New Music Alert: Isla June's "Wild Places"

Isla June has recently released the eclectic Wild Places. 

"I just wanna disappear. How long 'til it's over? Time is moving slower. Someone get me out of here."

A beautiful song about escaping to a wild place. There are times when we all want to escape this world, but that doesn't have to be an awful situation. The music is wonderful composed and every note has a place that lifts one into a dream state. It gives one the idea that wanting to escape to empty spaces can be a cheerful experience.

Photo taken at El Cid

 

Quick Hit Band Interview: Man Akin

Man Akin at El Cid

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What is currently influencing your music? Currently, I’ve actually been revisiting a lot of old Hendrix stuff which is pretty much what influenced me to pick up a guitar for the first time. I love a lot of the newly discovered stuff like Valleys of Neptune. Also, been living inside this new Tyler, the Creator album. Sonics are unmatched.

What thrills you about performing live? In my opinion, the most thrilling aspect of performing my material is each songs complete reinterpretation. Everything I do live is entirely analog so it’s different every time and I never really know where things will go. Nothing sounds the way it does on record and I love that.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Beck Pete

Beck Pete at El Cid

Interview with Beck Pete. Enjoy:

How would you describe your music? I make indie-pop music, but putting aside genre restrictions, I always seek to utilize texture that you can almost feel with your fingertips and get to the core of an actual authentic feeling. Curating a full feeling is the most important thing to me.

What’s a dream venue/festival you’d love to play at and what about it intrigues you? I believe that a venue that already has an inviting and homey energy only will help to get people to a more vulnerable and transformative place during a set, so when I get to choose a venue to play, I always try to keep that in mind. I would love to play The Wiltern in the near future. It always feels that way for me.

Own Final thoughts: Everything that I do as an artist is to remind people that emotional vulnerability and strength can only exist in tandem. I think that’s a message that needs to be drilled into our brains, and I’m going to do my best to help with that.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Trends

Trends at El Cid

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your music? I think our music conveys a palette of emotions. A lot of our songs were written over the course of several years, and with each life experience our perspectives have expanded. Overall, it’s melancholic and reminiscent of late 90s music.

What is one of the band’s high or low moments and what makes it stand out? We spent a year looking for someone to join the band as a bassist. We’d finished writing the record and had to delay playing live because we were down a person. It was grueling setting up so many auditions and not being able to find the right fit. Definitely a frustrating and difficult time, but in the end, Jose was worth the wait. He’s a bit out there, and as it turns out he had responded to one of our ads, but forgot to reply when we tried to set up a meeting. It took a year for him to circle back. Things happen in their own time, apparently!

Own unique band info. Each of us always dreamt of being in a band that felt like family. I never liked the idea of just showing up to rehearsals and gigs and taking off right after. As individuals, we all really enjoy investing time and effort into building lasting relationships. We’re there for each other and I think our connection is something that translates well at the shows.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Alicia Blue

Alicia Blue at El Cid

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? I’d say my sound is reminiscent of the golden era of folk stylings mixed with modern melodies and lyrics.

Is there a process that you go through to come up with your song titles? Sometimes a song title starts the entire writing process, like “Bob Dylan Architect No. 01,” like a prompt, and other times it comes after it’s been written once I hear the chorus

Own final thought: something other than music is that I’m pretty obsessed with astrology and now just getting into gardening

Quick Hit Band Interview: French Mouth

French Mouth at El Cid

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? The project has always been between my twin brother (Daniel - drummer) and myself (Dee - Vocals), it has gone under many different names and styles, but finally solidified itself last summer/fall with the addition of our bassist (Brandon Reyes) and lead guitarist (James Parras). Our catch phrase has become, "Do you like French Mouth?" We are all Los Angeles natives and we got love for our city and France as well
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Are there any unique, funny, high jinks, mundane, etc tendencies that the band is known for – during sets, band practice, otherwise? We like to call our fans 'Cake Eaterz' . . . so by default; we also absolutely love cake, cake, cake!!! We promise if any fans or show goers bring us a cake, WE HAVE TO EAT IT during our set. Mandatory. No questions. Unless its a razor cake . . . but even then some exceptions may apply. (We love ice cream cake!!)

