Music of the Mountains: Satellite Friend

Brian and Lacey Loeper are core members of a close group of musicians who arrived in Colorado from different places. This connection of new community members inspired the name Satellite Friend, who now work together to write new songs on a regular basis. Learn more about the band by tuning in to this episode of The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring Brian and Lacey!

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello there, everybody. My name is Jamie Lambert, and welcome to Music of the Mountains, Where to Be and What to Say, brought to you by the Mountain Air Podcast. Last week, on May 9th, I sat down with Brian and Lacey Loeper over the phone to talk to them about their group Satellite Friend. The group consists of Brian and Lacey, along with Alex Regembaugh, Adam Cogan, and Jared Wengerd. To learn more about the roles of the other members of the group, along with where Brian and Lacey are currently calling from, stay tuned to this episode to learn more about Satellite Friend. Let's cut now to Brian and Lacey.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

Alright. So do you guys just mind uh introducing yourselves real quick?

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Um, I'm Lacey. I play uh piano and a little violin for satellite friend.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

And I am Brian and I play guitar for satellite friend.

SPEAKER_04 0:58

Sweet. And uh Satellite Friend is coming to Jamestown Mercantile to perform very soon.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

We are very excited about it. It is one of the most magical best kept secrets that uh that we have ever found.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Yeah, it's very lovely.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

For sure. So uh man, uh Satellite Friend, what's kind of the backstory behind the group as a whole? Who's the members currently? Is the lineup changed? I don't know. What's the general gist of what the band has been doing the last two years?

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Sure. So uh it's he and Lacey and Alex is our singer and she plays saxophone and clarinet and melodica and a bunch of stuff. Adam is our drummer who is classically trained in a million instruments and plays drums most of the time. And then uh Jared is our uh bassist who kind of comes to us from like the bluegrass field, and the first time we had a rehearsal, he showed up with an upright bass. And uh it was very funny how quickly we were like, you're probably gonna need an electric. But uh we've been playing together for two years now? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

About two years.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

About two years. And uh we kind of started under the weird premise of we want to try to write as many songs as possible and kind of just like stay very, very active with that and rehearse a bunch, and we don't play any covers. We just kind of wanted to see what it was like when we're just like every week, like, okay, what do you got? Every week, what do you got? And it's funny because like there's no demand for a band like that. So we have like a million originals, but for us it's just really fun to write and problem solve and go like, oh, that one's good, nope, that one's awful, and just kind of keep moving forward and be excited about whatever we're doing.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

But I feel like that's part almost part of a perfect process in that way, because it's like, yeah, no one's putting the outside demand on it, but why don't we put the demand on ourselves? Because it's it keeps us motivated.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Like I think we could have wrote like, you know, ten songs and just been done with it for a couple years. But uh like Lacey and I are even sitting around right now, like the phone is on a keyboard, and we have a keyboard in a sense and a guitar, and we're sitting here in an empty room on what is it, Friday night? Saturday night? Saturday night. Saturday night. And uh we're we're trying to problem solve a song that we've been working on for a couple weeks and and rehearsal still isn't working. So it's just the part that we like to do.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

And it's also just a thing we look forward to every week. We always have a weekly rehearsal on Tuesdays, and um honestly it's just like the the best part of my week at least.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

So yeah, it's like the only consistent thing we have is rehearsal, and so we try to we try to keep holy the rehearsal day.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

That's awesome. And so how d how did Satellite Friends kind of begin in the first place? You know, how did you guys all come together and start this thing moving?

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Lacey and I moved to Denver from the East Coast, and uh we came out here and we were uh out to Colorado, we moved to Denver, and we were just like, oh my goodness, like how do you make friends and meet people in a community? And really, I think the only thing we had, you know, we didn't want to like hang out with people from work. So the only thing that we could think of is like, well, all of our friends for most of our life have come from music and from theater, and it's always just been an awesome part of community. And so uh we started going to open mics and the woods boss. Yeah, it was it we started just like being regulars at Woodboss where they had a Wednesday or Thursday night open mic, something like that. And um we just neither of us can sing very well, but we just started playing songs there and meeting people, and I think just about every friend that we have in Colorado now and every band member is some extension of hanging out at open mics and just talking to people who also like songwriting and like community and and want to try to do something together.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

And uh was there was there a particular place the name Satellite Friend came from or it kind of came from everyone in the band came from um somewhere else, like uh a different state or kind of moved here. So I always kind of liked the the idea of it kind of being representative of coming somewhere or kind of being on the outskirts a little bit and kind of looking in on something because that's how it sort of felt at the beginning when we first moved out here, and then it kind of just became a nice group of people who kind of came from the outskirts and and all came together. So I think that was a little bit of the idea for satellite friends. And it we also just wanted something that sounded friendly. So that worked out.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

Absolutely. And uh in terms of your guys' musical background, like how long have you been playing music, writing songs as a group or individually, with all all that stuff? What's the background there?

