Quick Hit Band Interview: Highland Kites

Highland Kites at Harvard & Stone

Q&A time with the band. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I think my style in a blend of folk and rock, with a little pop thrown in the mix.

What’s a dream venue you’d love to play at and what about it intrigues you? Here in LA I would say the Greek Theater. I don't know why but I've always wanted to play there- I love the ambiance, the sound and the fact that it's outdoors.

(Interview took place in June 2016.)

Quick Hit Band Interview: Zachary Kibbee

Zachary Kibbee at The Satellite

Q&A Time with the artist. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I would describe my sound as blues based rock n roll. There's definitely a SoCal element mixed in as well, most likely due to my love for both The Eagles and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

What motivates you to write your music? I've always liked to create. When I started playing music I found great satisfaction and happiness in writing. But sometimes I'll go weeks without writing and then turn around and write three songs in a day. So I guess I'm motivated by inspiration, and I try to take advantage of it when I have it.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Turbulent Hearts

Turbulent Hearts at The Whisky a Go Go

Q&A time with the band via Suzi. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I would describe our sound as Punk Rock & Roll! It's a mix between punk rock and rock n' roll. My two favorite things in life.

Would you rather be a 1 hit wonder known all around the world -OR- have a steady underground following? And then of course, why the choice? Well, one-hit wonders get the option of putting out a super hyped second hit, but they fail to be as good as the first one. But suppose a one-hit wonder made a nice career out of the quick success made off that number 1 song? Doesn't sound that bad to me. I would absolutely love to have a steady underground following, of course. People who know & love the band and grow with us. But really, I could be happy either way. It's all about what you make of your opportunities!

Own Q&A. What’s new with the band or what’s next? To which the answer would be . . . we have a new album out NOW on Headcheck Records in the UK! buy it at www.headcheckrecords.co.uk for ordering details and, uh, we are going to the UK for a tour in July/August. It’s the Road To Rebellion Tour, a short lil run with our pals The Last Gang from Orange County, CA. It's going to be a blast! Big things ahead!

Quick Hit Band Interview: Fellow Bohemian

Fellow Bohemian at Broke LA Fest

A couple self created Q&As from the band via Alex. Hope you enjoy:

What is the creative process like for Fellow Bohemian? Most of our songs begin with a strong rhythmic foundation.  Each member of the band is a Writer and Producer, so from there, our sound begins to fall into place.  Our Rhodes player adds a darker ambiance by running his keyboard through various delays and effects, while our lead guitar player punctuates the songs with his jagged, chorus-soaked leads.  The final piece is the vocals and harmonies, which generally have a softer, airy vibe. That's the general recipe for our songs.  Bake with love.

What's next for Fellow Bohemian?  Anything cool coming up? We’re actually about to release our second EP sometime mid-Summer.  We’re wrapping up the mixes now, but we are super excited about it.  It’s a handful of songs that we’ve been playing at our shows over the past year, as well as a few new ones that we’re excited to drop.  We’ll be booking a handful of shows throughout LA to support the EP, then head into the studio again to work on our next release.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Tiger March

Tiger March at The Satellite

Q&A time with the band. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Synth Pop/Indie Pop

What inspires you to write your songs? Our songs are inspired by the things happening around us including love, loss, friendships, lovers, social interactions, etc.

What's a question you'd like to answer? We'll give you the answer...you can develop the question. The answer is...."only when there are panda bears present."

(Interview took place in May 2016.)

Quick Hit Band Interview: Earthsleep

Earthsleep at The Whisky a Go Go

Q&A time with the band via girlwolf. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? We have sporadic melodic and grungy riffs tied together with dynamic bridges and heavy sections all pieced together in a progressive and adventurous structure. The intent is the journey. The only rule we give ourselves is artistic integrity. We aren't attempting to make a copy of a copy. We know what we want to say. And how we want to say it. We are not open to suggestion. This music is heavily introspective.

Is there a story behind when you knew you wanted to become a musician/singer? I, girlwolf, have believed I was a singer since I can remember. I was a child rewinding the songs on Disney tapes, attempting to match pitch. I have been at it ever since. Although, Earthsleep is my first band. I had never met someone who could write the way I would want to write, until Jonathan Bouknight of course. His brain has gotta be part of mine or something.

Own Q&As. How did Jonathan and I meet? Craigslist. What is Jonathan's nickname for me? Tyler Durden because he thinks he might be imagining me. I think I'm real though.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Sachcloth & Axes

Sashcloth & Axes at The Echo

Q&A time with the artist. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I would just call it dark synth music. I was really into yaz and soft cell when I was starting out.

