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First/Last – The Lone Pines

January 17, 2017

“We changed our name from The Running Men to The Lone Pines. This is because when we named ourselves The Running Men, we were in a bit of a time crunch to come up with a name. We think The Lone Pines sounds cooler.”

The Lone Pines is a folk rock trio from Pittsburgh who released a live EP last week entitled For These Reasons. You can catch them playing out all around town this upcoming year and I want to thank Anthony Lupinacci (Drums/Percussion/Harmonica), Josh Chamberlain (Guitar/Harmonica/Vocals), and Ricky Lagnese (Bass/Backing Vocals) for taking the time to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?

Tony Lupinacci: I was given a Buddy Rich album, I believe it was No Funny Hats by my father when I was 6 or 7. But I think the first album I ever bought with my own money was a compilation of Howlin’ Wolf’s best hits. My family had a really big Jazz and Blues thing going on at the time.

Your last album bought?

Josh Chamberlain: I recently bought two albums on the same day. One was Give It Back To You by The Record Company. I saw them live this summer, and they were badass. I’m surprised it took me so long to actually buy a record of my own, actually. I also bought Hello, I’m Johnny Cash. There are some gems on that record; “Sing a Travellin’ Song,” “The Devil to Pay,” and “Jesus Was a Carpenter” are all great. Found it at Jerry’s.

Favorite album of all time?

Ricky Lagnese: Axis: Bold as Love is definitely my favorite album of all time. As a guitarist this album is loaded with fantastic songs and the other nice thing is that there isn’t a single filler song. I wish I could have been around for the live versions of these songs because you can feel the energy even through the album audio.

Least favorite/most disappointing album?

Ricky: Even though this isn’t an album, I think that “Love on the Weekend” was fairly disappointing considering that John Mayer is known for his guitar playing. I found that this was upsetting to see him move away from his guitar prowess.

First concert attended?

Tony: The first concert I can remember was the Doobie Brothers when they came to Pennsylvania. I think I was 6 or 7. It was outdoors. I remember slapping my thighs and dancing on the picnic blanket with my mom and little sister. My little sister asked what Doobie meant and got a pretty long-winded explanation about modern law from my Father.

Last concert?

Josh: Joe Jarski, Vit Debacco, Morgan Erina, and us last week. Last one I went to and didn’t play at though was Jim Donovan and the Sun King Warriors. It’s always fun to see them because of the crazy percussion stuff they do in their hows. I think Jim Donovan did some throat singing or overtone singing too. That’s the technique that the Tibetan Monks do where they hit a note, but you can hear the fifth harmonic above the note too because they sing it a certain way. So essentially, they’re singing two (or even more) notes at once, and it’s really cool. I’ve been trying to do it ever since I heard Jim do it, but I haven’t had the same success. YouTube it if you don’t know what I’m talking about. You won’t regret it.

Favorite concert ever?

Tony: Probably a tie between Tame Impala and Alt-J. They both still put on an incredible live show with tons of passion and energy. Josh: Mumford and Sons at Firefly. They had some of the guys from their Johannesburg EP collaboration, and the energy on stage was at a spiritual level. That EP came out the weekend of Firefly too, so a lot of that music was completely new to me. At one point during the show, there were 9 or 10 people on stage, and that was incredible. Bought the EP on vinyl as soon as I got home.

Least favorite concert?

Josh: My least favorite concert was a show that I was supposed to go to, but wasn’t able to. My buddy and I were going to go see a house show on New Year’s Eve, and this band called Jack Swing was playing, and they’re really cool. But my buddy got really sick beforehand, so I just ended up giving him Pepto Bismol and ginger ale while we watched the lackluster New Year performances on TV.

Favorite thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?

Tony: I just recently moved to Pittsburgh for college, although I have been coming here my whole life because this is where my family hails from. I’ve always loved this city because I think it has been through incredible hardship (since the closing of the mills), yet is currently as thriving and full of life as ever. I believe Pittsburgh is a truly blue collar, hard-working city. There’s a lot of pride here and that makes me feel lucky to be a part of it.

Thanks, fellas. I have to say, Josh. I share your enthusiasm for Jim Donovan and his band. Such a great local album from last year.