Brian McLaughlin (singer) and Luke Imbusch (drummer) have been making music together since their early teenage years. They formed The Rare Occasions while attending college in Boston where they met Jeremy Cohen (bassist). Since then, the band have toured nationally, won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and released a vast catalog of music online.
In 2021 the band released their first album as a trio, Big Whoop, which received significant press and radio play. Around the same time, their 2016 track “Notion” went viral on TikTok and continues to make waves, topping Spotify’s viral chart in the US and several other countries, and later landing on Billboard’s alternative charts and top 100 singles charts in the UK, Ireland, and Canada.
They've since released an EP (Nov 2022) and a new single "Black Balloons" in October 2023 marking the start of a new release cycle. The 2nd single, "Darling, The Planets" comes out on April 26th with more to come this year.
Rarely does modern music earn the badge timeless, but BEL cuts through the noise. Hailing from the small town of Clovis, California, Isabel Whelan crafts nostalgic songs with honesty and attention to detail. She occupies the intersection of indie rock, pop, and folk, while taking cues from the likes of Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell, and Mazzy Star.
In 2022, BEL released her sophomore EP, Jet Lag, including collaborations with girlhouse and Boyish. The project received support from Sirius XM, Pandora playlist covers, Spotify, Apple, and several publications’ “Artists to Watch in 2023” lists. BEL spent all of 2023 playing her first festivals, touring direct support for artists Boyish, Gatlin, girlhouse, and more. She traveled to the UK and Europe in the summer, writing and playing shows across London and at the Reeperbahn Festival in Germany.
On November 10th, BEL released her latest EP, Read the Room, collaborating with producers Sean Silverman (Beach Weather), Day Wave, Jack Laboz, Jon Santana + more. The project received coverage from Rolling Stone, Ones To Watch, Raydar Mag and organic radio support from SiriusXMU, AltNation, and KCRW. The lead single “Are You Okay?” reached #1 on SiriusXMU in April/May 2023 and secured a spot on their top 41 songs of the year.