What's the story behind how Sashcloth & Axes started? The band started when my other band broke up and I still wanted to make music so I sat in a room for a while and it just all happened that way.

(Interview took place in May 2016.)

Concert Review: Draemings with Jesse Jo Stark, Ever So Android and Brass Box at The Echo

The Echo. One thing I've learned about the Los Angeles music scene: if you're interested in checking out a specific night and you suddenly see an added name pop up on the website and if that band/individual is up first, you better show up early even if you don't have a clue who that individual is. That was the case on this specific Draemings residency night.

I noticed that Jesse Jo Stark was added to the line-up. I'm not hip on the fashion scene so I had no clue who she was, but after doing some research I learned a whole lot more. I made sure I was there by 8:00 p.m. as were a whole lot of other individuals. Her music has that Mazzy Star feel to it. That is a connection that one can't complain about. She was calm and comfortable on stage while her bassist had this gritted teeth wild look that just caught my attention.

Jesse Jo Stark

After Jesse Jo Stark, Ever So Android came on stage. This was my second time seeing this band. They are one of my new favorites. The lead singer paces that stage like a caged animal.

Just before their set I had the following paraphrased conversation with a fellow photographer:

Me: I’m here to see Ever So Android.

Photographer gives me a side eye look like I’m crazy. [On Instagram, I stated that this was the night to head out to see Draemings, because Ever So Android was on the bill. So I was there to see both. I just failed to mention this fact.]

Ever So Android played their set.

Photographer: What did you say their name was?

Me: Ever So Android.

Photographer: They’re so good! [One more convert.]

Ever So Android

Brass Box came on stage next. The lead singer used to play with Black Flamingo. There is a connection here as the lead singer from Draemings also played in Black Flamingo. It was like a family reunion. Actually, it is always nice to see this happen as that let's you know that the breakup of a band didn't cause a breakup in friendships. Brass Box has an ethereal sound that has a touch of influence from Black Flamingo.

Brassbox

Draemings did their third residency set. The Echo was packed for the weirdness. Lead singer Kimi, dare I guess wrong, was dressed like a flaming Phoenix bird. Another member of the band was dressed up like a manic toy soldier. With their theatrical fashion and wonderful stage decoration, it was a set to remember. Well, let's not forget that college radio '80s/90s alternative rock sound. Oh yeah.

Draemings

Quick Hit Band Interview: WARGIRL

WARGIRL at The Hi Hat

Q&A time with the band. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Our sound is a mishmash of all the music we dig with a heavy dose of the third world vibe. Afrobeat and Reggae and Garage Rock all through the lens of working class Southern California.

How would you like your music to affect people who listen or see you play live? We would hope our music is connected to history in some way. It doesn't belong at any place in time but draws influences from every time; so we would hope that it stands outside of any particular trend and just makes people feel something positive and historically familiar. It should make you want to dance!

And a question they’d like to answer: I wish you would have asked what the problem is with the "Standard American Diet" and GMO food.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Candy Cigarettes

Candy Cigarettes at Broke LA Fest

Q&A time with the artist. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I would describe my sound as out of focus genre-bending sonic landscapes accompanied by shunned singer-songwriter intentions.

What band/artist would you most like to open for and why the choice? If I could open for any artist it would be Tom Waits because he's a national treasure.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Teleskopes

Teleskopes at Harvard & Stone

Q&A time with Pelle of Teleskopes. I hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? A lush and spacious racket where our female and male counterparts fist fight it out and shake hands after.

Own Q&A. Is there a new release on the horizon? Yes, very shortly. Look out kids, there's a freight train heading your way.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Tickle Torture

Tickle Torture at Broke LA

Q&A time with the artist. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Sex pop.

Your set was very theatrical. How did you come up with the ideas for the set? Stealing other people's ideas from the internet mostly.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Field Medic

Field Medic at the Bootleg Theater

Q&A time with Kevin. I hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? lo-fi freak folk/post country.

I thought your set had a quirky feel to it. Do you agree? How do you approach your music? I approach my music by writing everything as it is. Sometimes it winds up quirky, sometimes it winds up spooking me out.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Ugly Sweaters

Ugly Sweaters at Broke LA

Q&A time with Mandla from the band. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? We describe our sound as Caffeine Rock, it isn't heavy but it requires some pep in your step. We want people to have fun watching us, and hope that our energy feeds the crowd. It's hard to find a genuinely entertaining live indie band in Los Angeles, we try to fill that void.

