Typically comprised of Olivia Mancini (guitar, vocals), Ed Donohue (guitar), Kristin Forbes (bass, vocals), Randy Scope (drums), and Julia Mancini (vocals, percussion), DC's pop folky Olivia Mancini and the Mates are a group of musical friends who have been playing together since 2005. Randy and Olivia used to be the rhythm section of the now-defunct Washington Social Club. 2007 saw the independent release of their first album, This Kind of Life, which they quickly followed up with The Chatterbox EP, produced by Roger Greenawalt (Ben Kweller, Rhett Miller). Now they’ve got a new record, You Can See the Mountains From Here.

They return to the DC stage in the new year at the Black Cat on Jan 7, 2011 @ 9 PM.