Quick Hit Band Interview: Polymorph

Polymorph at the Silverlake Lounge

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? The guitarist (Johann) and I (Nathan, keys) met 24 years ago, when he popped out of the same uterus as me, only 2 years later. In 2014, we moved to LA in order to study music at the Musicians Institute. And there, we were lucky to meet amazing musicians such as Austin (bass) and Mann (drums) in order to form Polymorph. Obviously, this is only the dull truth. If you want a better story, I would encourage you to read our bio on our website www.polymorphband.com.

What motivates you to write your music? Mann is going to beat the shit out of his drums on a daily basis anyway, so we figured we might as well add some notes and chords on top of that to make it more pleasant to the rest of the world.

Own Q&A: How would you rank the seasons of Community from best to worse? The answer would be 2 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 6 - 4.

The Satellite: Spare Parts for Broken Hearts

The Satellite hasn't had many residencies this year. In fact, as of October, they might have had just one residency, The Colour Coast. If my calculations are correct, Spare Parts for Broken Hearts was The Satellite's second residency and it was a well deserved residency. This band started out in Long Beach and have been playing around for a few years now, slowly building their fan base. On this specific Monday night, they gave the crowd an entertaining hard rock/punk set. The crowd responding by packing the front of the stage like they were anticipating Green Day to show up. The crowd was packed with who's who of Los Angeles musicians: Ever So Android, Graves and The Bad Weather, Holy Wars, Lauren Ruth Ward, LP, Satellite Citi, The Vim Dicta. There were probably a few more that I didn't notice or don't personal know.

Spare Parts for Broken Hearts

Opening up was singer-songwriter Nicole Kiki Jaffe. I say singer-songwriter, but her sound has an undercurrent of rock. The photographers were out for her set. I think there were 7 or so of us hanging out at the front of the stage. We weren't the only ones hanging out. The Satellite was filled up nicely first her 9 p.m. set.

Nicole Kiki Jaffe

Ramonda Hammer closed out the night. As per their Instagram account, they were there to melt faces. It just so happened that throughout the set, there was a big circle face projected on the white screen at the back of the stage. From my notes, this is my fifth time seeing Ramonda Hammer in 2018. I never get tired of catching their set. Though I will admit it is dangerous hanging near their bassist. He swings his bass all over the place and very close to the front of the stage. I started to get concerned that he might accidentally swing his bass right into my camera lens. 

Ramonda Hammer

The Hi Hat: The Silent Comedy with Mourners

Wow. The Silent Comedy. This band blew me away with their gospel rock. Like any good band inspired by gospel music, they had you stomping your feet to their music. And like any gospel inspired band, there were the banjo and mandolin. Their stage show with the banjo had me also thinking of fun summer nights at summer camp. My summer camp nights were spent around a camp fire with staff members who had musical talents playing songs that dated back decades (pre-rock/jazz back). And since those camps were out in the middle of no where, you could look up in the night sky and see the stars.

The Silent Comedy had me throughout their hour set. They also had the crowd from the start. Folks camped out in front of the stage as soon as they started to set up their gear. I'm pretty sure everyone left satisfied.

The Silent Comedy

Mourners opened up for The Silent Comedy. The lead singer had me briefly thinking about Johnny Depp in his various exaggerated roles -- Edward Scissorhands, various Pirates movies, etc. He might have spent more time messing with his hair versus playing music. "How's my hair?" "Your hair looks good."

Mourners had the comment of the night: That was my David Lee Roth scat at the end.

Mourners

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Ariel Beesley

Ariel Beesley at Wild Riot Summer Sessions

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I’m most inspired by 80s new wave bands, such as Blondie, New Order, and The Cure. So I’d say my sound pulls from those inspirations, but in a modern light.

Is there a specific decision you have made (good or bad) that you feel other bands/artists can learn from? Just be yourself. Don’t sacrifice your true self to get anywhere, you’ll end up exactly where you want to be if you just stay true to yourself.