What’s the story behind how your band started? The story behind our band is as follows: I, Mandla, grew up in rural Zimbabwe and dreamed of moving to a big city. When I say rural I mean rural: outdoor toilets, thatched roofs, no hot water, mambas etc. When I got the opportunity to move to the USA to live permanently I jumped on it. I came as a student to study music and through different projects and connections I met the rest of the band. They liked the songs I was writing and decided to join in!

Own Q&A. Favorite part of an Ugly Sweaters show? When we jump up and down and people watching start jumping up and down too.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Drinking Flowers

Drinking Flowers at The Echo

Q&A time with the band. I hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I think our sound is a collection of a lot of things from different eras. We like the bright chirping guitar sounds of 60's pop, but we also like the the hard smack of drum machines and synthesized music. I'd say currently we're a mixture of 80's and 90's dance music mixed with shoegaze and drone-oriented sounds.

What's your favorite Drinking Flowers song and why? I really favor "Love Drug" and "Black Monday" off our new album New Swirled Order. I do get nostalgic sometimes and miss our old anthem "Pop Underground"... maybe we will bring it back.

(Interview took place in May 2016.)

Quick Hit Band Interview: Zealyn

Zealyn at Broke LA Fest

Q&A time with Zealyn. I hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? It's always tricky to put an exact label on my sound, but I would say I'm an alternative / electronic artist.

If you weren’t pursuing music as a career or passion, what do you think you might be doing in its place? If I wasn't doing music, I know I would be doing something else in the arts like painting, dance, or photography. Other ways to express my creativity.

Quick Hit Band Interview: French Vanilla

French Vanilla at The Echo

Q&A time with the band. I hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Edgy lol jk. Am I tho? The sound of broken hearts enslaved. The sound of caring too much.

What's your favorite gig/set/tour story? Favorite gig story is when we played with Chain and the Gang at The Satellite and I got to dive into the drum kit/our drummer, Max

If you hate those two questions, what's a question you'd like to answer? Question I'd like to answer is whatever happened to Steve from Blue's Clues??

(Interview took place in May 2016.)

Broke LA Fest 2017 Review

Raener

Broke LA Fest. A perfect day for Broke LA Fest in East Los Angeles. I will admit that I took some looks at Weather.com, which was showing a 50% chance of rain. I think it rained late Friday night/early Saturday morning, but on Saturday the storm stayed to the north of Los Angeles. The advantage of potential rains was that it brought great festival weather to Los Angeles.

Background. During this year's open submission period, over 1,000 bands/musicians wanted to play the festival. Talking with the Broke LA Fest team, they listened to every band. From there, listening teams started the hard task of selecting the bands that best fit the festival. Eventually, around 25 bands were passed on to the head curators, who make the final decisions. Around 80% of the bands come from this submission process while the other 20% were bands booked by the festival to help round things out.

The above process guaranteed that there were going to be some difficult choices to determine which bands to catch. Like the Broke LA team, I made some similar hard decisions in my scheduling. My goal for this festival was to check out bands/musicians that I hadn't previously seen. That made it easier by seven, but still allowed for a lot of options. I don't know if that shows my lack of knowledge of the Los Angeles music scene or just how large our music scene is.

Even though my goal was to focus in on bands that I hadn't previously seen that apparently didn't apply to musicians. I happened across one musician, Zach Bilson, a number of times on stage. After seeing him in two bands, I had to ask, "How many times are you playing today?" His response, "Four, across two stages." I half wondered if Broke LA made an extra effort to keep bands to the schedule so that one of those 4 bands wouldn't end up without a bassist.

Enough of that.

My most awesome bands/musicians (can't nail it to just one band):

Brasstracks
Kid Wave
Zealyn

Note that this is in alphabetical order.

Brasstracks had some technical difficulties that delayed their set by a few minutes, but this only got their fans energized even more. The Jungle Gym stage was packed for this Grammy winner duo. When they hit go, they brought the big horns and powerful drum beats. It was nonstop with lights blasting. What did notice: the smile that crossed the face.

I got to interview Kid Wave during Broke LA's media day. I love the fact that Lea (lead singer) spent time in London. During the interview, we spent a few minutes talking about the London music scene as I got to catch a couple bands there during my brief vacation in London. Kid Wave is actually from Sweden and so I say she represents the glorious wave of Swedish musicians that have made Los Angeles their new home away from home. She ended the set with my personal favorite Kid Wave song, "Wonderlust." There is just something so catchy about the melodies in that song. What did I notice: Lea can give you that "I don't give a F*ck" look.

