Ollie Gullick's Lovely Band of Lads

When Ollie Gullick flew to Berklee from Abu Dhabi in 2022, he was not expecting to find The Lads. Luckily, at Berklee's five-week summer program, Gullick was randomly assigned to a room with drummer Alex Reeves and saxophonist Andrew Schuler. At this program, they also met bassist Jack Helfer, guitarist Colin Lillich, and keyboardist Leo Birken. 

Photo by Grace Abdayem

Initially, the group had low expectations, simply aiming to play a few shows at The Bebop, a local pub. However, their performance at the Caf Show, an event where the main dining hall at Berklee is converted into a music hall where students can perform, marked the turning point for The Lads. Gullick recalls, "We got to perform our first show in front of 220 people. People liked it quite a lot. And I was like, well, this is cool, we should carry on."

Courtesy of @olliegullick on instagram

Ollie Gullick and The Lads have a unique sound that blends Gullick's talented songwriting and the instrumentations crafted by the Lads. This sound was not always set in stone. At first, Gullick wasn't sure about keeping the saxophone as a permanent instrument. Schuler, the original saxophonist, was set on going to Berklee's Valencia, Spain program before joining The Lads, so Gullick knew they would be without the instrument at some point soon. 

He didn't think much of the lack of the instrument until they played their first show without Schuler's presence. "There was a massive presence missing on stage," he says. "The show was still good, but I think we all felt it afterward. We were like, 'We need the sax back!' So yeah, it was an integral part of the Ollie Gullick and the Lads sound." This was when Cooper Swartzentruber joined The Lads, bringing back the saxophone and solidifying that important piece of the puzzle. 

Photo by Grace Abdayem

On Tuesday, September 17th, Ollie Gullick and The Lads opened for musician Ian McConnel at The Red Room at Cafe 939. The room felt warmer as soon as the boys ran onto the stage. The crowd was excited to see them perform. Though many audience members were there for McConnel, the Lads cultivated an environment where everyone had fun. The audience was not just watching a performance, they were part of it. One of their main goals during their shows is for their audience to feel. "I just like to connect." Says Lillich, "Find that one person in the room who's not feeling it and make them feel it. Like we're in this groove together." Helfer shares this sentiment, saying he wants to "create an enjoyable, safe, happy space. See everybody vibing."

Gullick feels that cultivating an enjoyable environment is hugely important, especially when they are not headlining a show. This is why they will sometimes integrate popular covers during their shows. "Von Dutch" by CharliXCX and "Red Wine Supernova" by Chappell Roan were played in the Red Room that night. "When it's a Lad's headliner," Gullick reflects, "people sing along to our show, songs because they know it, but when we're supporting, we need people having a good time with other people's music." Swartzentruber adds that this environment benefits not only the audience but also the band members themselves. He says, "When people are singing along to the song, it supports the music and makes us feel really good."

Video by Grace Abdayem

 Swartzentruber also knows the feeling of being an audience member for the Lads and emphasizes that "from an audience member's perspective, it's always amazing watching The Lads perform." The band's approach to creating a positive environment is not just about the music but the shared experience of a live performance.

The Berklee scene has been a massive contributor to the positive live experience of the Lads. Birken feels that the Berklee scene is "more professional. All the sound quality is automatically better because we were all using stuff at home that we could just find, you know. But everything here is so much more fun to play." They feel that having Berklee students around makes them feel even more supported. Gullick says, "Everyone is super supportive of each other, which is amazing. When there's more water, all the ships rise together, something like that."

Photos by Grace Abdayem