Sunstock Solar Festival 2018

This year's Sunstock Solar Festival took on the vibe of a prior festival called Bloomfest that used to happen in the Arts District. Sunstock took over Gramercy Place, which is between the major streets of Hollywood and Franklin in Hollywood. The street had a stage on one end and then various food trucks, advocacy tables, vendors and art installations set up along the street corridor. There was even a children's tent. Though Gramercy might be a relatively unknown street in Los Angeles, there were plenty of ways to get to it via public transportation. I personally took the opportunity to jump on the 180 metro line to get to the festival. There was also a very chill environment surrounding the festival. There was no formal entrance. No one was checking bags. Though there were police and security, they mainly stayed at the two entrances and the beer garden. It really had a neighborhood feel to it, which is also what made Bloomfest so fun (even though in both Bloomfest and Sunstock cases, I did not live in the neighborhoods).

Karmic

You also know an event is a success when crowds refuse to allow the final band of the night to stop singing, Karmic. In fact, the crowd pushed Karmic to go 5 minutes pass the 10 p.m. cut-off time by demanding an encore. The crowd just ate up this duo's electronic pop beats.

Top Shelf Brass Band

Trapdoor Social

Top Shelf Brass Band perhaps stole the day with their brass band sounds. They had the crowd dancing and basically going nuts throughout their 30 minute set. Trapdoor Social, led by Sunstock Solar Festival founder Skylar, also got the crowd going with their anthem sounding rock-pop sounds.

Valley Hush

Valley Hush opened the festival with some chill vibes. One individual in the crowd told me that they are for sure the next indie band from Los Angeles to breakout.

Kinney

Kinney had a short set just before Karmic hit the stage. One has to give her the award for being the most supportive musician of the festival. She was out there dancing along to nearly all the bands.

El Mañana

The Epilogues

Other bands playing the festival were El Mañana, The Epilogues and Cayucas. The Epilogues were playing their first set after a couple years apart. Essentially, it was their reunion show. Cayucas brought some tropical sounds. Did I really see 3 synth/keyboards spread across the stage? El Mañana brought some Latin American inspired pop sounds.

Cayucas

Quick Hit Band Interview: Flames of Durga

Flames of Durga at Wild Riot Summer Sessions

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? As twin sisters, and best friends, we wrote songs together growing up as a means to express ourselves in this crazy human experience. We always wanted to start a band then were faced with death when surviving a brutal car crash. It was a wake-up call and catalyst for starting "Flames Of Durga" and a big reminder of how temporary life is.

For the band and its future, how would you define success? As far as success is concerned it's based on our happiness and fulfillment, BUT touring the world is a big one for us and we cannot wait! The smaller successes include the DIY tours we've done that's given us a thicker skin, more perspective and unforgettable epic times. Our first tour was 14 shows in 15 days up the west coast which kicked our asses and yet we couldn't get enough. We really thrive on the road. Last, but not least, we gauge our success on our band's constant evolution. We never wanna stop growing.

Own thoughts: What inspires our songwriting is the way we see and experience the world. That being said we love to call out ignorance and corruption of society in a way that helps spread awareness and empowerment.

Quick Hit Band Interview: The Great Sadness

The Great Sadness at The Echo

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I would say what Stephen and I do in The Great Sadness is the merging of all the dark elements of metal, hard rock, delta/country blues and no wave/punk. We mix it in an emotional blender and the result is entirely our own. We like our music heavy and visceral.

What band/artist would you most like to open for and why the choice? Right now we would LOVE to open for Big Business. They are coming from the same place we are. Their sound is thoughtful, epic and pounding. Honestly, we love them. Do you hear us BB?

Is there a question(s) that you always love to answer? We would love to answer any questions about life after death or ice cream.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Total Heat

Total Heat at The Smell

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Velvet Underground in a year 3000 jazz club.

What’s the favorite part of your set? When the spiritual journey of our opening scape rides out into rock and roll song #1. Here we are people, if you didn’t notice before. Total Heat is an experience. 

Own Q&A. Is music love? Hmm . . . YES

The Satellite: Miranda Glory and Laces, L'FREAQ, and Flavia

Miranda Glory sounds like a name where the individual behind that name would be singing opera solos at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. If you check the singer out, you'll actually find someone who sings pop tunes with a dash of dance beats. As I was listening to her set on a recent Thursday night at The Satellite, I found myself thinking that she could easily fit in at a fashion show, providing some musical entertainment during runway breaks.

Miranda Glory

Her set was a mix of singing and providing tidbits about her life. Those tidbits included mentioning that when she woke up and logged onto Facebook that morning, her friendship anniversary was her former boyfriend (ha ha, Facebook will be happy to know that someone is still logging into their site, and well, it is nice to know she still stays friends with her ex-boyfriends).