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Um I think for all the band members, everyone come from different backgrounds of playing. I mean, Alex was is has her own band and has played a lot of kind of folk music for a really long time. Jared's played uh a lot of blue graphs and um kind of into jam band stuff, and it we just all kind of come from a a lot of music, musical backgrounds. I mean Brianie's had bands since you were in fifth grade. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Our drummer Adam has a jazz piano background of all things, and then Lacey played piano in church growing up, and so like we kind of joke that I think on our Instagram it said in, but not really. Um Lacey tends to still write like very churchy sounding piano parts sometimes. And so it just yeah, and then I think I've just been kind of a meat and potatoes rock guitarist forever. And it's fun because we kind of write all these songs together, and so you know, everybody just kind of pulls the songs in different directions, and we just sort of go with whoever seems to have the most interesting idea, but there's never really been a consensus on all right, now we're gonna try to jam or something like that. It's just kind of like, oh, that's a cool bass part, let's let's lock into that.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

For sure. And what is I mean, obviously you guys just love the process of being able to work on songs together and bring them to life. And what's cool about being able to kind of bring them together in the context of a band like that, having the structure and then being able to develop it as a group?

SPEAKER_03 6:30

It's kind of fun because when we when we get stuck on something, somebody else has a really good idea. So yeah, it it makes it fun for problem solving, I think.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

As a guitarist, I joke that like whenever I bring a song to the group, I really only have to write like 30 or 40% of a song. And when I get stuck on something, rather than, you know, writing a crappy bridge or a half-baked chorus or something, I'll just realize that like uh the next thing I'm doing is boring and I'm repeating myself, and I'll just let our jazz pianist drummer come up with something cool. And I would say 98% of the time somebody has a really interesting idea. And so it's it's fun because like I don't know, I think a lot of guitarists kind of have it in their head that like they need to be the guy and they, you know, they're gonna have the song. And just I don't know when in my life I was like, it's way more fun to just let the reins go loose and and trust people that you really care about and and that you've worked with for a while, and and that is way more fun than me trying to force another boring power chord part just to get to the end of the song. Oh amazing. We really like it a lot. It's it is it has been fun to be. We were actually talking, we just played a show, I guess it was with Roxy on Broadway, and I had had a couple beers and I just said uh everyone in the group, I was like, it's gotten to the point where it's like fun where you just know that like the people around you are gonna like hit transitions and and it's just really comfortable. We're not sitting there like counting in our heads anymore. It's just like, oh, these people got my back, and so you know, if I mess something up or miss a transition, you know, everybody else on stage is gonna be so tight that we can all kind of just count on each other and it's not nerves all the time now.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

And that's what I was kind of just about to go into, is just like the the dynamic of the group, how well it's worked, what your favorite parts about that are, especially since you're basically bringing in new material to perform every week.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

It's awesome, yeah. And I just remember like when I played in bands before, you know, we would have like these very set songs for a really long period of time, and then every now and then we'd, you know, finally write a new song and we'd stick it in the middle of a set and see if we can get away with it. And that was always the part that I was most excited about. And so I think when we started this band as kind of an MO, we were just like, let's have that feeling all the time.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

The writing process is the the most fun part, I think, for all of us. So for you and I.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yeah, yeah. And so it's like we I don't know, we've done it enough now that I think every show we've ever played, we've had one or two new songs, and that's always the part of like, is this gonna be as good as stuff that we can play in our sleep? And one of the shows we have coming up this summer is three hours, and we're like, Oh, we have like three hours of originals now, and we've only been in a band for two years, so it just feels like it's just been like constant ideas and and constant problem solving and just using our brain every rehearsal and and yeah, it it's been really, really fun.

SPEAKER_04 9:06

Absolutely. What are things that you hope people will will end up taking away from your shows or the music when they come to see you guys or hear anything that you put out or anything along those lines?

SPEAKER_03 9:14

I think one of the biggest compliments is when people don't know how to describe it. Um because there hasn't been like a genre that covers it. I always think that's that's a compliment because it means that it's something that they haven't heard before and that means we're doing our job, I think, pretty well.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

And also, I mean, like like I said, when we came out here and we're playing open mics, you know, we were hoping to to meet people and it's really, really nice now when you know, we try to have shows that feel, I don't know, accessible to people and then we try to be that way in our lives and after shows as well. And so it's really nice when we kind of see people coming back show after show and just kind of feeling like, you know, they can be a part of it as well. And we are a tiny, tiny, tiny band. And so for the people who kind of feel like they've stumbled on something cool and talked about it like that, I know, you know, what it's like to be a person at a show that is like seven people, and I'm just like, oh my god, this is the coolest thing on the planet, and I think we want to feel like we're doing that for people too. It's like if all we ever do is just play small bars and venues around Denver for as long as we're a band, is that you know, whoever shows up, you know, knows that they're appreciated and feels like they're kind of getting to do something cool is is something we really care a lot about. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

