Free Whenever comprised of bassist Trevor LaVecchia, Neil Gulieria and drummer and percussionist Brendan Steuart plays a style of music more defined by their name than any specific genre as improvisation is the most significant element. For this listener it is as though Moby and the legendary Rock band Cream got together to jam and Enya were her ethereal music dropped by and joined in. Recently, New York City natives, Gulieria and LaVecchia sat down for a Zoom conversation with Riveting Riffs Magazine.

Referring to our characterization of their music, LaVecchia says, “I think that is a pretty good description. We like to use the words psychedelic groove. It is an umbrella term and what we do is very eclectic. We just love music.

We definitely have the psych Rock influence for sure but sprinkled in with many different textures and moods that we are trying to evoke. We want it to be a journey, so dynamics are very important to us.”

Gulieria picks up the conversation at this point, “I tend to gravitate towards the psychedelic thing too, because it is not a genre and for us it is more of a mission statement. It is evoking those types of experiences for the listener, the people in the audience. It has less to do with genre and more to do with the attitude you have towards making music.”

Both men acknowledge that a challenge for them was learning how to take that free flowing improvisational style and giving it some more structure for the studio recording, while not losing their love for improvising.

“We are very much players who like to improvise and to see where that takes us. We don’t like to cut that process short. Naturally that is what Trevor and I gravitate towards. When Trevor and I first started making music that was all happening as part of our recording process. It wasn’t necessarily us as that live band that we are today sitting and doing an improve. It was the two of us as a process of recording music. Even when we would multitrack stuff and add multiple layers with us being a duo, even that is like an improvisational process. It takes you on this long journey. What if this part here just stayed and extended out (he motions with his hands like a chef with a great recipe) and ended up on some kind of other thing. That would take us to songs that couldn’t get under the fifteen-minute mark. Some of our earlier works represent that. Since then, it has been a process of learning how to challenge ourselves as songwriters and take those elements and bring them into things that are a little more concise and short form,” says Neil Gulieria.

Trevor LaVecchia continues, “We couldn’t make something that was (shorter) because it goes back to what Neil was saying (he is smiling), because it is about embracing the unknown. As we discussed a second ago, we like all of this different music and we heard certain bands like Surprise Chef (from Melbourne, Australia), an Australian band. They turned us onto something and that is when we started homing in.

When you are making music, it is like you are rowing in a boat in open water. Recording is like capturing this little painting or a ship in a bottle. I think it took us a second to identify this moment out of an hour or maybe two-hour long thing.”

We wondered with this being a time when artists are not simply bound by the groove of a vinyl record if that creates more room for Free Whenever to play the longer songs that they are known for.

Gulieria enthuses “Yes, absolutely, right? It definitely allows us to do things that otherwise would not have been possible. We do have works out there that definitely do transcend the length of a typical LP or cassettes or stuff like that (Trevor interjects) We had to learn the hard way; we made a vinyl. (Neil adds) you only have a finite amount of time.”

Gulieria continues, “Absolutely that is the case and we tried to use that to our advantage, so we didn’t have to conform to any set standards of how to make music, how to package it and how we love to let it be free.

We still use the modern ways of listening to music to challenge ourselves to try to accomplish those goals and I think that has made us better songwriters. We still have our natural tendencies to want to be expansive and go off and be experimental, but I do think there is value in how to condense things down and to get to the core of a musical idea.”

LaVecchia explains, “I don’t think we have ever felt boxed in or oh this is what we have to make. With the advent of the internet whatever shows up in their feed it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to be on the radio or something. We never come in with this we have to do a certain form, but it is something we always wanted to do to write well- written songs. We are definitely in the Pink Floyd vein. We are so into that. I think we are coming back to that after all of these years.

If you listen to Jam Junkies Volumes One and Two those are just on YouTube and some of them got 50,000 views. Then we thought oh we do have something here. We just put out something we made on the spot. People like to listen to it and we love to listen to it. It has allowed us to see how much potential there is.

It’s funny though sometimes I feel we get boxed in on the internet. It is a different form of boxing in than it was before.”

