We caught up with Paul Mescal’s biggest fans, Lost Faculty, to chat about music, groupies, and their favourite alcoholic beverages

MATT BURDETT [MB]: I mean, the short shorts are in. Paul... Mescal? Yeah, he said that shorter shorts are back.  

JUSTIN ROSS [JR]: I think it's pronounced daddy. (laughter) 

SIERRA MADISON [SM]: You know, I wasn't sure if I should put that on the record. That is going on the record that you said that, though, so... Can you guys introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Lost Faculty?  

MB: Well, I'm Matt. 

IN UNISON: Hi Matt 

MB: It's not AA, is it? (laughter) I sing and play guitar. We started about a year and a half ago now, pretty quickly. Quick band history: Justin and I were chatting one night about getting some songs recorded that I had cooked up for a while and did it, followed through on it, and got some done in November of 2022 with some guys from his old band. So we did those with them. These two lovely gentlemen [Justin, Nigel and Brendan] weren't in the picture yet.  

JR: They weren't born yet.  

MB: They hadn't spawned in.  And then as those songs were recorded, I had booked a gig at the Horseshoe [Tavern] in Toronto, and we didn't really have a live band, which is crazy. Insane thing to do. But so, Justin was like, yeah, I'll play. And then we got Nigel in the fold with another guitar player. This was before Brendan. And Brendan came into the fold a couple of months later, and then we've had the four-piece for about a year now. A year and a couple of months, and that's kind of where we're at, I think.  

SM: How did you pick the name? 

MB: Oh, God. There's no answer to that question. 

SM: Was it inspired by anything? Not really. 

MB: I think I just liked the way faculty sounded as a band, because it's kind of... 

BRENDAN REYNOLDS [BR]: One of your best friends left to be a teacher.  

MB: Yeah, that's actually what it is. You know what it is? I think we're somewhat educated gentlemen. (laughter) No, it really was like... It sounded nice. And that was really it. And I hate that that's the story, and I really wish we could change that. 

SM: Yeah, you might need to make up something new. 

MB:  We had something that I think we came up with at the cottage, some origin story, but I can't remember. There are probably a few Lucky Lagers in here. 

SM: “We did some shrooms...we figured out we were lost.” 

MB: Yeah. You know what we'll go with? This is the story we'll go with. We had a keyboard player in the band who was a childhood best friend of mine. Cheek is his name. And he was an engineer but was quitting his job to go to teacher's college. So I think that was kind of where the inspiration came from. We lost him to the faculty. 

SM: That's better. 

BR: Pick whichever one of those answers you want. 

NIGEL CRUZ [NC]: There's multiple endings. (laughter) 

SM: So you guys performed not once, but twice at North by Northeast (NXNE).

JR: Couldn't get enough. 

SM: How was that experience, and what are the major takeaways I guess from the festival? 

JR: It was amazing. It was super fun. Yeah, we played The Paddock where we met you, which was nice. And that was like, literally kind of went in with no expectations. And it amazing to see the kind of turnout and the support from just like music lovers in Toronto. It was such a fun show and we were super grateful just to like get on the bill. And then I guess we were just so good. (laughter) that someone dropped out for the 10 p.m. and they called us. We're super good. 

SM: I'll get a quote from the festival to confirm. 

JR: Yeah, please. But yeah, I guess someone dropped out for the Friday, and we might have been the first or one of the first people they asked because of our show.  

BR: We were so bad they wanted to give us a second shot. (laughter) 

JR: Yeah, they're like, you guys should try that again. 

SM: I mean, you guys had groupies the first night. There were some girls being like, “I want to ask for an autograph”. I was like, “go do it!”  

JR: On the record, we have groupies. 

SM: I don't know if you ended up giving an autograph, but. 

JR: Oh, we gave an autograph. 

SM: There you go. 

JR: Off the record, but on the record, we gave the autograph. Yeah, and then we got to play Horseshoe, which was a prime slot on Friday and it was amazing. It was so fun. We played with some great bands and had so many... I'm not going to say what I was going to say. Yeah, it was great. It was awesome. Groupies. I was going to say groupies. I'm just kidding (laughter). 

