have a favorite thing about Louisiana?
KF: As the resident horn player for the band, I obviously have a big respect for the rich history in New Orleans. I’m the only one talking to our booking agent like, ‘Hey, can we get a show in New Orleans?’
TDR: What are some of the songs you have lined up for Friday night?
KF: We’re going to play some new ones. We’ve been working on some very new ones that I believe we will debut, well not an official debut. We started playing them at the end of the tour with Mat Kearney, but we’ll bring them back out. Then, a bunch of songs from “Overnight” that we’ve been having a blast playing. Some of the older songs that we’ve dug out and kind of revamped and changed the arrangements to. We always try to keep it fresh. So we will be playing some new stuff.
TDR: Do you have a favorite song to play live?
KF: I really like our song “Didn’t See It Coming,” right now. It gets everyone moving on stage. You never know what Will does. He usually just jumps in the crowd and high fives every last person. That’s a fun one. We’ve extended it and just have a good time.
TDR: You all have grown as a band over the years. What do you think have been the biggest changes for the band and how has that shaped where you want to go in the future?
KF: I would say the biggest change kind of happened recently with the members ending their stint with us, but that was not a negative change. It was an anticipated adjustment and new era to come. It definitely had a way of refocusing us and kind of tightening us up as a group. It had a lot of really positive things to come from that, so we are more energized than ever, if you can believe it.
TDR: The band also seems to make it a priority to interact with fans, whether it’s through Snapchat or the recent posts about your March Madness brackets. Why do you think it’s important to establish that kind of relationship with fans?
KF: We love reaching out to the fans. They’re why we can do what we do. We respect and love them and try to reach out as much as we can. Some of these people keep coming back to concerts over and over, and that takes a lot. It’s really awesome.
TDR: You all are working on some new material. What can fans expect to hear in the future?
KF: Oh yeah, I think we’re finalizing our producer this week. We already got a couple done and some new singles. You’ll be hearing some new music from us very soon. It’ll be upbeat, very uptempo, fun pop songs, but nothing drastically different. We’re not throwing the drum kit away or anything like that. We’re not throwing away the saxophone. It’s still our instrumentation, but it’s just more upbeat, fun and exciting. We’re working on our dance moves, basically is what I’m trying to say.
TDR: Are we going to see some of those dance moves Friday?
KF: I don’t know, I can’t promise you that. You might see it, but I don’t know if you want to see it.
TDR: What would say has been the most rewarding part of what you do?
KF: Just to continue to do some of these headlining tours we’ve been starting to do that have been really successful for us, and not just grinding it out in tiny little bars, but actually playing proper clubs and theatres and having so many people come out. That’s just, hands down, the most rewarding thing. That and just to see all the appreciation for what we do. It’s a pretty unbelievable feeling.
TDR: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
KF: Come on out, it’s going to be phenomenal. We are looking forward to it. We’ve been looking forward to it all month.