The Selfless Lovers

Nik Parr clearly does not agree with the old adage that you can never go home again. To the contrary, this Corpus Christi native who now makes his home in Austin is marking a return to his hometown in a very big way.

The Calallen High School graduate, who now is a business and marketing major at the University of Texas, is staging a homecoming that will, appropriately, take place on two local stages.

Parr and his band, the Selfless Lovers, are celebrating the release of their debut EP "Glad to Be Here" by performing tonight at South Texas Ice House and tomorrow night at the Executive Surf Club.

Their music is an unabashedly ebullient mix of the fresh and the familiar.

The melodic immediacy of their songs suggests that Parr and his band are a highly ambitious group that wants to rewrite the rules for musical success instead of just following them.

“We play what I call funk rock but it is definitely not nostalgia music,” says Parr. “Our sound is funky but the song structures are modern because they are really pop songs that sound like funk and they just happen to be very catchy.”

The Selfless Lovers’ mission is to create music that is original while making it accessible to as many listeners as possible.

That goal is clearly reached on the group’s EP.

Highlights include the title track, which Parr describes as a traditional rock song fused with a modern musical and vocal approach and “Brand New” that features an unrelenting funk rhythm with dash of searing Hendrix-style guitar cutting right through it.

Additionally, “Talkin’ About” percolates with a classic R&B vibe that channels both Al Green and the Temptations.

The group features Parr on lead vocals, piano and saxophone, Daniel Warner on drums, Reece Bavis on bass and Daniel Kerner on guitar.

And even though the group’s influences are as diverse as Parliament/Funkadelic, Tool and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there is one band that remains the Selfless Lovers’ unwavering inspiration.

“The Rolling Stones have always been my favorite and we really can relate to the way they took blues, rock and soul and turned it into something that is uniquely theirs,” says Parr. “That spirit of building on classic styles and approaches to make something unique is what we are always trying to do.”
For Parr, the pair of weekend shows brings everything full circle.

When he was only nine years old, he used to sit in with Bubba Jacob’s old-time band at Panjo’s Pizza.

Impressed by the fact that the young pianist was self-taught, Bubba encouraged him to keep playing, but he also advised him to learn to sing as well.

It is advice that he continues to follow to this day.

“I am only 21 but it is so easy to see how negative and cynical a lot of new music has become,” reflects Parr. “I just hope to be a positive creative force that will uplift and inspire people.” - Corpus Christi Caller Times