GIVERS

GIVERS

Formed 2008 — Lafayette, Louisiana; now New Orleans

GIVERS are Louisiana indie pop at its sunniest — a band born in Lafayette in 2008 and raised on the national festival circuit after Glassnote Records signed them for 2011’s In Light. Their self-described “Afro-beat, dancey pants, indie pop love music” mixes Afro-pop polyrhythms, Cajun and zydeco flavors, and the spirited back-and-forth vocals of Tiffany Lamson and Taylor Guarisco into something joyous, danceable, and unmistakably Louisiana.

Never heard GIVERS before?

🎵 Signature Song

“Up Up Up” (2011)

🌍 Sound

Afro-Pop · Indie · Zydeco

🎤 Voices

Tiffany Lamson & Taylor Guarisco

They blew my mind… It sounded like they were in a complete other zone from the rest of music. — Neil Young, on GIVERS in Waging Heavy Peace

Why We Love GIVERS

GIVERS make the kind of music that makes you suspicious of bad moods. Their songs are built on West African grooves picked up at Lafayette’s Festival International, Cajun and zydeco swing from their Louisiana DNA, and the kind of call-and-response singing that only works when the singers genuinely love singing together. In Light and New Kingdom took that joy to Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and late-night TV without sanding off the weirdness. Now based in New Orleans, they’re the rare indie band whose optimism feels earned — it was there from the first improvised jam, and it survived Katrina, the road, and growing up.

Biography

Louisiana Sunshine, World Rhythms

GIVERS’ earliest origins date to August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck. Tiffany Lamson had just started her freshman year at the University of New Orleans, rooming with Taylor Guarisco, when the storm flooded their apartment and put school on hold. The duo returned to Lafayette and began making music together at open mic nights, eventually pulling in drummer Kirby Campbell, bassist Josh LeBlanc, synth player William Henderson, and later keyboardist Nick Stephan for what started as a last-minute fill-in gig at a local pub in 2008 — an improvised jam so good it became a band.

"They blew my mind. It sounded like they were in a complete other zone from the rest of music."

— Neil Young, Waging Heavy Peace

The more serious-toned New Kingdom followed in November 2015, recorded nomadically across the Smoky Mountains, Wisconsin, and south Louisiana. The creative nucleus of Taylor Guarisco, Tif Lamson, and Josh LeBlanc returned in 2018 with the single “Collide” and the Movin’ On EP, produced by Dave Cobb and celebrated with a live video shot at Preservation Hall. Having left Lafayette for the cultural kaleidoscope of New Orleans, GIVERS remain the state’s brightest indie export — dance music for people who read liner notes.