“I agree. It is tough after the experience of long form music, in a world where you only have a few seconds to get someone’s attention. That is why we love the live thing, because you get everyone in a room together and they are forced to sit there and feel the entire experience and they think oh wow it is so much more enriching than just a five second thing,” says Gulieria.

As for their musical influences, Neil Gulieria says, “There is what we listened to growing up and then what we listen to today. That continues to change. I grew up listening to all the good classic Rock of all kinds, like Psych Rock. I didn’t really get into learning about other genres until I was in my teens. Then I started learning a little bit more about things like Hip-Hop and Electronica. Especially the electronic stuff I got very much into.

I started on drums and I did the two (guitar also) together as a kid. Drums are a huge part of my foundation. Again, there are drums in all kinds of music. I would say in my twenties it has been a much more expansive process where friends like Trevor and other friends have turned me onto whole new genres of music. I didn’t know anything about Jazz; I didn’t know anything about music from other cultures. In the last ten or so years it has been much more expansive.

That took me down for having a passionate interest for a lot of African percussion music, Afro Caribbean percussion music in recent years.

One thing I actually like about the way I play (guitar) is I have a lot of different influences. I like almost electronic sound scapy stuff. I like going in the totally opposite direction and being a straight rhythm player and when the time is right, I like being a lead player, so I try to take all of those influences when I play my instrument.”

As we continue to discuss musical influences, Trevor LaVecchia says, “Brendan our drummer is not with us (in the interview) but as a collective we all like Dub and Reggae music in general.

Reggae is a vibe, it is a mood and it is what we do as well, especially as improvisational players. It really allows you to explore space and not be pulled in by technique or these other things that I think a lot of genres prioritize.

“As instrumentalists it is tempting to stick to our very hard fast way of thinking about playing the instrument, the talent and skill and technicality of it. To take a total backseat and to focus on the listener I feel that is what some of those other genres teach. If you are playing Dub Reggae, think about it as though you are the listener or the producer. We were working on it the other day and Trevor was working on some bassline stuff and (we thought to) ourselves what would the listener want to feel? Think about what the producer would do, not the player in us,” says Gulieria.

Trevor moves in slightly different direction, “When Brendan came into the fold, he is just a gifted player. It is really hard to find someone who cares about that music and the rhythm of it.”

“We had cycled through a number of different drummers and many of them, all of them, frankly, were very talented drummers. Then when we got Brendan.

I played the drums on the first records and I would like to think I was pretty good on the drums, but it wasn’t the style we needed to tie it together. It was very Rock style. Brendan has a very nuanced approach to playing the drums. Our playing I feel loops in multiple genres. I can hear when Brendan is playing the drums versus somebody else. He has a light touch. He really knows how to keep things rock steady,” says Gulieria.

LaVecchia jumps in, “He plays like a writer. As a player you are always trying to balance what you are trying to do versus the collective. It is inspiring to have someone go nope we are going to this place. It is conversational.”

“I just want to (add) one little dot on the end point, I remember when we first started hanging out with Brendan. His first few times hanging out with us he would come to our performances and just watch us play. He was never like let me get in there and jam with you guys. He is not a guy who pushes playing as the most critical thing. He is very much an appreciator of music in whatever form it comes,” Gulieria recalls.

“I know one of his influences is a band like Queens of the Stone Age. We are all such a mix, Jimi Hendrix, Folk music, Frank Zappa, Miles Davis. Now Neil got me into electronic,” explains LaVecchia.

There is a quiet confidence that one senses from Neil Gulieria and Trevor LaVecchia, not a bravado, but a sense that they feel like with their music they are where they are supposed to be and doing what they are supposed to be doing at this moment in time.

Gulieria looks at me and says, “That is perfectly put. You must be sitting in on the phone calls between Trevor and me. You are one hundred percent right. We started off this band following the music and the love of the music. We faced opposition because of the unique way we were approaching music on so many levels. Always I felt like we were the runt of the gang or (one of) tons of other New York City bands. In the early days not a lot of people took us very seriously. Since that time, we have taken the thing that we have always believed in and we have homed in and done really nice things with it. We have focused on the exercise of being better musicians. We have a lot of people that give us praise for the type of music that we make. It always warms our hearts, because the music we make always comes from a very pure place. For us to have that kind of validation to make the kind of music we want to make and knowing that other people want to listen to it is something we have been waiting for.”

