WITF Music: Lives Lost

Reconciling a troubled past with the modern technological age.

• Joe Ulrich
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Joe has been interested in audio and music since he was a kid. What started as a fascination with his parents’ vinyl records and cassette tapes turned into a love of both performing and recording. He grew up in Elizabethtown, Pa. and moved to Pittsburgh in 1999 where he majored in Photography at the University of Pittsburgh.
  
  In 2004, he attended the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, AZ. He returned to Pittsburgh to work at a recording studio.
  
  In 2008, Joe arrived at WITF, where his skills have found a good home as an on-air host, audio engineer and producer of WITF Music. In 2016, Joe earned a National Edward R. Murrow award for Best Use of Sound.

 Jeremy Long / WITF

Lives Lost performs for WITF Music on April 9, 2024 (Jeremy Long - WITF)

Lives Lost is a band that originated in Hershey about three years ago. Their music deals with navigating the modern world of social media, relationships, and reconciling one’s troubled past. Lead singer Tannis Pellegrini, guitarist Aaron Perry, drummer Alan Thompson, and bassist Chad Wynn joined us in the studio to play a couple of songs and explore their music.

Joe Ulrich: Tell me a little bit about the general themes.

Tanis Pellegrini: We were talking about social media, we’re all in our phones all the time, we’re not existing in the real world. I’m guilty of that. Lives Lost writes songs thematically about navigating that. We’re navigating the modern world. We’re navigating our lives. We’re navigating our traumas, our emotions, love, loss, hate. And I think that’s an underlying theme in Lives Lost.

I think of a lot of scenarios from my childhood and my teen years where I felt less than and really just didn’t want to be here. In my early 20s, my late teens, I was kicked out of my parents house. I was down a bad path. I’m very lucky to be alive and sitting in this room with you guys right now.

Harnessing my addictions, my faults and creating something that is bigger than myself that is so special to me.

Joe Ulrich: If you could only take one album, you’re stuck on a stranded island, what are you going to take?

Tanis Pellegrini: Metallica, The Black Album.

Alan Thompson: Maybe Empyrean Isles by Herbie Hancock.

Aaron Perry: The Queen is Dead by The Smiths.

Tanis Pellegrini: Knew it was going to be The Smiths. He loves Morrissey. He loves Johnny Marr.

Joe Ulrich: What are some things you’ve learned through being in a band?

Alan Thompson: A couple things I did to improve the performance, number one is using a metronome. I know it seems like such a small thing. The metronome is just an element or a dimension that you don’t have to worry about if you make that consistent in your ear. And probably the biggest help, I try to keep set up easy, especially with drums. It takes a lot more time to set stuff up and do the soundcheck as we did today. And another thing, there’s been plenty of shows I’ve played where opening acts just leave and don’t bother watching any other bands.

Tanis Pellegrini: And I’ve gotten some of our best gig offers down the line.

Alan Thompson: Yeah hanging out late just goofing around.

Tanis Pellegrini: What I want to do is figure out a way to time manage better, especially with the content creation. Now I have a scheduled day for it, but if I didn’t start scheduling my life, I would have no life. What have you learned down the line, Aaron?

Aaron Perry: Introduce yourself to people, always bring a backup, backup cables.

Lives Lost will performing at Lovedrafts Brewing Co. on Friday, August 23rd. 

A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.

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