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1.) We’re super-excited to have some time today with acclaimed Boston blues-driven jam band extraordinaire Sons of Levin; greetings and salutations gang, and welcome to Vents Magazine! Before we dive into the Q&A mosh-pit, could you all say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive readers?
Dylan: Hey! How’s it going? Good to be here with you all. My name is Dylan Levinson, lead vocalist of Sons Of Levin. I am a husband to my beautiful wife Olivia and father to our 17-month-old son, Napoleon. He’s off conquering Europe right now. Did I say Europe? I meant his Mr. Potato Head.
Connor: Hi, I am Connor Levinson, the guitar player in the band and father to my beautiful cat Reba. She’s off trying to convince my roommate to feed her a second dinner.
2.) Major kudos and accolades on the freshly-minted new Sons of Levin single “Slipping Away” which is set to light up record charts across the ever-lovin’ globe when it premieres this Tuesday, February 18th! Dylan, can you talk about what inspired this gem of a ditty?
Dylan: Thanks! We’re excited to release the tune! It’s inspired by a blues riff that we took off and ran with. We had been playing the song live, many times, before recording and that influenced the tune absolutely. There is an extended instrumental-jam section that could not have been put together in such a polished way without the live experimentation of the song.
3.) Connor, who did the producing honors on “Slipping Away” and what did the in-studio collaboration between band and producer look like while fashioning and shaping the new single?
Connor: This song was produced by our good friend Jan Schwartz, an incredibly talented musician, producer and sound engineer living in Boston. Jan was already very familiar with our music having both run live sound for us and sitting in on bass for many shows, so it was a pretty easy transition having him join the collaboration process. He was with us every step of the way from rehearsals through the recording sessions themselves helping guide the sound.
4.) Connor, in your humble opinion what differentiates the “Slipping Away”single from the other distinguished competition on the 2025 music scene?
Connor: We really tried to take the approach of recreating our live performance in the studio. Overdubbing was fairly limited, and the bones of the song was tracked live with the full band which I think gives a nice balance between the energy of a live performance and the precision of a studio recording. Our band is very improvisation driven and we felt it was important to have that come through on this project.
5.) Dylan, in the wake of the February 18th release, can fans look forward to catching the band on the touring/performing circuit?
Dylan: We are grinding away here in Boston, MA. A couple upcoming gigs to highlight would be at Progression Brewing Co. (Northampton, MA) on Feb 28th, Cantab Lounge (Cambridge, MA) on April 6 and Midway Cafe (Boston, MA) on May 30.
6.) Sons of Levin count the beautiful town of Boston, Massachusetts as their stomping grounds! How do those specific roots inform the sound and energy which you all are able to so successfully capture on your records?
Dylan: Boston has some incredible music colleges. Berklee being one of them. Having such virtuosic musicians in our backyard definitely influences what we are able to do with live improvisation. I absolutely adore the city of Boston, but I sometimes think of us as a band who is without a home. We aren’t heavy enough for the underground scene, light enough for the indie scene and we don’t fall into the country category. But all you can do is keep grinding away and hope people start to dig what you’re doing.
7.) Connor, for anyone who has never caught a live performance from Sons of Levin, what type of a show should they expect and look forward to when seeing you all on stage?
Connor: We like to keep our live shows high energy and fun. Our improvised jam sections make each show different from the last and we always make a point of throwing in crowd pleasing covers that we can really make our own.
8.) Dylan, word ‘round industry campfire has it that “Slipping Away” is meant to be the sophomore single from the eagerly-anticipated Sons of Levin EP; congrats! Can you give fans and readers alike a hint or three as to what they can expect from this new release?
Dylan: You can expect an electric blues-psychedelia atmosphere. We are really happy with how this came out and are equally grateful for Brendan Daniel’s harmonica playing that gives the song a real edge.
9.) A question for both of you: Who are some of your key influences int he world of music?
Dylan: Mine has to be Phish. I can’t write like them, but I love how they put their shows together. I think as a rock singer I’ve been drawn to Robert Plant, Gregg Allman, and Billy Joel. Their delivery has definitely influenced me. I like to listen to all kinds of music, and hopefully it all makes its way into our own compositions eventually.
Connor: We both grew up on classic rock so bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Beatles had a huge influence on us early on. The band is very influenced by classic jam bands, like the Grateful Dead, Phish and the Allman Brothers. As a guitar player, I love, BB King, Freddie King, Hendrix, Derek Trucks and a lot of other blues greats. Lately, I’ve been particularly inspired by current guitar greats like Billy Strings and Marcus King.
10.) Dylan, at the end of the day what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving many-a-spin to the crackling new Sons of Levin single “Slipping Away”?
Dylan: I hope they want to listen to more of us and check us out live.
LISTEN https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/sonsoflevin/slipping-away
