This time around, I’ve decided to feature a Maine-based act that will perform April 16 at Mainely Brews in Waterville. The band is known as Loki And Friends. There’s an interesting story about the history and tight family connections present in this five-piece. To begin with, Loki came into existence back in 2000 down in Portland as a four-piece. The current incarnation is a trio made up of Mike Loubier, Jonathan Boyer (two founding members on bass and guitar/vocals respectively) and Adam Nichols. With six albums under their collective belts they decided to put together a group called Loki And Friends. The explanation of that is where this interview starts. I called Loubier, who currently works in Waterville and lives in Winslow, to learn more about his bands.

Loubier: Thanks for calling, but I’d like to get Boyer (who lives in Lowell, Massachusetts) on for a three-way call if that’s okay with you. He’s been the guitar player and singer since the beginning so I thought that maybe it would be good to have him in on the conversation.

Q: Go for it.

Loubier: Give me a minute and I’ll try to get him. (Pause) Jon, are you there?

Boyer: Yes, I am. Pleased to meet you, Lucky.

Q: Same here! Now gentlemen, this story is based on the show you have coming up at Mainely Brews on Saturday, April 16, correct?

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Loubier: Yeah, I would say that that’s at least half of the purpose of the article, for sure.

Q: When we were setting this conversation up, Mike, you said that this particular gig was going to be with Loki And Friends. Could you elaborate on the difference between the two entities?

Loubier: This is what I kind of consider a side project which came about, almost innocently enough, with a simple request from my wife (Meghan Loubier) asking to sing a couple of songs on stage at one point. We did that and it went off pretty well. She was well-received. And that was part of a reunion night where we played the entire Loki catalogue, and we had all of the different band members that we’ve had since the beginning. So, yeah, Loki And Friends is a separate entity, more for fun, and we’ve included a 70-year-old, kind-of-retired musician.

Boyer: Yeah, he ended up seeing us at that gig and was wondering if we wanted to jam. He hadn’t been on stage since 1984, so it was sort of like a way for us to get Meg, who always wanted to be on stage, and T-Bone, who wanted to get back on stage, too, so we said, “Hell, yeah — definitely!” It’s pretty cool how it all came together.

Q: So the 70-year-old is the keyboardist, Mike T-Bone?

Loubier: Yeah, that’s Mike Tabone. Sorry, we were using nicknames.

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Q: Hey, I go by Lucky, so no harm, no foul. Now, will this show at Mainely Brews feature any of Loki’s material, or will it be only the covers that you do as Loki And Friends?

Loubier: It’s a little bit of both. The initial part of the evening will be the Loki And Friends, and we will also incorporate some of Boyer’s acoustic songs, originals and what not, and then for the last set, as we did the last time, Loki in its threesome form will finish with an average Loki set, something that we would normally play at a heavier bar.

Q: According to the bio sheet, the covers that you do feature songs from the ’60s through to nowadays, correct?

Boyer: Yeah, correct.

Q: How do you choose the ones you do?

Loubier: We all picked a couple is how it started, I think.

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Boyer: Yeah, we just throw some ideas out there. Some songs stick to the wall, some songs don’t, but somehow we ended up with a killer set.

Loubier: Yeah, and T-Bone had three or four that he really, really wanted to play, “Green-eyed Lady” being one of them.

Boyer: Yeah, he likes to take the big organ solos, which are really cool, and the audience really digs when he does that.

Loubier: And he’s very accurate and articulate on it. He’s good. He’s a lot of fun to play with.

Q: Is he from around the area or is he a transplant?

Loubier: A little of both. In his younger years he was in New York, and then he moved to Maine where he worked with a couple of bands in the Portland area — Love Train and Spellbound.

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Boyer: Where does he live now?

Loubier: He lives in Oakland now, or Sidney — one of the two — so he’s in the state for many years now, but he’s been away from music for I think like 30 years.

Boyer: So, yeah, it’s pretty cool getting him back up there. And this is totally different for us, too, as we’ve been doing the heavier stuff for 15 years now.

Q: Oh yeah, and having heard and enjoyed “Audio Alchemy” — Loki’s latest CD — and then reading your bio sheet about the side project being a cover band, well, I was curious as to how the two groups would work at this upcoming Mainely Brews show.

Loubier: Well, what was neat about the last time Loki And Friends played there was that there were a lot of new faces in addition to the usual Loki crowd. When we started the show, there was a lot of dancing, which was really cool to watch, but then when Loki started, it was almost like a little bit of a crowd shift. There was still an equal amount of people, but a whole new crowd had circled in. Still people were dancing, but more like the head-bob scene, you know? So it was really neat to keep everybody’s attention throughout both phases. It was fun to see how well it did work.

Boyer: Yeah, it was definitely — in many years — our most successful full night like that, so, yeah, it was pretty cool.

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Q: Will there be a Loki And Friends’ album of original material.

Loubier: You answer this one, Boyer. You’re the songwriter after all.

Boyer: Okay. You never know what’ll happen, but right now I’ve got a lot of new Loki songs written and now that Mike (Loubier) is back — he took a seven-year break to raise a family — I think we’ll hit the pavement again and try to get a new Loki album out in 2017.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the readers of this column?

Boyer: Just that we love what we do — we wouldn’t have it any other way — and we’re not going anywhere. Loki’s back and better than ever.

Q: Well, gentlemen, this has been a great chat, and, Mike, you’re idea to pull Boyer into it was a good call.

Loubier: Not a problem, and I’d feel remiss if we didn’t somehow stick Adam into this article. I’ve got to say that he’s probably one of the best drummers that I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with. I just want to make sure that he’s represented here as well.

Lucky Clark has spent more than 45 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.


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