As they gear up to release their third studio album, The Rare Occasions take us track-by-track through 2022’s energetic ‘Attaboy’ EP – an evergreen indie rock record whose fun, hard-hitting, and emotionally charged songs feel as feverish and as fresh today as they did two years ago, successfully conveying the LA trio’s bold, uncompromising, and multi-faceted artistry.

Stream: “Start This Over” – The Rare Occasions

Attaboy: It’s a term of endearment; an affirmation that we’re on the right track.

And it’s the name of a hard-hitting record that, nearly two years on from its release, feels as feverish and fresh as it did the day it first came out. With their latest EP, The Rare Occasions put their talents on full display while delivering an exhilarating, high-energy, and undeniably fun indie rock experience for artist and audience alike. Arriving ten years after their first-ever release – the six-track Demo Recordings, recorded in various practice rooms at Tufts University and Berklee School of Music – Attaboy captures just how far the LA-based trio of Brian McLaughlin, Jeremy Cohen, and Luke Imbusch have come in a decade’s time, while highlighting the very qualities longtime fans have appreciated from day one.

While the music landscape has itself changed drastically since that time in the mid-2010s, Brian McLaughlin says his greatest ‘takeaways’ and ‘life lessons’ ultimately all come down to the basics. “We’ve learned how to craft songs that are both thoughtful and infectious, how making a connection with the listener is the number one reason we all make music in the first place,” he tells Atwood Magazine. “We’ve also learned (and are still learning) how to work collaboratively. There are several moments in Attaboy that really demonstrate the magic of having three very different people with very different perspectives come together to make music.”

“I don’t think we realized we were doing it at the time, but building up a large body of work consistently, year-after-year, was probably what ended up paying off in the long run,” he adds. “We wish we had better production in our early stuff, but the music just wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t do it ourselves in our dorm rooms with our laptops.”

From those scrappy, tenacious beginnings on various New England campuses to sold-out shows around the country and global streams in the hundreds of millions, The Rare Occasions’ story is one of dedication and determination – both to their band, and to their craft. “Being three nerdy and detail-oriented dudes, we put a lot of scrutiny into every aspects of our music, and we take a lot of pride in the songs and performances,” McLaughlin offers.

While they’ve long been favorites of Atwood Magazine‘s pages (our coverage of the band dates back to 2015, and they were dubbed an Editor’s Pick in 2020), the rest of the world started catching on to The Rare Occasions thanks to – as is often the case these days – a viral TikTok trend. Attaboy served as the band’s first release following their newfound popularity, and was their way of showing their vastly expanded audience who they were and what they’re all about.

“In late 2021 and early 2022, an older song of ours, ‘Notion,’ went viral on TikTok,” McLaughlin explains. “We suddenly found ourselves with a lot of attention on us, but our music and writing had come a long way since ‘Notion,’ so we were excited to show the new fans what we’re all about by putting out something new.”

“Many of the songs on this EP are pretty fun and carefree, which aligns with the energy of our live show. A lot of our younger fans are new to rock music, and we wanted to get people excited to go out and see a show. It still resonates with us now because these are the most fun songs to play in our set.”

McLaughlin candidly describes Attaboy as a record of energy and introspection – tossing in the word ‘caterpillar’ as well for good measure (the EP’s fourth track, “Caterpillar!” is without a doubt one of its most memorable songs).

The EP’s name, he says, is a little tongue-in-cheek in regard to the public’s perception of the band’s career. “We had finally achieved some of the traditional markers of success, and a lot of folks were congratulating us by patting us on the back and saying things like ‘you’ve made it!’ Those external factors really seemed to change how others viewed our work, even though ‘Notion’ had been out for years at that point. We were just doing what we’d already been doing for the past decade – writing songs, playing shows, making the music we love, and that’s always been validation enough.”

The band hit the ground running with opener “Seasick,” a spirited anthem of angst and reeling that finds them surfing turbulent waves with charismatic charm and unrelenting passion.

“[It’s] a perfect representation of how chaotic, exciting, and at times nauseating the past few months have been for us as we navigate uncharted waters of the music industry,” the trio told Atwood upon the track’s release two years ago. An honest and unfiltered musical gut-punch, “Seasick”

“Seasick” is an explosive two-and-a-half minute upheaval; fast-paced and hard-hitting, the song comes to life with churning drums, soaring guitar licks, and a punchy vocal performance brimming with unbridled (if not slightly exasperated) energy. “Got me seasick, I can feel it!” shouts McLaughlin in a dramatic and sweeping chorus, turning loose all the tension and turmoil he and his bandmates felt inside at the time:

port to starboard
rolling crashing
racing past my eyes
got me seasick
I can feel it, I can feel it

“Seasick” sets the scene for a band that has always, and will forever follow its own North Star; rather than recreate their 2016 aesthetic or churn out a couple of “Notion” lookalikes, The Rare Occasions continue to push themselves on this song, and indeed on the entire Attaboy EP.