Zealyn, Angie Miller, has the singer-songwriter vocals down. Those vocals will make you gush in praise. Now she came into Broke LA with a less than stellar week. She mentioned that she'd gotten into a car accident and came down with a cold. That didn't prevent her from dancing around the stage in an abandonment moment to celebrate life. Her last song was "On a Hillside Looking Up." Oh mercy, so beautiful. What did I notice: I think she would make a good orchestra conductor, if she so desired, as she has some great hand motions.

Most entertaining stage shows:

Fellow Bohemian had two mannequins on stage, holding a white sheet with their band name on it. Couldn't help but notice the red painted finger tips and lips on those mannequins.

Tickle Torture went all out with the back-up dancers. I didn't get to catch the whole set, but did notice how one moment he had Aztec dressed dancers on stage while the next moment there was a guy in bondage gear.

You move way too fast:

Kolaj moved on stage so fast that she was often a blur to my camera. I thought my shutter speed was set pretty fast. Just not fast enough! Her music also had a subliminal way of getting everyone to dance.

Meditation moments:

Raener had me in a meditative mood. Those vocals. It made those large balloons hanging from the Ball Pit stage ceiling take on a near philosophical meaning. And then there was the hula hoops off-stage.

Lyrics that hit you in the heart:

Bloodboy's fashion has to be mentioned. Red gloves and red shoes. Okay, let's go on to those lyrics from "Mom, I've Changed:"

I'm in trouble with my mother 
She's concerned that I've lost my mind, for real this time 
But I told her that if I never had it anyway

So powerful.

Yes, I did see a band I previously saw (technically, no, but):

Velvet is fronted by Emily Gold, who I previously saw a few months back at Harvard and Stone. But I saw her as Emily Gold and not in this new form of Velvet. I just loved her awesome downbeat.

Early, but awesome:

Candy Cigarettes opened the day for me at the Jungle Gym stage. His set had these pulsating sounds mixed with a bit of blues. And yet, his personality was so relaxed that at the start I wasn't even sure his set had started.

Thumpasaurus sure stands by their name. With sax, drums, percussion and rapid fire vocals, this band thumped it up.

Ugly Sweaters brought the fun to life with some nifty moves on the stage monitors.

Here's waiting to next year's Broke LA Fest.

Quick Hit Band Interview: HOTT MT

HOTT MT at The Echo

Q&A time with the band. I hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? The songs from the new record might be described as "fantasy". We like to make dreamy shoegaze pop infused with some world music influences.

What's your favorite spot, location, area in Los Angeles? Favorite area is Chinatown at night.

(Interview took place in May 2016.)

Broke LA Fest Interview: Kid Wave

Kid Wave at Broke LA Fest

Broke LA Fest was a blast yesterday (Saturday, April 9, 2017). A formal review will be coming soon. For now, I hope you enjoy this Q&A with Lea Emmery, a Swede who moved to London and is now in Los Angeles.

How would you describe your sound? Indie guitar pop, rock with a big sound. A good chorus with nice hooks.

What’s your favorite Kid Wave song? My new song “Everything Changes.”

Are there any interesting differences between Los Angeles and London bands? Bands in London have more of an attitude. English bands are cocky and outspoken. This comes naturally. Los Angeles tends to have better musicians. Los Angeles bands look to London for attitude, but it is hard to imitate Oasis. This comes from different cultures. Both have different skills, crafts. The London rock music scene is smaller than Los Angeles. The London scene is focused in East London. The Los Angeles scene is spread across the city.

What are some of your favorite spots in Los Angeles? Any specific reasons they are your favorites? Having margaritas at Salazar. Also, when I first came to Los Angeles, I stayed with friends who lived in Elysian Heights. I loved the view, walking in the hills.

When people ask you what they should do during their Swedish vacation, what do you tell them? Go in the summer unless you really love the cold. Go to Stockholm for a few days. Then go out to the countryside up north, which is very beautiful. Rent a cottage and experience country living.

Do you have a favorite Kid Wave story/memory? While on tour in England we had a day off. Our manager wanted us all to get some fresh air so he took us to Yorkshire Sculpture Park. There were some cows in a field and our bassist went up to the cows. The cows were friendly. We then turned to walk away and heard this rumbling behind us. We turned around and two bulls were chasing after us. I never ran so fast in my life. We had to run across a river. We were terrified. Chased by bulls is my favorite Kid Wave memory.