Let’s be real: we all have a digital graveyard of unsent letters, 2am text drafts and brutally honest feelings filed away in the Notes app, never to see daylight. If you claim you don’t, I admire your emotional athleticism. And if you’re healthy and mentally stable, well, I guess that’s just called a diary.
Laveda’s third album, Love, Darla, is the sign-off to every message you never sent – the little ‘love, me’ at the end of your most vulnerable, unsent confessions. With ten tracks of noisy, honest catharsis, the NYC quartet delivers the soundtrack for all of us who are braver in our heads than in our group chats. It dropped in September 2025, and they’re currently on tour with dust, supporting The Belair Lip Bombs.
Before their show at 29th Street Ballroom, I sat down with Laveda to talk about life on tour, the differences between the Austin and New York City music scenes and what’s next after the release of their sonic sign-off.
You guys have been on tour for a couple of weeks now. How has that experience been so far?
Joe Taurone [drums]: It’s been good. It’s been good. The shows are really good. We really like The Belair Lip Bombs and dust. They’re really nice people. Even though we have had lots of interesting things happen on our tour, all the shows have been really good, which is rare for our national tours, so it feels good.
Ali Genevich [vocals and guitar]: So true.
Did you guys have personal connections with the bands before the tour?
Genevich: No, actually. We just got offered the tour, which was cool, and then we checked out the bands. I’d heard of dust before. They’re signed to a New York-based label that puts out a bunch of really good music. So I was like, ‘Okay, I’m sure these bands are awesome.’ And sure enough, they are. It’s been really sick. You don’t know what you’re gonna get sometimes with opening for bands that you don’t know. It’s a gamble, but I think we got very lucky, because they’re all really awesome, and it’s been so much fun.
How do you think your band fits in with music-wise?
Jacob (Jake) Brooks [guitar and vocals]: I feel like we all are doing something a little bit different, which is nice. I think the thing that ties all of our bands together is guitar music, guitar rock music, and we all have our own little flair that we add to that. And all the drummers are really good.
Genevich: Shout out drummers.
I saw that your van got broken into on the tour. What’s the story behind that?
Genevich: We were playing the Empty Bottle in Chicago, which is one of our favorite venues, probably in the whole country. We came back after a really great show, and the driver’s side window was smashed. We didn’t realize that it happened while we were in the venue, so we were confused at first. We were like, ‘What the heck? None of our gear is stolen. This is so bizarre.’ Then we realized it must have happened while we were in the venue. They took personal belongings, like duffel bags, everyone’s clothes. Kind of funny, obviously super unfortunate, but stuff that could be replaced. At that point in the tour, we were like, ‘What else is gonna happen to us?’ We had already encountered so many crazy things. Before we even picked up the van in LA, a friend picked us up at LAX, and we got into a car accident. The windshield shattered because the hood of the car was unlatched, and it flew up into the windshield, so the whole thing shattered, and we were going like 75 MPH on the 405. Luckily, our friend, uh, who has actually worked on a lot of our records, is on Lexapro now, so he was super chill and driving like, ‘I can’t see,’ with a super even tone, not scared at all. We were all bracing for the next impact, and luckily, that never happened. Basically, the first week was just really crazy. Jake had an allergic reaction [laughing].
Taurone: But the shows were so good. Tour has been awesome, it’s just funny how all these things happen right after the other. It’s just funny getting all your underwear stolen.
Are you guys superstitious?
Dan Carr [bass]: I was thinking that we had some sort of curse or that we had done something. I feel like we always believe in karma, and we try to have good karma levels. I was like, ‘One of us stole a little idol or charm somewhere, and we’re fucked.’ But everything’s been normal now [knocking on wood], and the shows have been really good. So I think we’re on the up and up.
Well, hopefully tonight is smooth sailing.
You’ve played here before for SXSW. How do y’all feel about the Austin scene?
Genevich: I love Austin. Every time we come through here, it’s a highlight for us. I think that SXSW is definitely part of that since we came here on the first tour that we ever went on. So, it’s just cool to be able to establish a small fan base over time. It just feels like a music city. We were joking on the way here that it feels more like a music city than Nashville. Maybe it’s more of an alt music city. But, yeah, it just feels very welcoming and lots of cool people.
How do you think it compares to New York?
Genevich: It’s definitely different.
Carr: It’s similar in the sense that New York has tons of venues, and it seems like Austin also has streets full of venues. Every place has a PA and is willing to put bands up. And there seem to be bands of all diverse genres and scenes.
