Learning Team

Learning Team seemingly came out of nowhere. In less than four months, the band released two EPs, the most recent being Six Shooter. In fact, they haven’t even been a band for a full year. But Learning Team moves quickly, and efficiently, crafting gorgeous and (mostly) upbeat songs with a collective feel. It’s as if these songs were written to be an open invitation, a sing along and choral experience for band and audience alike. And it is very appealing. - What's Up Magazine

Learning Team seemingly came out of nowhere. In less than four months, the band released two EPs, the most recent being Six Shooter. In fact, they haven’t even been a band for a full year. But Learning Team moves quickly, and efficiently, crafting gorgeous and (mostly) upbeat songs with a collective feel. It’s as if these songs were written to be an open invitation, a sing along and choral experience for band and audience alike. And it is very appealing. - What's Up Magazine

Learning Team has been busy this summer. They’ve performed at house shows, K.U.G.S. radio station, and they’re scheduled to play at the Old Foundry with a stacked line-up of other local talent.

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Emile Panerio formed with fellow band members Matt Ogle and Lincoln Lute after playing last winter. “People approached us about our music,” Panerio said, “so we decided to acquire a drummer.” After drummer Tyler Whitmire was introduced to the group, they decided to submit their band into Western Washington University’s Battle of the Bands at the Underground Coffeehouse, where, as Panerio gleefully described, “people were dumb enough to vote for us!” While they did not win first place, it was recognition of their ability as a band and a testament to a bountiful future.

Learning Team’s bandcamp account offers a few EPs, one of which is aptly named Free. P. Panerio explained how they worked on music through the following February, adding cellist Alex Vlahosotiros, posting their free EP for people who were interested. Three months later, Learning Team released their fully complete EP, Six Shooter, which contains “7 Summers Deep” and “MLK”, both of which appeared as demos in the first EP. The finalized songs are proof that Learning Team has become a tighter unit of musicians, reliant on their desire to make fun music.

Panerio is grateful for the support they’ve found this summer and seem excited for their upcoming tour around the Seattle and Spokane areas. “We’ve been talking about songs. We’ve definitely been ‘postal servicing’ ideas, sending songs through the mail and stuff,” Panerio said, laughing, about how the band members dispersed from Bellingham for the summer. “We’ll be living together this year, also. All of us except our cellist, so we’ll be able to communicate more once we’re under the same roof.”

Learning Team are planning on putting together an album that will be finished around the end of winter or early spring. Until then, they are eager to play shows.

Although they are “stoked” for their upcoming show at the Old Foundry, Learning Team always enjoy a good house show, which speaks to their focus of making music for others to enjoy. One of their favorite gigs happened at a house show on Garden Street last spring. “We were playing while the sun was setting” Panerio said, “We always want to put on a memorable show.”

Between their bouncy songs, like “Glenlevit”, and the charming build-ups of “MLK” and “Cold Winter Morning,” they should have no problem winning over an audience. When asked about any sort of musical influence, Panerio said they are compared to many bands simply because they have a cellist in their line-up. “Yeah, it’s easy to be compared to Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons,” Ranerio admitted, before adding, “We do like those bands but we want to get away from that. The band really likes Vampire Weekend and Broken Social Scene.”

For such a new band, they are aware of themselves and their collective sound. Since they’ve been playing with local surf-rockers the Royal Sea, they’ve been influenced by their sound as well. “Generally, we want to make music that’s danceable but with a grungier sound, incorporating banjos and stuff people wouldn’t expect,” Panerio said.

COMING UP!
Catch the Learning Team at the Old Foundry on Sept. 24. For more about the band, visit www.reverbnation.com/learningteam or learningteam.bandcamp.com/ - What's Up Magazine

Sometimes a band can shoot up like a blossoming flower in front of a time-lapse camera. Quickly emerging, very quickly fully formed, the band finds itself in real time, right in front of our eyes. Bellingham's Learning Team is such a band. Though Learning Team has only existed for a short period of time, the band has produced more and sprinted farther than one can reasonably expect - having released about an LP's worth of material, spread out over three EP's and about a year.

What started as a folk-pop band has already begun to evolve into more propulsive indie rock.

"I had some stuff that I had been working on, as more of a solo deal, and when I got together with (Matt Ogle) and (Lincoln Lute), we kind of jammed, played this open mic night, got asked to play this battle of the bands, before we even really considered ourselves a band," says Learning Team frontman Emile Panerio. "After that happened, we decided to add some members, and things kind of picked up from there."

Panerio attributes part of Learning Team's momentum to the music scene in Bellingham, which promptly got on board with the band's style of upbeat indie folk-pop. After filling out the group, Learning Tree immediately went into the studio and began recording. Soon after, the band landed an opening slot at a Cave Singers show, which only furthered Learning Team's reputation and increased the fan base. Now, Learning Team is getting bigger gigs with bands like the Cave Singers, Los Campesinos! and Motopony, even as the band's members continue the process of really figuring out just what Learning Team really is.

"We're getting further and further away from folk," says Panerio. "That's exciting, because I think that we always wanted to go more in a pop direction, but we just hadn't been playing together that long. Our latest EP is the first one that we've really, truly, collectively written."

Standouts like "MLK" on the Daypack EP really show off the difference between present-day Learning Team, and the band less than a year ago. "MLK" was featured in a demo version on Learning Team's first EP, and while its structure is more or less the same, the communal handclaps and tambourines have been replaced with buoyant drums and sunny harmonies, effectively re-framing Learning Team as an ebullient pop band, unified by a sonically immaculate sheen.

Learning Team's sudden success has a little to do with the band's sound, which reflects that of many in-the-moment bands. What Learning Team has going for it, though, is an absence of pretense. There are no shaggy beards or affected Southern twangs to create an illusion of depth. The band succeeds on the basis of the songwriting, much of which drops back in influence to the glory days of pristine indie pop like Death Cab for Cutie. Such simple times.

How exciting, then, to be able to watch Learning Team sprout up in front of our eyes, to evolve and change with the agility only befitting of a band that's young enough to recognize the dignity in growth. - Weekly Volcano