By Vivian Crawford
Lucy Johnston, a Senior at SGA, and her friend, Emma Anderson, started a band back in 2021. The band was originally named “Crow on a Wire,” but they decided to change the name over the summer of 2023 to “Bell Row.” They started by playing at coffee shops, and last year had the chance to open for Lucy’s dad's band, “Smalltown Poets.” They’ve also started doing house shows the past couple of months for the community. In honor of their first released song, “White,” I decided to do an updated interview with the band.
What's the story behind the name of your band and why did you change the name?
Lucy - “We wanted a name with meaning to us. I grew up on Belmont Avenue and Emma grew up on Planters Row Lane, so we put them together to make Bell Row.”
What inspired you to start playing and making music?
Emma - “It was something I always did from a young age, and as I got older I started learning how to play guitar and play more songs. I really liked Taylor Swift, and she was a big driving force in my writing. Then, in 2020, when I discovered Lizzy McAlpine, she inspired me stylistically.”
Lucy - “I grew up around a lot of music, with my biggest inspiration being my dad who is in a band. I've always loved singing and writing, and as I started writing more songs and noticed I was good at it, I began to write more and more.”
What kind of music do y'all play?
“Our music crosses over a lot of genres but overall it's a mix between pop, indie, folk, and rock.”
How do you find inspiration for your songs?
Lucy - “A lot of it is from listening to other artists, but also finding what we like individually and drawing from our experiences.”
Emma - “It’s helpful when we overlap on an experience or emotion. It makes it easier to approach the same thing in a different way.”
Lucy - “That's what makes us work so well together. We have a lot of commonalities on how we handle things. We go through separate things but handle them similarly.”
What's your favorite song y’all have written?
Emma - “Our song ‘nothing but a thing,’ because it was one of those situations where we both went through a similar experience. We really had to work for that song, but it ended up paying off.”
Lucy - “Probably ‘open wounds,’ because it's very different from other songs we’ve written. Even though it was so different, it actually came pretty easy for us to write. It was really fun to get out of our comfort zone when writing this song.”
So you just released your first song, “White.” What is the story behind that song?
Emma - “It was summer 2022, and while I was out of town, I had been messing around with the guitar part. I recorded it, showed Lucy, and we tweaked it together. The lyrics are so figurative and poetic so we had a loose idea of what it was about. Essentially, it was about revisiting a childhood crush at an older age.”
Who are your biggest inspirations?
“The band's biggest inspirations are Sabrina Carpenter, Lennon Stella, and 5 Seconds of Summer.”
If you had the opportunity to collaborate with any musician who would it be?
Lucy - “5 Seconds of Summer, because, first of all, I think we would have a great time together, but they are just such incredible writers so to be able to write with such experienced people would be so cool. Our writing styles would complement each other so well and they would help pull out some of our ideas that we may not know what to do with.”
Where can people find your music and socials?
“Our song “White” is out on all streaming platforms under Bell Row.
Our Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter are @bellrowband .
Our website is bellrowband.com, and you can sign up for our newsletter there."
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