5 minute read
Always Evolving
Rock and R&B group Miss Olivia and the Interlopers shares music in different ways
Miss Olivia and the Interlopers has been sharing music via livestream due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Submitted photo)
BY LAURA LATZKO
Miss Olivia and the Interlopers is known for its “mixtape” sound, switching from one genre to another with its original music.
Miss Olivia and the Interlopers — singer Olivia Reardon, bassist David Hostetler, guitarist Mike Sydloski and drummer Morgan Schlaline — has won its fair share of awards. On hiatus for a point in 2020, the musicians have reunited.
Having to scale back on live performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band has been sharing its music through livestreams.
“The music scene is suffering all over,” Reardon says. “We are all trying to figure out how to stay relevant, how to get ourselves out there safely and how to continue to make music.”
Past livestreams have taken place at WaveLab Recording Studio and St. Charles Tavern and have drawn audiences of anywhere from 50 to a few hundred people.
Reardon says, for her, music has a therapeutic quality, so not having that outlet has been a challenge.
“Performing, writing or playing music for an artist, that is like going to the gym,” Reardon says. “That’s our yoga, our release. I can sing in the shower, but it’s like doing yoga in your living room. Yoga is still good in your living room, but it feels better to do it around people. It’s the same thing with music. Performing is such a give-and-take, sharing and receiving. It’s hard to do it by myself in the shower.”
Along with livestreams, the band also released an EP in 2020.
The EP “Tiny Tales” features the songs “Royal Jelly,” “Blacklisted” and “Leaving You Behind.” “Blacklisted” was also featured on the compilation “The Tucson Vibe.”
Miss Olivia and the Interlopers planned to do a full-length album but had to change its plans due to COVID-19. Reardon says, as an artist, she has continued to evolve.
“My songs now are better than they ever were because of growth and understanding,” Reardon says. “A lot of times when you are growing and learning as a human, you don’t see things from other people’s perspectives as much as you should. As you are older, you realize it’s not just me out here. My writing and how I approach music is so much better now.”
Miss Olivia and the Interlopers has been a staple of the Tucson music scene since 2017. Before starting the group, Hostetler and Sydloski played together in the Pink Floyd cover band Atom Heart Mother. Reardon sang backup for them. While Atom Heart Mother was on breath, they decided to start their own group.
“None of us wanted to stop playing,” Reardon says.
“I was working at St. Charles, and the owner of St. Charles said, ‘Why don’t you throw some covers together and start playing here?’ We played one night. It was packed. You couldn’t get inside. And then a week later, we packed Che’s. Then, a week later, the Rialto called. It took on life. I’m so glad it did, because it went from this fun night at St. Charles to a beautiful band,” Reardon says.
Soon after those early gigs, the group began to write its own original music. Reardon says writing original music was a turning point for the group.
“That helped us to realize that we could do this as a band — not just play covers and enjoy great music, but we could actually create,” Reardon says.
Songwriting has been a collaborative process for the group. Reardon says she is a perfectionist with writing music.
“Songwriting is not easy,” Reardon says. “Some people write songs every day, all day long. I write all the time, yes, but to have it be great or something that you are really proud of that you want to push people to listen to is a really hard thing to do. These guys made it easy.”
During its in-person shows and livestreams, the group often plays a mixture of originals and covers. Although it will sometimes perform more popular covers of songs by groups such as Led Zeppelin, the musicians try to dig deeper. “It will not only open our audience’s eyes to those people and their stuff but also give us a bit more of a range in interpretation,” Reardon says. Reardon grew up in a family of singers, who sang harmonies together during the holidays. From Ohio, Reardon has a career in music that spans more than 20 years. She started in LA, performing with different bands and musicians and did voiceover work for Disney. One of her first jobs was at the Baked Potato jazz club, where rockers would often perform when they weren’t on tour. “I was lucky enough to be asked to come and sing. I sang ‘Proud Mary’ with Slash, and then from that point on, I was invited more often,” Reardon says.
Reardon’s time in LA shaped her into the musician she has become. The biggest challenge in LA was being pigeonholed. She tried to resist this because she has always embraced different styles of music.
With her current band, she performs a diverse selection of music.
“I’m so grateful with the way our society is moving,” Reardon says. “That hindered me because I couldn’t pick a side. I think it’s crappy that we do that to people on so many levels. I like that this band lets me play rock and lets me play R&B.”
Reardon moved to Tucson to be closer to her son’s father. Although she wasn’t sure what to expect at first, Reardon has found a home in Tucson. The supportive music community has embraced her band and acts like a family.
“I think a lot of us came from bigger cities,” Reardon says. “Being a small fish in a big city, it is hard. It’s a struggle. If you maintain and survive that, and you come to a smaller place, we all know that pain and that struggle. It’s easy to put yourself in that other person’s place.”
