Absolute Losers embrace rock ‘n’ roll on upcoming record

Absolute Losers are brothers Sam Langille and Josh Langille, along with their buddy Daniel Hartinger.

The brothers, sons of two music teachers, grew up in a very musical household in Stratford, Prince Edward Island (PEI). As kids they would jam with their dad’s bands, as well as they could, and then after growing up, jammed for real. Once they hit middle school, they started playing in their own projects. 

“Josh and I had a lot of bands through middle school and high school. But, [Absolute Losers] is the first one that had much success, really made it out of the basement,” Sam said.  

After meeting Hartinger in high school, Sam had him over to jam a few times, and, since Josh lived in the same house, he would join them. “We just started jamming and playing covers, and eventually, we started writing our own tunes,” Sam explained. 

The band’s name comes from a moment in a New Brunswick bar bathroom. “We were playing [in a different project] over in Moncton at this bar called Plan B Lounge that was like the greatest, or I guess the worst, dive bar. There’s absolutely nobody there and it was in shambles. Josh was in the bathroom and he looked on the stall and somebody had just written ‘absolute losers.’ When he came out of the washroom he was like ‘we got to name our band with Daniel absolute losers,’” Sam said. 

“The second album is about relationships with other people,” Sam Langille says

The band is currently gearing up to release their second album, In The Crowd on September 26. Their first release was independent, but this one is being released with Having Fun Records. 

With this being their first release under a label, Sam said that in the writing process, they had to have a little more artistic direction, leading to a semi-consistent theme throughout the record. 

“The first record was existential problems. Getting out of high school and dealing with the [COVID-19] lockdowns, and there’s maybe identity issues or like, ‘what kind of world am I trying to enter into here?’ The second album is about relationships with other people. The title track, [“In The Crowd”], is [about] childhood memories with like grandparents, those kinds of relationships,” he said. 

The band is changing some of their approaches

The band has changed their writing style for this record as well. “We’re not really concerned with trying to be a hip band anymore. We’re just trying to have a lot more fun with it. Just letting intuition take over,” Sam said. He added that the music that they are playing now is more in line with what they played growing up, and that adds to some of the narratives running throughout the record. 

“Thinking back to when Josh and I were kids, jamming out my dad, playing guitar and stuff, it’s a lot of that music that we used to play when we were kids that’s now influencing the music that we’re writing. In the past, it was current and trendy,” he explained. 

The band has also transitioned away from having one frontman, to everyone singing and being at the front. “Its more like a gang, there’s a gang mentality now which is really fun. And our live show reflects that now too. We’re just more energetic and more lighthearted, having more fun on stage. 

The band has also taken a more photography focused approach for the upcoming record’s visuals, which pairs with the music they’re playing now, which Sam said is “pretty 60s and 70s.” 

With the band playing that era of music, interestingly, bands from the 60s and 70s like The Beatles, Eagles, or The Beach Boys all had multiple singers and photography focused visuals as well. 

As a whole, Sam said “we’re leaning into the tongue and cheek rock and roll thing. It’s hilarious and it keeps us entertained.” 

In The Crowd is set to release on September 26.