Dropping in

Parachute’s acoustic tour lands at the Loft

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Hailing from the same college town where the Dave Matthews Band got its start, Parachute, based in Charlottesville, Va., is charting its own course in the world of pop music. The band, which began under the moniker Sparky’s Flaw, changed its name to Parachute in 2008 before to its major label debut, 2009’s “Losing Sleep.” The album reached No. 40 on the Billboard 200 chart, and the band followed it up with “The Way It Was” (2011) and “Overnight,” which charted at No. 19 and No. 15, respectively. A fourth album is in the works, with an anticipated early-2016 release.

City Pulse spoke over the phone with Kit French, saxophonist, keyboardist and back-up vocalist for the Parachute, between stops on the band’s current American tour.

“We call it pop rock music,” French said, describing Parachute’s sound. “Along the lines of Maroon 5, the Fray, One Republic, that kind of realm — not the Britney Spears, One Direction realm.”

Pop rock often gets a bad rap in comparison to its heavier, grittier, rock counterparts. French proudly defends Parachute’s signature flavor, however, describing its sound as energetic, fun and authentic.

“It’s a lot of good, high-energy pop music made with as many real instruments as we can,” French said. “We go into the studio, we cut live drums, we have saxophones and horns, gospel singers when we can get them, as many true instruments as we can. That’s our vibe — we value the real, au thentic, organic feel over the more massproduced pop song.”

While the band records and tours with a large group of musicians, it is anchored by it’s three official members: French (saxophone, keyboards, vocals), frontman Will Anderson (vocals, guitar) and Johnny Stubblefield (drums).

“Will and Johnny and Alex (Hargrave) — who was also in the band at the time — we were all buddies, and none of us were particularly athletically inclined, so playing music was how we got together,” French said.

The trio recently embarked on an intimate acoustic tour, an idea that started as a way to deal with scheduling conflicts.

“The whole thing kind of started when we had this wing of touring where we kind of needed to fill out a date, but we didn’t have everyone available,” French said. “So we tried to just do this little stripped-down acoustic show in California.”

The last-minute concert was announced just two weeks before the show, and it sold out within a week.

“People were just really into the concept of the thing. It’s really encouraged us to turn it into a whole kind of series that we are doing across the country.”

Parachute’s “Stripped” tour lands at the Loft in downtown Lansing Tuesday. While the band will be without its groovy horn section and upbeat danceable numbers, French said that fans will recognize the soul of Parachute.

“It’s a totally different take on our show,” French said. “It’s more of a listening experience. We do a lot of talking, a lot of storytelling and just play like the core parts of the songs.”

Dusting off old fan favorites and switching up the set lists for different cities is something that’s been exciting for the band and fans alike.

“It’s really fun for us to kind of re-evaluate the music and the songs and figure out which parts are more important,” French said. “(The fans) know and love the song, and now here’s a completely new take on it. They’re even that more enthusiastic about it.”

An Acoustic Evening with Parachute

With Firekid 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4 $23/$20 adv. All ages The Loft 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing

(517) 913-0103, theloftlansing.com

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