Atwood Magazine previously praised 2021’s sophomore LP Big Whoop as a “radiant indie rock record home to their most heartfelt, charged, and inspired songwriting to date”; while it’s smaller in size and scale, Attaboy feels similarly ambitious, with each of its six tracks showcasing another side to The Rare Occasions’ multi-faceted artistry: There’s the garage-y, rip-roaring heat of “Not Afraid,” the cinematic warmth and dramatic vulnerability of “Start This Over,” the angular math-rock riffs and downright silliness of “Caterpillar!,” the emotionally charged ache and searing sonic churn of “Turnaround,” and the dreamy, gentle enchantment of “Because You Love Me,” a “love song in the form of a jazz ballad” that closes the EP with a tender kiss goodnight.

“How do I say what I want? Where do I always go wrong?” McLaughlin wonders aloud, his words poetically affectionate, his voice soft and soothing. “All that I know is that yours is the hand to hold mine, if you’re so inclined; like warmth in the cold, we drift through the unknown.” It’s a soul-stirring finale to a record filled with head-turning moments of passion, raw humanity, and intimate connection.

“‘Start This Over’ is a song we’re really proud of,” McLaughlin says on the topic of favorites. “It’s got all the elements of The Rare Occasions’ music crammed into one concise package – a melodic bass line with soft balladesque singing accompanied by a beautiful string arrangement that eventually builds into a full-on rock song with three-part harmonies and even a key change in the bridge. Our music teachers would be very happy with this one.”

“Start This Over” is also home to McLaughlin’s favorite line on the EP: “You used to pull me closer / spin up the silk cocoon.” The track received its own music video last year, directed by Kenneth Bauer and featuring four continuous shots depicting an emotionally fraught relationship between actress Amy Huckabay and Brian McLaughlin. It’s a captivating cinematic rendering of the music’s deeply emotive qualities, bringing audience members that much closer to McLaughlin, Cohen, and Imbusch:

The Rare Occasions have kept plenty busy since Attaboy’s release two years ago.

The band spent the summer of 2023 touring the country with Summer Salt and Addison Grace, and began releasing new music off their forthcoming third studio album in earnest this spring. To date, they’ve released four songs off Through Moonshot Eyes, which releases on September 13^th: The sunny, punchy, and delightfully beachy “Black Balloons,” “Darling, the Planets,” “Macaroni Moon,” and most recently, “Mr. Bubbles.” Each of these songs offers yet another glimpse into The Rare Occasions’ world – just as Attaboy continues to do, to do this day.

“We hope folks have fun listening to the music, and hopefully if they relate to some of the lyrics it helps them through whatever it is they’re going through at that moment in their life,” McLaughlin says of the band’s previous EP. “Hope and optimism is at the core of all our songs, even the sad ones. What we realized about ourselves creating it is that we can actually work okay under pressure and still really step up the quality of each release as we grow as musicians.”

Peek inside The Rare Occasions’ Attaboy EP with Atwood Magazine as Brian McLaughlin takes us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of the band’s 2022 EP, and stay tuned for much more to come from the indie rock trio over the coming months. Their new LP Through Moonshot Eyes is out everywhere September 13, 2024; catch them on their North American headline tour (with support from BEL) throughout September and October – tickets and more information here!

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:: stream/purchase Attaboy here ::

:: stream/purchase The Rare Occasions here ::

Stream: ‘Attaboy’ – The Rare Occasions

:: Inside Attaboy ::

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Seasick

A fun, surfy track about the passage of time and getting lost at sea. How things can seem difficult in the moment, but when you look back and see you can see how far you’ve gone, you realize you’ve actually made an impact on the people and places you’ve encountered.

Not Afraid

A blood pumping song about deciding that you can’t control people’s judgments and sometimes you just gotta do you. This was a fun lyrical collaboration between the full band that helped inspire dense vocal harmonies.

Start This Over

A bittersweet tune about looking back at good times and past mistakes, hoping for a chance to start over. We pulled out all the stops for this deeply personal number, with an original string arrangement by our own Luke Imbusch, and a “one-shot” style music video directed by Kenneth Bauer.

Caterpillar!

Sometimes, you just have to ask the questions that no one is asking. This song isn’t meant to be taken seriously, unless you tend to navigate the world from the perspective of an insect.

Turnaround

A song about weighing the issues of this world, but proclaiming loyalty and companionship to someone in spite of. This song tunes into our philosophy of “bleak optimism” pretty acutely.

Because You Love Me

We love to explore our musical interests outside of the rock genre. This dreamy and intimate love song in the form of a jazz ballad felt like an appropriate way to end the EP.

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:: stream/purchase Attaboy here ::

:: stream/purchase The Rare Occasions here ::

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 © Alex Justice

Attaboy

an EP by The Rare Occasions