There is nothing like watching artists and fans alike flock to country music. This week’s spotlight artists, Thomas Pipolo and Vinny Abbatiello who make up the duo, Lavish Life are a perfect example of new age country artists with twist. Lavish Life is a country-EDM duo from New York that are bringing their own flavor to the genre. We chatted with them about their journey so far and their plans for the future.

Both men gravitated towards music at different times in their lives. For Thomas, music came later in life, in college. “I actually didn’t do music my whole life. I played college baseball at UMass. I kinda picked it up while I was in college. I just taught myself guitar and somehow how to sing. I would sing after we all went out, my buddies and teammates would make me go play for them. […] That’s kind of how I started.”

For Vinny, music was always there. “I’ve always been pursuing music. I played in metal bands surprisingly when I was fourteen, fifteen, traveling all over New York playing in bands. I started playing guitar when I was thirteen, maybe twelve, so it’s always been in my blood. After that, I tried to go to college, and it wasn’t really the greatest route for me because I was stuck producing music in class, and it wasn’t really working.”

Despite their different journeys, the duo has a joint appreciation for music. “I come from a little bit of different musical background. I’m definitely more into the more rock, pop. I think that’s why we blend so well, which is why we’re country-EDM,” shared Vinny, while Thomas added, “I think personally on my end, I love writing big commerically kind of songs. Bruno Mars is one of those kind of guys. […] I love music that everybody can listen to. In the country space, I really love Riley Green and Jelly Roll. […] As a duo, we’re kind of looking at being kind of like a country Chainsmokers because I sing.”

The Turning Point:

Lavish Life was officially formed a bit after Thomas finished college with his masters. “One of the first songs I ever made, I made it with Vinny. It kind of took off a little bit, and we signed with somebody, and we were writing and producing for some big artists for like a year or so. That kind of didn’t work out, and we said let’s just start this duo.”

Vinny added, “We ended up putting a song out called, “222” and it ended up doing pretty well. When you kind of meet somebody who you work well, you just want to keep that. […] From getting signed, there’s always ups and downs, and we went all in on the duo thing. That was kind of always a lingering option in the back of our heads.”

With a year of establishing themselves as a duo, Lavish Life played at EDC in Las Vegas and garnered an incredible following of loyal fans, as well as, industry connections.

As a duo, Lavish Life has leaned into this unique country-EDM space, continuing to establish themselves as djs and artists in their own right. With Vinny holding down the home base in New York and Thomas living in Nashville, and making connections, Lavish Life is truly ready to take the music industry by storm. “You just kind of have to establish yourself in one area and then you can kind of brand off and do whatever else you want.”

Knowing that, the duo continue to focus on writing and producing original music, while creating remixes in tandem to grow their following. “I think something that we’re really focusing on, and what’s funny is The Chainsmokers kind of did the same thing with indie artists in New York City is that worked with a lot of up and coming artists, and that’s kind of what we did with Caden [McGuire]. […] We did a song with a good buddy, Michael Warren too,” they shared, adding, “We kinda have an eye for what’s up next, and working with those kind of people is great.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, Lavish Life is booked and busy. The duo have gigs across the country, including at Common Country in NYC this Saturday, March 29th. For table reservations, make sure to email howdy@commoncountrybar.com. The artists continue to release music, all while, teasing new remixes and vibes with fans across social media.

While their remix of Morgan Wallen’s single, “Last Night” may have kicked it off for them, Lavish Life truly shows no signs of slowing down. “I love country music. Just growing up, playing baseball, I was that guy that put country music on the playlist. […] We did a remix of “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen, and it blew up, and we just decided to go all-in on country-EDM. Nobody’s doing it, so let’s be one of the first to really go all in it,” shared Thomas.

Most recently the duo collaborated with new country artist, Caden McGuire on “Same Girl.” The remix showed a lot of range and brought new ears to both Lavish Life and McGuire. “It’s such a benefit being here. We’re able to really see what’s going on and work with people, and make connections, and writing with some big, big people, it’s been great,” shared the duo, adding, “I think the biggest thing that’s going to separate us is we can do the remixes, but we really want to focus on being more artists, and we can write and produce our own stuff. I think it’s going to be a combo of working with up and coming people, maybe doing some big official remixes, and heading into the summer, we really want to establish that country Chainsmokers thing.”

While we await new music, fans can get ready for the biggest summer of their young career. “We’ve been holding these three or four big, big songs that a lot of country artists and dj’s are wanting, and I don’t know, but I think it’s coming to a point where we’re probably going to pull them and go crazy with the content and finish them ourselves,” shared the artists. “We haven’t put anything out that is our best at all, so we’re super excited to do that.”

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