Genevich: Maybe it’s the most similar to New York in a weird sense, in terms of how it operates, at least from an outside perspective. It seems like the community here is tightly knit, and a lot of bands know each other. They know promoters and they work with each other all the time. There’s a lot more space here and the weather’s a lot nicer. I like the aspect of being able to have outdoor shows all the time. Definitely can’t do that in New York.
Taurone: I haven’t spent enough time here to really know, but the grind culture of bands is not so prevalent in Austin. Everyone’s working really hard, but in New York, there’s not an overly positive grind thing, where everyone’s just doing a million things all the time. Austin seems like it’s a little more chill, from some people I know. It’s not like, ‘We have to do 20 shows this month, or we’re going to be boned!’ Not every band in New York is like that, but maybe from an outside perspective, it’s not as grindy.
Brooks: In New York, it’s really big to fall into like, ‘We’re playing two shows a week this month. How did that happen?’
Genevich: You see your friends playing and you’re like, ‘Oh, they played eight shows last month and we only played six. What are we doing?’
Brooks: [jokingly] We gotta up our gig game, bro. We need to play more shows.
Are there many DIY venues in New York? Two popular ones in Austin are right up the road: Friendly Rio Market and Alienated Majesty Books. Have you ever played at either of those?
Genevich: We haven’t played Alienated Majesty. We’ve been to Rio Market to see Tagabow play there for SXSW maybe two years ago? It was a sick show. We’re friends with the people in Felt Out, and they speak really highly of Alienated Majesty, but we’re hoping to check it out, maybe tomorrow.
Carr: I feel like right now in New York, mudhouse is the cool DIY spot to play. It’s a basement. Where we came from in Albany, it was mostly house shows and DIY spots. In New York City, I think it’s harder to get away with those types of things because everything’s so close together and there are bad noise ordinances. And it’s expensive.
Genevich: There are a couple, they’re just not really our favorite.
Brooks: Mainly just Third Rail and mudhouse.
Taurone: We’ve played a studio in a crazy warehouse. I’m trying to remember the name of that. There are little niche things that throw shows sometimes, but there aren’t any true DIY spots throwing shows consistently.
Carr: And they can never last long because they’re always getting shut down.
Do you know Taraneh or Comet? They started this monthly show called Glue. I forgot what bar it’s at.
Genevich: Yeah, they’re doing it at Barfreda, but they’re not calling it Barfreda because Barfreda has such a bad rep, so they’re just calling it the address. But the shows look really sick.
Brooks: They’re tricking people into going back to Barfreda. No shade, though. I actually think Barfreda is fun.
Genevich: I like that bar, honestly. They’re packing it out because nobody knows it’s at Barfreda.
Taurone: It’s fucking genius.
Your album’s been out for six months now, congrats! How has the rollout process been since its release?
Genevich: It’s been a little bit of a slow burn, which is cool, but it’s been sick going on this tour six months later and hearing people say really nice things about it. In some senses, we’re already excited for the next thing. It’s definitely rewarding to play shows a little later, after people have had a chance to listen to it, figure out what it means to them, and develop their own relationship with it. We have a bunch of smaller festival shows planned for the summer, so it’ll be cool to check out some spots that we didn’t get to on this tour.
With the newer shoegaze/noise rock sound, have you noticed differences in your crowd/support?
Brooks: Maybe more so the bands that we’re playing with are a little different, but we still play with homies that we’ve played with back when we were touring our old stuff, too. We still definitely have some of the same people coming out that were our day ones.
Genevich: We’ve had maybe three or four people in YouTube comments sections that are like, ‘This band was shoegaze/ dream pop, and now they’re loud.’ Someone said in a review that it sounds like a bunch of high schoolers got together in a garage and made a record.
Taurone: It makes me more excited about it. I’m like, ‘Yes!’It’s fun making something that maybe someone just doesn’t get. It’s obviously a little sad sometimes, but there was one guy who was like, ‘This record sucks,’ and it wasn’t even out yet. There was a guy who replied like, ‘The record’s not even out yet?’ People who have our back.
People will say anything on the internet.
Taurone: I am bold on the internet.
I read that some of the inspiration behind Love, Darla came from your move from Albany to the city. Has touring brought about any new inspirations?
Brooks: I think it always does. Seeing new bands that I haven’t seen before that are really inspiring shifts, to a certain extent, where my interests are. Seeing what the country’s doing on a grander scale makes me more interested in other things, subtly.