And yeah, is there just is there anything about performing even just together as a group? Not even necessarily in the context of a live show, but just bringing these songs together that is just really fun for you all.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

I think like we are fine with the idea at this point that some nights we're just gonna be playing to the bartender and the door person, and we want them to have a good time, as much as, you know, a writer who's nice enough to talk to us on a Saturday night. And it's funny, we played a show down in uh Colorado Springs and they had a like restaurant on the other side of the wall. And uh the cook came over and he was like in his apron and he walked over and he just went, uh and it was funny because like it was actually a pretty well-attended show and and went really well and people were really friendly, which was nice for us being an out-of-town band. But the cook came over in his apron and gave us a fist bump and said, I hear a lot of crappy bands, you guys weren't one of 'em. Yells in the compliment, and the guy was like in the middle and making French fries and was like, Oh, I gotta I gotta go say something nice. And so, yeah, it's really funny when you're just sort of like, I'm thrilled for who's ever in the room and whoever shows up. And uh, yeah, I mean if we look out and see a room that's only got a bartender and a sound guy, we're like, Well, those are the hardest to impress impressive as we can do a job for them. Yeah, exactly. So being in a van and especially us being terrible at social media and just really wanting to write songs and show up, it's like we're not doing the content stuff super well. So literally anybody who sees us, we we really appreciate.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 11:54

Is there I mean, is there just anything in general about projects or shows or anything coming up for you guys that you want to add or talk about?

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Or yeah, I mean we are this is kind of crazy, but we're sitting in a studio that we're building right now. So on top of ignoring things that we probably should be doing, and we weirdly just bought uh like a building from 1907, and for the last two or three months we've been just watching a million YouTube contractors. We're sitting in like a big empty room full of sound panels.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Yeah, we insulated it and drywalled it, now we're creating um sound panels, movable sound panels and window panels all over the place to be able to not only practice in the room but also be able to record.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

And we want to have shows here as well. We have our first show here in July. Yeah. The friends are going out on the tour, so they're gonna come play here. So, yeah, we've been renting scaffolding and power tools and and building a space to kind of keep making music in, which has been a really fun project.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

And we really want to have a place that that brings other musicians here and uh kind of continues to create a a community would be really, really awesome.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

So we had a big party here a week ago that was kind of like a kickoff to it, and I'd say forty or fifty people showed up and it was it was a lot of fun just to kind of press in the space and it's definitely not ready at all, but uh but yeah, actually just like doing a building project together has been has been really nice. Oh, absolutely. One of the cool things of I mean lots of cool things about Jamestown, but we're huge Greg Rowan Isaacov fans. And so when we played Mercantile last year, they told us that he does the vegetables there, and you know, occasionally pops in and plays and and one of his big things about you know being a farmer in Boulder is not that it gets in the way, but that because he has that project, it makes his music better. And it's been kind of fun like having this construction project together. And you know, some days we'll hang out for twelve hours and not play a single thing at all because we're just cutting wood and staining and putting in drywall, but it kind of feels like that thing that Gregory Allen talked about where we're kind of having a project that uses a different part of your brain and makes it so that you communicate and work differently when you get back together on the thing that you're that brought you together in the first place.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Very, very cool. And yeah, I don't know, I think I think those are the big questions that I have on my end. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Well, hey, it sounds like we shared some things there, so man, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Absolutely, and I really appreciate you guys taking time to jump in and do this. This is really great. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

This is the first time anybody has ever asked us to do anything.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

So we'll remember for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 14:22

Absolutely. Yeah, thank you very much. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Well, hopefully, uh we'll see uh in Jamestown. That place is the first time we played there, they let us play every single song we had, and people stayed till the end. So that's a very magical place for us.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Thank you so much to Brian and Lacey for coming on board and joining us for the podcast. Satellite friend will be performing at the Jamestown Mercantile, located at 108 Main Street in Jamestown on Friday, May 22nd, 2026, starting at 7 p.m. Thank you so much, everybody, for tuning in to this episode of Music of the Mountains, where to be on the Mountain Ear Podcast. We'll be back with another episode of the Mountain Ear Podcast where you can share this episode and others with whoever you can subscribe to our podcast wherever you get your podcast. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast, and more. To learn more about the Mountain Ear and subscribe to the physical or physical editions of the newspaper, be sure to head to the ntner.com. And to find our Facebook YouTube Instagram at ntn.ear, and the full archive of our podcast, be sure to head down to the media section on the homepage of our website. If you have any questions or suggestions for any of us directly about the paper or the podcast, you can reach out to me at mediatheMountainer.com, my co-host title segments at T Y L E R at the Mountain Ear.com, or editor and feet at the heart at infotemountain.com, or general integrity at front test at the mountain ear.com.