Following the death of his mother in early 2015, Adam Fight left Southern California for Portland with a quiver of blunt, enraged songs. Fight began playing bass in the local music scene, where he met Elly Swope and Victoria Valenzuela. Then in early 2016, Fight (vocals/guitar), Swope (drums), and Valenzuela (bass) started a new band, Loveboys—a name lifted from Allen Ginsberg’s Howl.
They’d only rehearsed for about a month before fate pushed the three into a house together. They’ve since moved out, but this incubation period was crucial to their burgeoning chemistry.
“We just wanted to explore and take it a step at a time,” says Swope. “Living together was an exciting part of that. We had a lot of conversations about the band while cooking and taking smoke breaks.”