“It goes back to Jimi Hendrix. I always say we are turning people on. It doesn’t matter if you stick to a form or how a band should be. The proof is in the pudding. Even when we played early (in our careers) people were just (Trevor LaVeccchia opens his mouth as in awe). That is all you need. If you have that I feel that everything else comes with it.”

Neil Gulieria shares a special moment, “We just shipped the pre-order of the record Ascension the other day. We were sitting there boxing up records for an entire day. I was thinking I can’t believe that all of these people paid their hard-earned money for a record they are going to have forever, hopefully and that is a super meaningful thing to us. Just hearing the love and the appreciation of people and hearing the comments and people reaching out to us through email has been really, really good. We are on the right path, I think.  

That is the other point of validation that has been happening more and more recently, as we have been playing in other places, not just New York City and seeing that there are people in these other cities and towns that have been listening to our music for years. A lot of people will say things like this EP that you put out, Open Air got me through a rough period in my life. Wow I never even considered that, but when I think about the music that I loved during tougher times or great times in my life, that’s the value as to how it maps to our individual lives. To feel that our music isn’t just notes and chords, but it is that for another person it is a warm feeling.

Trevor knows I am a big foodie, when I think about food on an emotional level I think of that exact thing (Trevor smiles). Nobody is going to replace that meal that your mom would make on Sunday evenings or something like that. It takes you right back to that specific moment in time. What is more powerful than that? It is like time travel. We are total believers in that and it is a foundational source.”

“It is like a vibe and an energy. You listen and then go away, but when people buy the vinyl, it is like them saying it is something I am going to come back to at different periods of my life. For me a good example of that is when I hear somebody like Led Zeppelin. As a kid you are blown away and then it goes away. When I stop listening for a few years and then I come back it is like it has an energy,” says LaVecchia.

“I feel like music itself is a synesthetic experience. All of your senses are getting tied together. You are hearing, but for some reason once you make noise into music and they become notes, melodies and chords you feel it with your whole body and all of your emotions. Because of that multi-sensory experience, I think it has a unique ability to get right to the core of your being, your memories and all of this good stuff,” says Gulieria. 

Continuing he says, “It comes back to our origins story, because like I said we were both out making music on our own, before we started making music together. I think what has made our songwriting very strong and dynamic is we both realize in our songwriting capabilities there are gaps and we have learned to fill the gaps of each other in that way. I can add to Trevor’s way of making music and he adds to my way of making music. He is much more (likely) to push us into different territory and I am more (singular focused). It is very complimentary when we make music that way. Brendan is the person that just circles everything altogether.”

“He (Brendan) is the glue. It is a conversational thing. Even as much as artists we are trying to organize this chaos and we have an idea of what the true reality of what it is. It needs to be something that we can’t conceive of. We just need to let it happen. Everyone is so important.

We are just very passionate people and we like to create in serene environments.

It is such a communal experience. I feel that we really tap into something in this whole scene and the music we listen to in general. People are so obsessed with making people stars. Really what we are trying to do is to turn people on,” says Trevor LaVecchia.

You can follow Free Whenever on Instagram. To watch a full live concert of Free Whenever posted by the band click here.

#FreeWheneverBand #NewYorkMusic #PsychMusicInterview #RivetingRiffs #RivetingRiffsMagazine #MusicInterview #EntrevistaMusica #NYCMusica

This interview by Joe Montague  originally published November 28th, 2025 and is protected by copyright © and is the property of Riveting Riffs Magazine All Rights Reserved.  All photos and artwork are the the property of  Free Whenever unless otherwise noted and all  are protected by copyright © All Rights Reserved. This interview may not be reproduced in print or on the internet or through any other means without the written permission of Riveting Riffs Magazine.