College isn’t about the educational aspects. Okay, so it is just a bit. For me, it’s more about the adventure one takes being on their own for what is probably the first time in their life. It’s making decisions that’ll ultimately shape what comes in your next chapter. I didn’t take as many leaps as one should have, but the guys of Group Project, they’re jumping and jiving all over the place.

When not in class they’re three guys working hard to make Group Project. No, not those horrendous projects that leave one person doing all the work. This Group Project is an all hands on deck situation where the result is impressive music that lodges itself in the ears of all who hear. At least that’s what happened when I clicked play on “I Know.”

Now it’s your turn to hear, love, and learn a little more about this trio of collegiate talent.

Kendra: When did you each get started in music because, for a group of guys who aren’t all old enough to buy themselves a drink, the talent is impressive.

Group Project: Thank you! We’ve all been playing music in one way or another since we were about five or six-years-old. Each of us has been individually songwriting for at least five years now. We started making music as a group about two years ago. It was noticeably surreal from the very first time we got together. Luckily, here in Montreal, the legal drinking age is 18, so perhaps that factors into our creativity!

https://soundcloud.com/groupprojectmusic/iknow

Kendra: Were you friends before college or did a certain class or dorm assignment bring you three together?

Jacob: We have Jeremy to thank for bringing the band together. He and I went to the same high school and got together in college for the first time to make a few casual party-songs. We soon introduced Jeremy’s coworker from the grocery store, Mr. Alex the guitarist, to add some of his creativity to our tunes. As it turns out, Alex was the missing piece to our puzzle. The vibe he added to our tracks would eventually become the dynamic Group Project sound that we know, and continue to develop today.

Kendra: From personal experience, I feel like college is this weird purgatory between childhood and adulthood in which you’re grown but at the same time clueless to the real world. Do you ever feel like that?

Group Project: This exact idea is a huge inspiration for our music. It seems like most college kids are torn between A) setting themselves up to be mature and responsible adults with a clear and determined future. And B) holding onto that last bit of childhood and taking full advantage of our worry-free youth by ignoring all the pressures and stressors of adulthood. Our intention, when writing most of our songs, is to target college kids and encourage them to not worry about these adulthood pressures.

Kendra: We’ve talked about college, now let’s get to the music. What is the story behind “I Know?” Was it something you worked on together or was this a song may be one of you had written down in the past that found new life with the band?

Jeremy: Alex actually wrote this song a few months ago. Jacob and I loved it the first time we heard it. The song is about having to let go of a relationship because things are just not working out. Even though letting go is the last thing you want to do, you “know, that you can’t [love her] for so long”. We worked on some of the lyrics with him and we had a song! We’ll often work this way; one person will have the concept for a song and the three of us will build it together. At the end of the day, we always come to agreements on the structure and lyrics of a song.

https://soundcloud.com/groupprojectmusic/yonge-street

Kendra: You’ve noted that your goal is to get lyrics stuck in the heads of listeners. Congrats, “I Know” is just that, but what’s that song for you? What song gets in your head and does not leave for days?

Group Project: Thank you! It’s tough for us to pick a song because we all have very different tastes in music. We all like “Rocket Man” by Elton John, so maybe that’s one that we can all agree on.

Kendra: Maybe you can cover it on a future album? Which, will we head “I Know” on an EP or LP soon?

Group Project: That would be fun, but it would be difficult to do that song justice! As for right now, we don’t have any immediate plans for an EP or LP, but we’ve got plenty of music coming nevertheless.

Kendra: Time for a quick game of Cover, Duet, Tour. Out of Twenty One Pilots, Shawn Mendes, and Coldplay which would you want to simply cover, duet with in the studio, and tour with?

Group Project: We’d probably go with a cover of Shawn Mendes (Alex LOVES Shawn Mendes), duet with Twenty One Pilots, and definitely tour with Coldplay. They have so much experience touring as a band and they’re incredibly talented. We could definitely learn a lot from them.

Kendra: Other than a potential album, tell us what’s going on with you in 2019?

Group Project: We’ve got a bunch of new songs that we’re super excited to release, a few collaborations with some awesome artists, and hopefully some live performances. We’ll be getting a lot more songwriting done as well.