Having lived through the ups and downs of relationships, both personally and professionally, founding member of Savoir Adore Paul Hammer talks loss, love, and the concept of home. Channeling the prime of ’80s pop music that mixes synth-heavy melodies with deep, heavy emotional lyrics, Savoir Adore have gone through two co-lead singers, released three studio records, and found their groove sonically. Musically, they hearken back to memories of bands such as The Police or even Huey Lewis & the News, but take their synth-pop into the 21st century to create a sound of their own. You can find Savoir Adore kicking off their nine-date summer tour at The Hi-Fi on Wednesday, May 31. The show is 21-and-over, and tickets can be found at hifiindy.com.
IM: You’re kicking off your tour in Indianapolis. Was there a reason for choosing our city as your first stop?
PH: Well, actually, our singer, Lauren (Zettler), is from Indianapolis—well, Carmel, but she has family all throughout the Indianapolis area. We opened for X Ambassadors there last year at the Egyptian Room, but we wanted to do a smaller, headlining show to start building up there.
IM: All of your records are very character-centered with stories, but those last two—Our Nature and The Love That Remains—are both focused on the same character. Was this planned form the start, or did you just feel that the story wasn’t told completely in the first record?
PH: It definitely wasn’t intentional from the get-go, but I knew that we wanted to do more exploration and wanted things to feel supernatural. At the end of Our Nature, the character was left bruised and battered by love, but we used The Love That Remains to see where he—I say “he” because I relate to him so strongly—we wanted to see what was next for him. The last record is about an exploration or a celebration of what his love is about.
IM: In The Love That Remains, there is a lot of imagery relating to rebuilding, or a concept of home. Has Savoir Adore found their home, or is there still some left to be figured out?
PH: This is actually the concept we’ve started exploring for our next record. This is the longest our band has stayed together in its current form, and some of us are married, or buying physical homes, and we, as a band, are trying to find out what “home” means, whether it be metaphorically, physically, or something else.
IM: In other interviews, you’ve mentioned how the song “Giants” is your favorite to play live. It’s such an anthemic song! Does this still stand, or has the dust settled with those feelings?
PH: No, it’s still my favorite song to play live. It’s so nice to have it viewed as a sort of anthem, and I love having a song that connects so well with audiences. We play it almost every show, and I still haven’t gotten sick of playing it. In fact, we had rehearsal today, and I said, “Guys! This is still my favorite song!”
IM: Your new singer, Lauren, has been with the band a while now. Her voice seems to blend in perfectly with how the band is evolving sonically—how is she settling into her role with the band?
PH: I’ve actually known Lauren for eight or nine years, and it worked out perfectly. She left another band and, after our second or third time writing together, we wrote “Giants” in one sitting. After that, I just knew. She had the tough job of coming into a band that was already established, but she is a perfect fit for us.