Genevich: I feel like I’m absorbing a lot of different sounds and bands through osmosis. I’m not necessarily like, ‘I like this, I don’t like this,’ it’s more like after we get home, whatever ends up coming out in the recording, writing process is naturally going to reflect whatever it was I latched onto most.
Carr: I’m sure the dust and The Belair Lip Bomb influence will be vast. After seeing them so many times, I’m sure we’ll have something to steal.
Genevich: They’re such incredible bands. Seeing them every night has been a treat because we’ve gotten to understand their music on a deeper level and appreciate the work that goes into it. You learn a lot by seeing a band 30 times.
Taurone: They’ve told us a bunch of bands to listen to, and that’s always cool. Especially from folks that are from across the entire world.
Genevich: Yeah, I think we’ll be a little more tapped into the Australian music scene.
Before Love, Darla came out, you were experimenting with songs live while they were still unfinished. Have you been doing that this time around?
Brooks: Yeah, we have one new song that we’re playing. Our writing process is a little different. We try to change it for every record, but we’re basically writing everything together, which has been really fun. It makes it so easy to throw a new song in the set because it’s already what we sound like.
Genevich: It’s been really fun playing a new song. It just makes me more excited to go back home and work on stuff more. I was a little worried about playing a new song on tour, especially because it’s really, really new. It’s still not really finished, but we were like, ‘Eh, fuck it.’ It gives us something to look forward to in the set, because it’s fresh. People have been loving it. We’ve gotten really good reception, so that’s super encouraging to want to go home and actually write a record.
Do you find a lot of time to experiment and practice whenever you’re on tour?
Taurone: No, not at all. Not on tour. Ideally, you’d get to during sound check, but our sound checks now have been sub 30 minutes, if we’re lucky. We really only have time to run one song, maybe two, so we have no time to really experiment outside the set. There are things that I’m changing from set to set just because it’s my only opportunity to try it. And if it’s good, it’s good; if it sucks, I’ll never do it again. But we have no free time on the road to do anything other than driving and maybe eating.
Brooks: Maybe the occasional cute little fun thing. We’re going to try to swim tomorrow, hopefully.
Genevich: We have a day off, so we’re going to hit a thrift store or two, and maybe go to Barton Springs, if the weather’s okay. It’s our one day off, really. Pretty nuts.
You’re playing at Loveless Festival in July, and I saw that there was this one band that I really like that’s playing called what is your name?, have you ever listened to them?
Genevich: No, I haven’t heard of a lot of bands on that bill, and I’m excited to check them out.
Definitely check them out. I think they’re playing the same day you guys are. What other tours/shows are you doing? You said you had a couple of festivals coming soon.
Genevich: We do have a festival we’re playing that hasn’t been announced yet. It’s in Boston. I’m not sure what day we’re playing yet, and the lineup hasn’t been revealed, but that is in August. I’m excited because we feel like kindred spirits with a lot of the Boston bands. A lot of our friends from the Boston scene have now moved to New York. Trophy Wife, Paper Lady, Christian Pace, Trash Rabbit and Clifford, folks. We love our Boston family, so it’ll be fun to do a little festy there.
Is there anything else coming up for you guys?
Genevich: Other than that, maybe a couple of surprise, fun summer gigs in New York City, which will be fun. I think we’re going to do a little Canada tour around Loveless. But other than that, I think we just want to hang out, enjoy summer and write a record.
What are you hoping the rest of this year looks like for you guys as a band?
Brooks: I’m hoping that we’ll finish an album and have a lot of fun.
Taurone: We want to do a float trip. A nice Lavada float trip with water activities and beers. That is really what I want for the summer.
Carr: Record, beers, Grafton Lake, Stewarts ice cream.
Genevich: Shout out Stewart’s ice cream.
Taurone: Being on the road, I cannot wait for summer.
Carr: As soon as you get home, you’re sad. ‘But where’s the show? My whole life isn’t predestined?’
Genevich: It is weird. It’s hard to get home from tour. You’re like, ‘What do I do now?’ It’s so awesome to be home in your own bed, but you’re also depressed because you’re like, ‘I was going so fast and now I’m just stagnant.’
Taurone: Post-tour depression is so real. It’s a double-edged sword.
Is there anything else you guys want to dive into or finish up?
Taurone: There’s been this little bug that’s been walking everywhere.
Carr: Shout out to this green bug. I feel actually emotionally attached to this green bug. It could be a new species we just discovered.
Brooks: I’ve seen a couple of green bugs in my day.
Genevich: He’s on the ashtray. Bugs on the record now.
Thanks for reading this far,
Love, Abigail (hah)