After strong Spotify showing, Lexington high school students ready to release first album
Since the early 1990s the Helmuth and Quinn families have been woven into the fabric of Central Kentucky’s music scene, performing with acts such as The Blueberries, Ten Foot Pole and Rebel Without A Cause.
Over 20 years later both families are still relevant in the scene, but with a new crop of young musicians at the helm led by Daisy Helmuth and Jack Quinn, who with Madeline Farrar and Charlie Overman form People Planet. The high school student students are now ready to release their debut album “Power Play.”
The group formed in 2017 after Helmuth was approached about performing solo at Moontower Music Festival. Flattered, Helmuth assembled a band, recruiting Bryan Station High School classmates Overman on guitar and Farrar on bass. Both are accomplished musicians despite their youth, with Overman also performing in area band Forrest and Farrar, also an exceptional violinist adept on six instruments, playing in the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra. Quinn, son of Bill and brother to Johnny Conqueroo drummer Wils, later came into the fold on drums as well.
In addition to classwork and practicing with the band, the group is involved in other extracurriculars as well with Helmuth, Farrar and Overman being involved in their Bryan Station’s Spanish Immersion program.
Helmuth said it can be frustrating at times having so much to do and hardly enough time to do it, with Farrar adding that despite their lack of time, there’s far worse ways they could be spending it.
”The band is great because while it’s another obligation, it’s also fun,” said Farrar. “It’s not like studying, which I also have to do.”
When the band does gather for practice, usually bi-weekly, it does so at a home studio that Daisy’s father Otto, a carpenter, built inside a detached garage in back of their home. The space is also where People Planet recorded their debut EP “Power Play,” out Dec. 28.
The project features an array of influences, taking listeners on a roller coaster ride of emotion within an indie aesthetic featuring hints of country on “Valentine’s Day,” which highlights a twangy pedal steel from Johnny Conqueroo frontman Grant Curless; blues and rock on “Blues Boy”; soul on “Come a Little Closer” and “Moment of Silence”; and pop-punk on “Rehab,” the later of which has garnered nearly 10,000 plays on Spotify since debuting less than a month ago.
‘Power Play’s five songs are a mix of tunes new and old, with “Rehab” and “Blues Boy” being penned by Helmuth prior to the band’s formation, adding that “Rehab” originated as a slow-down piano ballad before transforming into the sped-up, in-your-face mashup with the full band. The songs have changed so much that Helmuth joked that she can no longer play the songs by herself at the occasional solo gig because they sound too empty without the complete People Planet lineup.
“I think they are more prepared than we ever were because they’ve grown up around people doing it all the time so it’s been normal to them to have bands on the weekends and musicians hanging around,” said Otto. “They take to it like ducks to water.”
People Planet EP release show with The Slaps and Boytown USA
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 29
Where: Tadoo Lounge, 434 Old Vine St.
Tickets: $5, all ages