SM: It's okay. I think every band needs groupies. Groupies are what make you famous. 

JR: Yeah, groupies make the world go round. Ok, quote, end quote, groupies make the world go round.  

NC: We're going to have to pull this whole intro. 

SM: Was that [Horseshoe Tavern for NXNE] the biggest show you guys have done thus far? 

MB: Toronto wise.  

BR: Yeah, we were just talking about next steps for us because we just did a sellout show in Hamilton, which was very nice for the heart. Our hometowns. And then we're talking about next steps-- we need a big Toronto show, probably at the Horseshoe. And we're thinking about it like, okay, maybe that's a year from now, year, year and a half, whatever. And then it fell into our laps quite nicely. 

JR: I totally forgot. We talked about goals. Yeah. The goal was to have a Horseshoe show. 

MB: We literally put that on like a goals board. 

BR: It worked for once. 

SM: Yeah. Manifestation. It works. It's crazy. 

JR: Lost Faculty believes in manifestation. Manifest destiny. 

SM: Can you guys describe Lost Faculty in three words? 

BR: Manifest. Destiny. And one more word. 

JR: Groupies. 

BR: Lost. Faculty. Sex.  

SM: You guys are killing your first interview. Just for the record. 

JR: Manifest. Destiny...crystals. 

BR: I like crystals as an alternative. That's good. 

NC: Three-word summary of the band. I don't know. That could be anything. That could be genres. Brotherhood. Best friends forever. 

IN UNISON: Best friends forever. There we go. 

SM: Girl boss. Gatekeep. Gaslight.  

NC: That's us. 

SM: You released your EP “Drifter” in 2023. What was that experience like and do you guys have a favorite song off the EP? 

MB: That experience was great. I think we recorded that in Hamilton with Mike Keer, who is a good buddy of ours. He's done lots of great work out of Hamilton and worked with a lot of our favorite bands that have come out of there. Dirty Nill.  Elevator. Arkells, I think you've worked with. Young Rival. Great bands. A lot of good bands in Hamilton have gone through him. So we figured we'd go back to him. That's who we did the first couple of songs with. But this was our first time with the four of us in the studio together. And Cheek, our long-lost keyboard player. Rest in peace. But it was really great to have a creative experience together, because the other songs were kind of already done, and it was sort of like a plug-and-play with those. We did a little bit of co-writing, but not a ton. And then this next batch was like we kind of threw it together pretty well as a unit. I think creatively it became a little bit more cohesive. The next stuff we have coming out is equal parts effort, I think there. But it was cool to kind of actually get that experience of working together locked in a room for a weekend.  

BR: Bonded real quick. 

MB: Yeah. Yeah, it was insane. Things happen really fast. We got pretty serious. 

NC: Oh, I was going to say for, I guess for like a favorite song, that was part of the question. And also part of that whole creative process. I think the point where I felt like everything was really working was when we did “Drifter” together for the first time. The song “Drifter” off the EP Drifter. I feel like you brought that to practice. And I guess you and Justin had worked on it, but then I feel like within half an hour the whole song had kind of just fallen into place. And that's more or less the version that we ended up recording in the end. I think I'll always have that association and it's really fun to play live. Yeah. I mean, “Demo 5” is also very fun to play. And I think that's collectively probably our favorites. Spoiler, spoiler alert. I'll pass it. But it showed up randomly. RIP. Everyone hates that song. 

BR: Including me. No, I love that song. No, for me, I think “Demo 5” is definitely a fan favourite because I have a seven-minute guitar solo at the end. It's fucking sick. It's so good. But that was just a really fun experience. 

MB: One take by the way. 

BR: Yeah. Yeah. It was just, there were the four of you and Mike and just people like moving knobs and stuff on the pedal board. Then I didn't even know we were recording or just getting levels and then finishing and then Mike's like, that was kind of sick. I was like, oh, okay. And I was like, that was kind of cool.  

JR: Literally ripped like the best, perfect solo. 

BR: So, now every show I try to learn a little bit more of it. 

JR: It was ad-libbed. 

BR: Yeah. And even out of the first demos, Matt sent me when he was putting this band together, that one definitely stuck out. 

