On The Verge

The McLovins

Hartford, Conn.
Phish Spawn
www.myspace.com/mclovinit

Three young teenagers met last summer at rock and jazz camps. The trio posted some clips where they covered Phish’s “You Enjoy Myself” and the videos went viral immediately. “At that point we weren’t planning on doing an album,” says 16-year-old drummer Jake Huffman, adding that the group has learned a lot by listening to and covering some of their favorite bands like Phish, Weather Report and The Meters. “We really started working on the originals after the buzz from Y.E.M.”
Now, The McLovins—named by fans who believe that guitarist Jeffrey (15) and bassist Jason (16) both resemble the character from the film Superbad —have released Conundrum, a mature mixture of jazz, trance and shredding guitar solos and performed for increasingly bigger crowds on bills like Gathering of the Vibes. The album boasts nine original songs with lyrics mostly penned by Huffman, many of which reference the popular adolescent book The Phantom Tollbooth. “I wasn’t sure if we were actually going to become a real band,” he says, “but when we jammed for the first time, we really clicked together.”