Quick Hit Artist Interview: Black Paw

Black Paw at Echo Park Rising

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

How would you describe your sound? I would ask YOU how would you describe our sound?

Outside of music, what are some of your other interests? I like to work on cars and motorcycles.

Echo Park Rising: Sunday

So on Friday and Saturday, Echo Park Rising was a big rush of bands. I was doing photography for BuzzBands so I was off and running both days though I will admit I technically slowed things down on Saturday. I actually shot more bands, but was out there longer so wasn't rushing as much.

On Sunday, I slowed things down even more as I was going there for my own enjoyment. I spent most of my time at the Lost Lot with a brief run over to the Lost Room to catch Spare Parts for Broken Hearts, a hearken back to my Kiss or Kill days.

For me, Holy Wars and Jennie Vee were the highlights of the day. Holy Wars music drips with emotional resilience. Their song "Orphan" has one thinking of those they've lost and those they will lose in the future. Lead singer Kat jumped off the stage a couple times to interact with the audience. As for Jennie Vee, I saw a very brief set by her at The Satellite late last year. When I say brief, I mean it was like 20 minutes. It was so awesome catching a full set. There's something about her stance on stage the just screams out, "Yes, I'm awesome cool on stage." After her set, someone came up to me and wanted to know every detail that I might know about her. I told him as much as I could.

Night Talks put on a show in the mid-afternoon heat. Lead singer Soraya was dressed in red. Their pop sounds had me going like always. SadGirl's under 21 fan base packed the road that was above the stage. One member of the band played perhaps 75% of their set facing these fans. It made me love the set all the more seeing that.

Other bands I caught were Black Paw and Spelles. Black Paw made sure folks out for the fourth day straight were awake. Spelles spread arms wide.

A couple other notes about Jennie Vee that I just have to mention: a.) Kate from ExSage was playing with her, awesome. b.) I couldn't help but notice that they all took off their blue wristbands (indicating that you had all access to the stage) before their set.

If you're interested in seeing my photos from Friday/Saturday, head on over to Buzzbands.la.

List of bands shot on Friday:

Draemings
Freddy Spacer
Freedom Fry
GENR8R
HIPS
Hydro Kitten
Iconique

Janelane

Lucky + Love

Muskkk
Niantic
Non Plus Ultra
Rival Cavves

Sugar Candy Mountain
Trabants

List of bands shot on Saturday:

Alexander Anderson
Brass Box
Cillie Barnes
City Rabbits
Color TV
Dead Dawn
Edith Crash
Ever So Android
Lobalam
Lucy and La Mer
Maxie Dean
MetronOhm
New Evil
Pip Dreams
Tennis System
The Fiends
Twin Temple
Zilpha

Quick Hit Artist Interview: T.Y.E

T.Y.E at The Echo (LA)

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

How would you describe your music? A versatile mix of hip hop and roller coaster emotion. "Bipolar music, Trapopera" is what I've been getting.

Since you mentioned you’re from Dallas: any thoughts about the Los Angeles music scene? The L.A music scene is dope. Getting accustomed to how things work out here.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Nightmare Air

Nightmare Air at The Satellite

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

How would you describe your sound? Today, I would describe our sound as a wall of bright light in a dark room.

Is there a specific decision the band has made (good or bad) that it feels other bands/artists could learn from? We don't tour enough. Stay on the road. Play shows all the time.

Quick Hit Band Interview: The Vigils

The Vigils at The Frog Spot

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

How would you describe your sound? Our sound . . . It's the middle of the night. You're cruising through the empty rain-soaked city streets, neon lights reflecting off the windshield, windows down, and the familiar songs of youth playing on the radio. You're all alone, reminiscing about the days gone by, the good times, the bad times, the loves, the losses, and wishing you were back there now as you step on the gas an accelerate full-speed into the darkness of tomorrow, haunted. That's how I would describe our sound. One guy once told me, after one of our performances, that we made him feel like he was back in New York City in 1979. I'll take that, too!

How do you believe the band has progressed over time? I believe we've come a long way in creating our foundation and unique style as a band, and after many struggles and disappointments, we finally have a solid line-up in which to carry forth with. That said, we still have a long way to go. With the exception of "She's Gone", the recordings we have made thus far are essentially glorified demos, and by no means fully realized the way I envision them. We need a proper full-length album to take it to the next level, present the songs as they have always been intended, and hopefully extend our reach beyond the narrow confines of Los Angeles. I won't be satisfied until we play Australia.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Wait. Think. Fast.

Wait.Think.Fast. at Chinatown Summer Nights

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

How would you describe your sound? Our sound is cinematic, lush, bilingual vocals, lots of harmonies.

