July Featured Artist - Neighbourly

Artist Spotlights

July Featured Artist - Neighbourly

There’s something magnetic about Neighbourly. The Victoria-based four-piece features Ollie Sandberg (guitar, vocals), Lauren Giorgio (bass, vocals), Latham Reader (guitar, synth), and Scott Sparrow (drums). Neighbourly crafts music that feels like a jam with your best friends: warm, unpredictable, and alive. Their psych-fusion sound dips into funk, post-punk, and indie pop without ever settling too neatly into a genre box, and that looseness is part of the charm.

In the studio, they are full of personality. Ollie will remember the name of every person in the room, Lauren is always ready for one more take, Latham can go toe-to-toe with any gearhead, and Scott never stops smiling. That open-hearted energy seeps into their recordings too, where experimentation isn't a side note, it’s the foundation.

Neighbourly’s latest EP, Get In (Released July 2nd 2025), is a joyful leap forward. From the buoyant single “Lofi” (featuring their shared cat Tammy on the cover) to the unconventional decision to track drums last, the project showcases a band unafraid to flip the process upside down just to see what spills out.

Tammy isn’t the only Neighbourly mascot, they brought their manager Rana Toro - a 6ft tall bipedal frog - to the live session. The frog drank all our beer and almost died of heatstroke in the studio but somehow never stopped dancing.

Victoria’s music scene has long been a hotbed of genre-defying talent, but Neighbourly stands out by making music that feels less like a product and more like an invitation. Their name says it all—they’re here to make connections, not just noise.

The New Album - Get In

So, tell us about your new EP Get In?

Our new EP is kind of a follow up to our Previous EP Outside 311 in terms of the punk sound and we're kind of going down that road of experimenting with punk releases with disco releases. That’s the current vibe. - Latham

What's the story behind the cat Tammy on the cover?

Yeah, my baby. Well technically, Ollie and My shared child, but the story goes we all lived together in Kelowna, minus Latham, and together we fostered her. She was like a foster failure that we adopted from West Kelowna. She's been lovingly passed around the friend group ever since. She lives with me now. I take million pictures of her. So the album cover came out of one of those funny pictures and we all love Tammy so thought why not. - Lauren

You guys recorded base and overdubs first, and your new EP and drums last. How did that flip your usual creative process?

We don't have a creative process. We change it every time. This time it was a lot of fun for me to do drums last and just hear the whole song in its entirety and then just fit in where I felt the drums were needed. I think we're always experimenting with creative process, so this was just the next iteration for us. We've never done it before and drums last turned out great. I'm stoked for this release. Get in! - Scott

Local Favourites

Who are some of your favorite local artists from BC?

Ollie - I'll shout out Elbow Kiss. Can't wait for Em to release some music. Hurry up!! and Niloo, so talented.

Scott - Layton Kramer, love Layton Kramer. played with him once or twice. Great group. From Vancouver Slightest Clue and Daysormay, love those guys.

Latham - You guys took mine.

Lauren - I'm also going to shout out to Vancouver, specifically our friend Kardias Quing and also someone that I spend some time with Brian Askew he's a bit of a genius songwriter, so I really like all the stuff that he's done.