Local band The Natives to perform at Bishop

“Our music isn’t purely country or folk or bluegrass. It’s just American. That’s why we wanted to call ourselves The Natives,” said sophomore Coleman Lowndes, guitarist and vocalist for the new local band.

The Natives, whose other members are sophomores Daniel Topp, Aaron Frazer and Justin Hubler, are playing their debut show at 8 p.m. today at The Bishop.

The band will be playing their set between the folk duo The Lagoon Brothers and the Nashville based southern rock group Austin Hoke and The Mayors.

The Natives said they are excited to gain experience in Bloomington’s local music scene. 

“Mostly I am looking to get out there and get a feel for performing with this band. And I mean both Austin Hoke and The Lagoon Brothers are great bands, it should be a fun time,” said Frazer, who sings and plays drums.

The Natives describe themselves as a song-heavy collaboration with Lowndes contributing the majority of the songs. 

“I write a lot about home or personal experiences manifested through others,” said Lowndes, a Virginia native who has a penchant for mixing music and history. “We’ve got a song about Jim Jones and a song about Mary Todd Lincoln, and last year I wrote one about Genghis Khan.” 

In the future, Lowndes hopes to share the song-writing responsibility.

“So far I’ve written most of the songs, but eventually I want everyone to contribute equally,” Lowndes said. “I want us to be a collection of songwriters.”

The band attributes their indivisible “American-ness” to the musical chemistry between the group members.

“Coleman is coming from a different perspective with more of a pop and country influence, where as Aaron and I are more blues and jazz influenced,” Hubler said. “We’re able to improvise a little more, and I think that really helps Coleman when he’s arranging the songs.”