Looking through my music records, I first saw Wait.Think. Fast. in 2010 when The Satellite was called Spaceland. I also read that you briefly moved to New York since that time. Being back in Los Angeles, how do you feel the Los Angeles music scene has changed/not changed over the last few years? There are so many new bands and festivals!!! It's great. We're also glad to see many of the bands we've loved for years still putting out new music. Angelenos are very lucky in the variety and amount of live music you can enjoy, and often for free.

Quick Hit Band Interview: isle&fever

isle&fever at Chinatown Summer Nights

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

How would you describe your sound? Half of our songs have roots in loop-based funk and vintage 70s/80s rock— what we call bedroom disco. The other half of the songs are more chill indie rock structure with some reverby surf elements. That's the isle while the dancier is the fever.

What’s the story behind how your band started? Donald and I just finished working on a project called Blacks& with our friend/singer Jutty Taylor. We had some songs we wrote that we loved but never (to this day) were finished. We decided to keep writing and producing in our basement studio and eventually the vibe was where we wanted it. We brought in our friends Antoine Dilligent and Thomas Bowden to help us out with the live show.

What are you working on now? We are taking a break from playing live to focus on writing more songs and finish recording the best of the dozen or so songs in our queue.

What other music are you listening to that's coming out of LA? We are pretty stoked on our friends' band called TAMPA. Also, our band member Antoine Dilligent's solo album is one of our favorite records of the year. Very Tame Impala but with a bit more ‘tude.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Lucy and La Mer

Lucy & La Mer at Chinatown Summer Nights

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

How would you describe your sound? It's a mix of folk and pop.

What is your favorite Lucy & La Mer lyric and what about it makes it so special? “There's something 'bout that da-da-da-da-da on the sidewalk" from Rainy Days. It's fun to sing and I wrote it while I was stuck in traffic, listening to the rain hit my car.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Twin Ritual

Twin Ritual at the Silverlake Lounge

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

How would you describe your sound? With all members coming from different musical projects, we would say a fusion of Dance Rock - Indie rock - New Wave. Catchy guitar melodies, layered synthesizers, bouncy bass lines, strong dreamy female vocals and danceable drum beats.

You mentioned you're from San Diego. What are some of the local music venues in San Diego that someone from Los Angeles should check out? San Diego music venues to check out: Soda Bar, Space Bar, Casbah, Whistle Stop, The Merrow, Blonde Bar, Observatory North Park.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Maddie Ross

Maddie Ross at The Hi Hat

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

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? I would definitely rather have a steady following. I fell in love with music by being a fan of music. Having meaningful interactions with my favorite artists and watching them grow over the years is what inspired me to become a musician. My favorite part about being an artist is meeting people and performing. I would rather work another job but get to do what I love for years and years than have a brief amount of money and fame before it all goes away.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Beachwood Coyotes

Beachwood Coyotes at the Silverlake Lounge

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

How would you describe your sound? Energetic noisy indie weiner rock.

What’s a dream venue you’d love to play at and what about it intrigues you? The Hollywood Bowl. I hear they let you bring free booze in.

Quick Hit Band Artist Interview: Omniflux

Omniflux at The Satellite

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

How would you describe your sound? Hypnotic layers, riding between electronic and cinematic, over powerful trip hop beats, though lately more hip hop. Wrapped in socially and politically driven lyrics delivered in lush, atmospheric vocals.

Where is your favorite spot to write/compose music? And why the spot? My studio is my favorite place to produce music. It's adorned with objects I've made and covered with my paintings from floor to ceiling, with names of artists whose discipline I admire written into the paintings. If I hit a wall and want to call it a day, I'll see those names and maybe stay at it a bit longer.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Runnner

Runnner at The Hi Hat

Q&A time with the band (via Noah). Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? We draw heavily from singer-songwriters and indie-rock bands but then experiment with the sounds a lot after that. We sometimes call it "Ableton Folk" or "Bandcamp music for SoundCloud kids."

What are some of your favorite spots, locations, areas in Los Angeles? What make them your favorites? We're both big hikers so being able to get away from the city and go into Griffith Park or up in Topanga is really nice, especially if we're trying to write new stuff. Nate is a big surfer so he's a beach boy. I love those bizarre artifact spots (the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Metropolis).

Quick Hit Band Interview: Dzang

Dzang at The Echo (LA)

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

How would you describe your sound? Dzang is contemplative songwriting + electronic production + deep grooves.

What motivates you to write your music? Hmmm, so many different things...overall though? Maintaining sanity.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Banta

Banta at The Echo (LA)

Q&A time with Banta. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Indie Rock pop blues? That is a tough one.

What’s your favorite Banta song and what makes it the favorite? My favorite song is usually the one I most recently wrote. Which at the moment is a tune called Under the Illusion. It will most likely be out next single. I'm excited to put it out into the world.