Though that was a negative for the day, she was also celebrating the fact that the boot for her broken foot was finally removed. She said of it, "The worst case is always true. Like the broken ankle that my friend said was just a sprain, but then the doctor said it was broken. I know that is random, but it related to this song."

That song happened to be "Hypochondriac," which provides an interesting combination of lyrics that explores her relationship anxieties and how it intertwines with her hypochondria. I see the song as showing someone who when in a relationship suffers both emotionally and physically, which prevents her from fully connecting with the other person.

Flavia

Miranda Glory wasn't the only singer that I caught at The Satellite. Opening up that night was Flavia. This was my third time catching her set. I figure saw her just a little over a year ago at Hotel Cafe. I do say she is improving in a rapid pace. She's someone to keep an eye on.

L'FREAQ

L'FREAQ and Laces had solid sets. L'FREAQ has those jazz vocals that just draws you in. And Laces has power vocals that got her onto The Voice. She opened her set with vocals that killed. And like Miranda Glory, she also talked about her former relationships, but she carried a nice long knife in those lyrics.

Laces

Quick Hit Band Interview: Dancing Tongues

Dancing Tonuges at The Echo

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? We started playing music together in high school and formed our first band when we were about 16. We kept playing together in different bands throughout college and always found ourselves working on songs together that didn't really fit whatever project we were in at the time. We realized pretty quickly that the two of us would rather be focused on working on the songs we were writing together than spending our creative energies elsewhere. So, we decided to move forward as the two of us, writing the kind of music that we liked, which at the time, and still continues to be heavily influenced by post-punk, punk, darkwave and new wave. The two of us just clicked since we shared a lot of the same sort of influences and complimentary creative approaches, and we just didn't stop writing. We got to the point where we had written and recorded so many demos and songs that we decided to put a name on our project, recruit a bass player to perform with us, then start playing shows. We have kept at it and now we’re still here making more music and performing it!

What’s your favorite band song and what makes it the favorite? We don't really have a single favorite song and both feel that it changes a lot but if we had to pick:

 Kevin: Little Creatures because it's always fun to play live. It's usually high energy and gets people moving.

Alex: Bigger Picture. It is not out yet. We will be releasing it soon on our upcoming full length, but I like it because it touches on a lot of different aspects of our sound, but at the same time does something very different than the rest of our songs do. I liked writing it, recording it, and have enjoyed the times we performed it live.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Jim Wilson

Jim Wilson at Zebulon

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

What’s the story behind how you started out as a musician? I've been obsessed with music my whole life. All I ever wanted to do was sing and play. And collect records.

How would you like your music to impact people who listen to your music or see you play live? I don't sing anything if there's no feeling. I go through a lot of song ideas to find things that I can feel and if I can feel it, I know other people will feel it too. I guess it's called 'soul'.

Eagle Rock Music Festival

After more than a few years of not heading over to the Eagle Rock Music Festivals, due to scheduling conflicts and such, I finally was able to attend this festival that meant so much to me when I first started exploring the Los Angeles music scene.

The main reason I wanted to head over to the festival was to catch Lily Waters, the first band I saw at the Emerging Stage. I just can't get enough of lead singer Gabbi's vocals. Just this old school deep vocals. And then she just seems to patiently wait for the right moment to continue her singing. Being a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, her vocals just remind me of the patient method that Le'Veon Bell employs when running the football. (Yes, as a Steelers fan, I'm not all that thrilled that Bell plans to sit out half the season.)

Lily Waters

Super Lunch came up next for me on the same Emerging Stage. Of the 5 bands I saw at the festival, this band definitely had the youngest crowd. My bet is that half the crowd was under the age of 18. With that, I had to take a look at their Facebook account to see where they've played. My bet was The Smell. Well, it looks like they've played their a few times, but have also hit up venues such as Bootleg Theater, The Echo and The Hi Hat.

What did I notice: the guitarist broke his string during the very first song. Luckily, someone in the audience had an extra string so he spent the next two songs fixing his guitar. He's had some bad luck in terms of the band. It was mentioned that they had played a set recently without him, because he had put the wrong address in his GPS.

