Local band spotlight: Sidecar

Sidecar, a pop-folk duo from Richmond, Rhode Island, has some big changes in store for the acoustic act’s future.

The duo features Nate Lukas and Matt Santagata, juniors at the University of Rhode Island. The two have been neighbors most of their lives, but it wasn’t until their sophomore year of high school that Santagata started Sidecar. During his junior year of high school, Lukas was added to the band and they eventually evolved into the harmonious duo that they are known as today.   

Both Santagata and Lukas play guitar and sing vocals, while Santagata also plays the mandolin. The band said that their main influence is The Beatles, but they also get inspiration from bands such as The Decemberists, The Shins, Father John Misty, Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, City and Colour, Tame Impala, old Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and more.

Sidecar released a full-length album back in March, entitled “One Word,” and released another new single this past summer called “Walk The Room For Me.” Recently, Jack Coen has been added as their drummer, and the band described what they plan to do next.

“We are changing gears. It will be a little bit before we get into recording again. Right now we are working on live stuff,” Lukas said. “We are kinda hoping to make new stuff that we can play live because of our new drummer.”

Changing the dynamic of their sound is something the two are excited to do. They described how the band is going to differ and how they are embracing this new style. Santagata said that their sound is “more full” now and with this sound, they can do a lot more with their music.

The band focuses on harmonizing as the prominent aspect of their music. Though they are adding drums to the mix, the band will not be losing those harmonies that have made their music stand out for so long. The band says that focusing on harmonies rather than lyrics makes their music unique, grabbing attention from others due to their versatile sound.

“Now that we are expanding [our sound], it is a little more difficult for us to try and do experimental stuff live,” Santagata said. “For example, on our latest CD we let out, most of the instruments are played by Nate and I. So when it comes to playing it [live], we can’t play all the instruments on our own…. We are only two people. That is the great thing about recording, we can fool around as much as we want.”

Sidecar will be playing the Swamp Yankee Days Family Festival this coming weekend, which runs Oct. 10 and 11. They also make appearances regularly at the 193 Coffeehouse’s open mic nights. Their music can be found on Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com/sidecartheband), which also includes a link to their Facebook page.