SM: What is the songwriting process like for you guys? Does it kind of start as a jam or does someone bring material to practice and build off that? 

JR: Yeah. I think like what Matt was saying a second ago, it started kind of, you had material and you'd bring it to us. I think there's still an element of like, you have some stuff you've started to build at home and like some lyrics or some like chords and stuff. But I think a good example of how it's progressing is like this, like a recent batch of songs we've just done, which "Whip of the Tail” is one of them that just came out. We went up to my cottage, like in sort of Muskoka area. And we just locked ourselves in the cottage for a weekend and we had some loose stuff started. Matt had some stuff, we had just like random, like a drum beat. We wanted to try on a thing and just like very loose things. We would just sit down, have some beers and food and just start in the afternoon or whatever. Every day was, “Hey, let's get a song done or two songs done”. And we just did that for like the whole weekend and kind of really just got like the meat and potatoes of like the songs are jamming them out together. Then we'd maybe fine-tune them either solo or Matt and I would like to hop on a Zoom call and get the rest of the structure done. It was very collaborative, which was a really fun experience. 

MB: It's a lot of the stress of writing. You can bring something that's like, “Oh, I have this verse idea and then I can bring it to them”. And it's like, becomes this massive song. 

SM: Do you normally write most of the lyrics? 

MB: Yeah. We've done some lyrics I think as a collective. We tried. (laughter) I might be a little like, can you help with the lyrics? 

JR: We’re like, how about this? You’re like, this is shit (laughter) 

MB: It helps them narrow it down. You're taking away a few words. I did do that one time in the studio and I felt bad about it. 

JR: I also don't disagree. 

MB: I would say I do most of the lyric writing. But that doesn't need to be the case forever.  

BR: “Check out these words. They rhyme”. 

SM: Yeah. We have some poets in our midst. 

JR: Potentially. Rhymezone.com That's my safe place. 

SM: Who would you say are your big musical inspirations? 

MB: As a band, it's Dirty Nail. Dirty Nail's a big one. Replacements. Alvvays. I feel like Alvvays and Dirty Nail is like a... It's something we always go back to. it's like we want the energy of a live show that the Dirty Nail brings, but the sort of pop sensibility that Alvvays has without being able to, I don't know, be as...virtuosic? Virtuosic. 

JR: Spellcheck that please. 

SM: I actually don't even know how to spell that off the top of my head. 

MB: It means being as good at music. 

SM: As a non-musician, that's perfect. There we go. 

MB: Anything else? I feel like that's a big thing for us in the last like the writing process has been thinking about the live set and how we can really drive a room full of people to engage with us.  

JR: And it's working. 

MB: It is.  

JB: Gosh darn it. 

SM: On record. They do have groupies. I saw them.  

JR: It's confirmed. 

SM: If you could listen to one album for the rest of your life, only one album, what would it be? 

JB:  Great question. I think I already do this (laughter) I think like I throw on “Magical Mystery Tour.” Just like if I need, if I'm like, I need music. It's I like, I just go to that like every single time. Magical Mystery Tour, Beatles. Thank you very much. 

BR: I'm going to go “Lady Soul”, Aretha Franklin is one I've been going to since grade eight. Her phrasing on that album is just, I can always pull something, always listen to it and find something new. So that's a special album to me.  

NC: I think mine would be, it's a live album. It is “XTC at Hammersmith Palace in London”, recorded in 1980, when they were at their peak. Just recently, I found some unreleased tracks and it's changed my life that these have been out there all this time and I have not listened to them. But going back to listen to these, I realized I've just, I've inadvertently lifted so many things from, I borrowed. I remember listening to that like when I was a kid and just like dreaming of being able to play those one day.   

MB: Can I have 10? One is insane because I can't, that means I'm leaving out... there's, I have two that I would say because I'm not going to say Arctic Monkeys or Strokes because I don't want to give it all away, but I'd say “Teens of Denial” by Car Seat Headrest is a big one. I'll go back to all the time and “Tim” by The Replacements. Those two, that sounds like two still. I know we said one, but if it's height adjusted, I think I get two.  

BR: You are the height of two plus. So you get two records. 

