By Maddie Chaudron.

Bridal Party is a band out of Victoria, BC playing what they call “pop music that [they] like.” Drawing influences from pop music over several decades, the band creates a sound that draws listeners in, whether they are a pop enthusiast or otherwise. WLUW chatted with vocalist and guitarist Joseph Leroux prior to Bridal Party’s show at the Hideout, alongside Little Church, on Sunday, Oct. 6. 

Maddie Chaudron: First things first – who is who in the band?

Joseph Leroux: So we’ve got Adrian Heim who plays drums. We have Jordan Clairmont who plays keys. We have Lee Gauthier who plays bass and has a large hand in producing our music. We have Suzannah Raudaschl who plays guitar and sings, and my name is Joseph Leroux and I also sing and play guitar.

MC: You describe your music as “pop music that you like.” Could you explain your sound? 

JL: I can try. We’ve always had trouble honing in on a genre that we felt like we completely embody, so we just took the songs we were writing and tried to make them catchy and pop-like. We were very inspired by pop music from all eras. We thought we could incorporate all of that and not make it totally exclusive to any certain genre.

MC: What’s the music scene like where you are from – Victoria, BC? 

JL: Victoria is a small town of 350,000. It’s a bit of a college town. It takes an hour and a half ferry to get to our island, so not many touring bands come to town. So, instead, you have a lot of smaller bands and community. There’s a lot of support and respect between bands as well as crossover of people being in multiple projects. For example, our bass player used to play saxophone in a ska band and our drummer has been in like 10 bands before. There’s a lot of cool pop and R&B music coming through Victoria as well. 

MC: How did Bridal Party come to be? 

JL: We got together originally through our singer. She was working on a solo project and asked me to sing and play bass guitar. Her old bandmate, Adrian, ended up playing drums. I knew Lee from university but also from a different band that I had [where he played guitar]. It was supposed to just help out with a project, but it grew into a full band. We’ve had a few different keyboard players over the last four years but we met Jordan who helped us get into the Vancouver scene. Once his band came to a natural end, he wanted to continue playing and we needed someone to tour with and after a couple tours, he started writing music with us and it just all came together.

MC: You just released your first full-length album in August. Could you talk about the process? How was it different from your previous EPs?

JL: The first EP we recorded in the basement of the house we were all living in off and on. The second one, we worked a producer who had an ear for what was good. This full-length we wanted to do it ourselves in a studio. It was a periodic getting back into the studio using what we had learned. It was just us bouncing off of each other’s ideas. We collaborated with musicians who we met during our studio time. For example, the cello was literally a Domino’s Pizza guy who brought us pizza the first night. We became friends and he’s featured on the album. A lot of it was just sort of experimental.

MC: Do you guys have a favorite track? 

JL: We all usually say something different which goes to show we all have different tastes and bring something different to the table. “Saltwater,” which is the B-side starter track, is definitely a favorite of the whole band to play live. 

MC: I love the album artwork. How did you come up with it? 

JL: The artist who did it did a really good job. She’s done everything from album covers to magazine shoots. She’s very flexible and gets very creative with other people’s ideas. To a degree, we collaborated with a loose idea of a woman sitting on a chair outside. It grew to being not just the album cover but also an insert and artwork for all of the singles. 

MC: Do you have a favorite venue you’ve performed at so far? 

JL: In Montreal, we played at this place called Diving Bell Social Club. The space is a bit of a dive but we just had a great night there. It definitely stood out.

MC: What can the Chicago audience expect from your show tonight? 

JL: A lot of easygoing playful vibe. We are just gonna try to have fun and make it groovy. We want to meet people in Chicago; we have always had a lot of radio support. We are really stoked to come through. It should be mellow but cheeky and fun.

MC: Final question, are you planning on doing any sightseeing in Chicago?

JL: Oh man, we don’t have anything planned, but it’s a city we’ve only heard good things about! We’re supposed to go check out a pretty famous guitar store. I’ve heard about the neighborhoods and want to check out some of the areas around the venue.