Super Lunch

It was a change of venue to catch Americana band Dead Wren. Though four of the bands I caught were at the Emerging Stage, I headed into the Women's Twentieth Century Club house to catch this band. This venue had a relaxed vibe for the folk sounds of Dead Wren. Seats were set up in front of the stage and folks drifted in and out throughout the set. What was cool about this stage was that free desserts and lemonade were offered.

Dead Wren

It was back to the Emerging Stage to catch Small Forward and Billy Changer. I previously saw Small Forward in April at the Broke LA festival. They have a cool pop sound. Similar to Super Lunch, there was a distinct vibe around the crowd. There were definitely a number of friends to catch Small Forward. After the very first song, the crowd was yelling out songs that they wanted to hear the band play. One member of the band, replied to one suggestion, "That song will be played later."

Small Forward

Billy Changer closed out the night for me. I've known about Billy Changer for a little over a year now though this is the first time I caught the band. On this specific night, it was essentially, Lily Waters, but with different roles. This time, Robert (who plays guitar for Lily Waters), took lead vocals. Gabbi switched over to keys with backing vocals. It was a good way to close out the night. Since I'm commenting about the audiences for various bands, I should mention that for this band, Numb.er/Feels was there to support.

Billy Changer

Quick Hit Artist Interview: LIA

LIA at the Bootleg Theater

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how you started out as a musician? When I was 12 years old my friends started a band and were looking for a singer. The moment I joined, I knew I wanted to do it for the rest of my life!

What inspires you to write/compose your songs? I get inspired by the details of my personal life. There's always something bothering me, so there's always something to write about :)

LA Phil 100 Celebration: Las Cafeteras and Phoebe Bridgers

Sometimes you just don't know something is happening until the day it is happening. That happened with the LA Philharmonic's 100 celebration this past Sunday (September 30th). 

On Saturday night, I heard reference to the celebration. A group of friends and me got together for dinner and it was mentioned that one friend decided not to come to dinner, because he wanted to catch the LA Philharmonic 100 celebration. I assumed that meant it was happening that night.

Las Cafeteras

On Sunday, I was driving to and from the Farmers Market when I heard on the radio about all the events that were happening around town the day. I decided to see what various events were happening around town.

Phoebe Bridgers

What drew my attention was the schedule for what was happening outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Las Cafeteras and Phoebe Bridgers were playing sets just across the street from the Concert Hall. I seem to have a history of catching Las Cafeteras at music festivals. I first saw them at a long forgotten music festival called Silverlake Jubilee. I later saw them at Music Tastes Good in Long Beach. It seemed like a fun time to catch them again outside the Concert Hall. As for Phoebe Bridgers, I'd never seen her before. However, I am acquaintances with her current bassist who has played bass for a number of local bands that I follow. Since I follow the bassist on Instagram, I knew who Phoebe Bridgers was. I also happened to catch their one song set on Conan O'Brien. I have to say that Las Cafeteras and Phoebe Bridges kicked it out of the park.

LA Philharmonic musicians

It was actually an interesting line-up outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I didn't stay for the whole day, but opening up before Las Cafeteras were members of the LA Philharmonic. There were two groups from the LA Philharmonic. One group was made up of violas. And another featured a trio. After Las Cafeteras and prior to Phoebe Bridgers was the Calder Quartet. They're a group of musicians that met at USC. They played some classical music. So from classical sounds to Mexican inspired rock to classical music to moody indie-sounds. A very interesting afternoon.

Calder Quartet

Quick Hit Band Interview: A Darker Bright

A Darker Bright at The Satellite

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Like Jimmy Eat World jamming with The Cure with some post-rock and psychedelic grooviness thrown in for good measure.

What is one of the band’s high or low moments and what makes it memorable? The highest moment for us is probably the show you saw at The Satellite. It’s one of our favorite places in the city and a big moment for us to actually get up on stage and share our music in that room. It was also one of the most positive and cohesive bills we've ever played on. Both the bands we played before (NFV add: HUNTR and Super Space Nation) are great and they also send a lot of positivity and light out when they perform . . . so it was an all-around magical night from the moment we arrived for sound check until the last band loaded out.

Own thoughts: Be kind and charge hard on your passions . . . only good can come from doing so . . . it may be subtle, but it'll always lead to positive experiences.