MB: I'm also painfully indecisive, so I can't do that. I would literally go home and cry over not picking one of the others.  

SM: That sounds like something that should be addressed in therapy, but, you're going to hate this question, but what is one thing you can't live without? 

MB: Therapy 

JR: Groupies.  

BR: Family. 

NC: Oxygen. 

IN UNISON: Okay......Booooo. That’s worse than groupies! 

NC: Uh, like connection to nature. How about that?   

MB: Great. Awesome. One thing I can't live without, um, my journal, my notebook. 

SM: Ditto. 

 JR: Can I change my answer? Actually, no, I'm just going to stick with groupies. If you want to wholesome one, it's my cat Salem.  

MB: Can we change his to media training?  

JR: (whispering in the microphone) Don't change it to media training.  

SM: I'm going to have to be listening to that again. It's going to feel like ASMR.  

JR: (whispering with the microphone right at his mouth) So I think the last thing that I'd want if I had to pick a different one, it'd be my cat Salem. 

SM: Thank you. Well, my next question was cats or dogs. 

JR: Oh, cats. 

BR: Dogs. 

NC: Cats.  

MB: Dogs. 

JR: Oh, we're pretty evenly split. 

MB: That's not going to bode well for us. 

JR: That's good. I think that's good. We're evenly, we got two cat people, two dog people. 

MB: What happens when we get the band dog?  

BR: Then we get a band cat.  

JR: We get two band pets, named Coach and Lantern. That's actually kind of good, eh? This is our dog Coach and our cat Lantern. 

SM: What are your go-to drink orders? If you drink alcohol. If you don't drink alcohol, that's cool too.  

JR: Can we do drugs? 

SM: Sure, what's your vice of choice? 

JR: Such a good question. I'm going to go with the orange Bubly.  

MB: Oh my God. 

BR: I'm going to pick two. I'm pulling a Matt. If it's a special occasion, it's either going to be an old-fashioned or a Burt Reynolds shooter is always nice.  

NC: I thought you were going to talk about splitting the G. I'd have to say a scene of circumstance, like Collective Arts, bring it back. This is my plea to bring it back because it was, it was discontinued and it was my favorite. 

MB: And I feel like hometown boys.  

NC: I have a lot to unpack. Settle in. I had a lot to unpack with this. 

MB: This whole interview is just you airing your grievances with Collective Arts 

NC: They've tried to replace it. What they replace it with is pretty good, but it's not quite the same. It's basically a citrusy beer. They're going to bring it back. They're going to bring it back. 

MB: Collective Arts, hello. 

SM: I can make it happen. 

NC: Yes, please. We need this. 

SM: I’m a Jelly King girl myself 

MB: Me, I'm a Guinness man. Through and through. I love a frothy pint of Guinness. 

BR: Did you have to add that? 

MB: The frothy? 

BR: Yeah. 

MB: Is milky better? I love a milky Guinness. 

SM: Not better. 

MB: I love Guinness. And it's the best, it's the only beer I can drink and not feel, like, gross when I'm singing. It's a good stage beer. It's a great stage beer. 

BR: It seems like it would, it would be kind of heavy. 

MB: No, because it's less carbonated.  I've been to the brewery. I remember. The brewery. I've been there..hammered. 

SM: I don't think you've ever toured a brewery without being hammered. It's sacrilegious. Last question, what can we expect next from you guys? 

JR: We just finished recording a bunch of tunes. They're like, kind of in the process of being mastered and stuff. So, there's a whole EP coming. We're doing a tour.  

SM: Anything else you guys want to share before we finish... 

JR: I have to get to a birthday party at Hooters right now. 

SM: Is that true? 

JR: Yes. I just came from Hooters and I need to return to Hooters. 

SM: That is crazy. Really leaning into the groupie thing. 

JR: It's a family restaurant. 

BR: We got merch. Buy our merch. 

JR: We got merch. We got merch, buy our merch. 

SM: Oh yeah, and where can everyone find you on socials? 

JR: @LostFaculty 

MB: On everything 

JR: lostfacultyband@gmail.com. Email us. You can fax us. We got a P.O box (unverified information)