Own final Q&A. What would be your dream set/show and why? - Well, we are all fans of the Bhagwan Shree Rajnesh who had that cult going up in Oregon. French Mouth would love to go back in time to the 80's and play a solid set for the Bhagwan and his Wild Wild Country white folk. Shit would be lit as hell.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: ZØYA

ZØYA at El Cid

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

What do you find is currently influencing your music? My music influences are Lorde, Sia, Adele, Florence & the Machine, Lana Del Rey, Amy Winehouse and HAIM. I’ve recently started working on my second EP and I have to admit that production wise it’s going to sound completely different from my debut EP “Veracious Heart”. It’s going to be a lot darker yet slightly minimal in terms of the sound. I’ll be incorporating some bass, putting more focus on synths and adding electronic elements to it. Yet, having some organic instrumentation, plucky and tasteful kind of guitars and earthy sounds, if it makes any sense haha.

You mentioned you're from Belarus. What's the story behind how you ended up living in Los Angeles? Yes, I was born in Belarus, Eastern Europe and moved out to Columbus, OH when I was 11. Two years ago I decided to move out to LA to pursue my music thing.

Final thoughts: Some advice to aspiring artists/dreamers - Always stay true yourself. Know why you’re doing what you’re doing and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and do the thing that you truly love.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Cheer Up Club

Cheer Up Club at El Cit

Interview with the band (with Ethan). Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? Mmm... A bit of sadness, boredom, education, persistence. Good friends and a mutual love of lots of music and playing loud.

How do you go about combining lyrics and sound? A. Generally, we meet up to rehearse and end up fucking around for the first hour or so. I usually have a notebook on me that gets filled up by snippets of conversation, random thoughts, fun stories, words from books, the news, etc. We jam and I moan out some melody, flip through a notebook and find a line that fits the music, mood, and melody. We go on from there. It's pretty organic.

Own final thoughts: We're all producers and all from pretty different places, backgrounds, cultures. 

Currently, finishing up mixes on the first album Get Physical. We have a few singles out on Spotify etc.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Bogan Via

Bogan Via at El Cid

Interview with the band (with Maddie). Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? Well, seven years ago I was looking to start my own all female folk group, when I got a message from a stranger on Facebook. It was Bret! He had seen some of my videos on Youtube (my own channel where I'd sing covers/originals with a guitar) and he asked me if I had any desire to meet up and collaborate! His taste was a different genre than what I was used to, but we totally hit it off and the rest is history!

What inspires you to write/compose your songs? It is probably different for both of us. I usually feel the most inspired when I am in a lot of pain, haha. I am always so ready to put pen to paper when I'm fighting my emotions and can't seem to expunge them any other way. But I also get inspired by other artists and Bret! He always has amazing ideas that jump start great collaborations. He'll show me a beat or instrumental he's composed and melodies/harmonies will just pour out of me! Bret, is always writing. He gets inspired by EVERYTHING. I call him a sponge because he just absorbs everything and creates art from it. It's fascinating.

Final thoughts: I guess we just wanna plug how much we hope to advocate for animals in our lifetimes. We are both vegans and choose every day to live as compassionately as we can and I think people wanna punch us in the face every time we talk about this, haha, but we love animals and our planet and always try to speak to that. We hate to see the cruelty that humans bring to the world (harming animals and humans alike) and we try to bring aid to that cause every day.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Oak Palace

Oak Palace at El Cid

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your music? Oak Palace is ADHD music ranging from alternative rock to indie folk to electronic dance with some stuff in Spanish.

What’s your favorite gig/set/tour story? Our first tour was last May to Mexico City where we climbed to the top of the closed Angel de la Independencia statue while the guards weren't looking.

Final thoughts: we're a bilingual band with more music in English and Spanish coming soon.

Quick Hit Band Interview: Uruguay

Uruguay at El Cid

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What are some things that are currently inspiring the band? This is for our friend Jay, back home. Timothée Chalamet is killing it right now. His interview with Harry Styles broke the internet. But, also his vulnerability, heart and realness in “Call Me By Your Name” and “Beautiful Boy” are inspiring and much needed right now.

Outside of music, what are some of your other interests? Culture, fashion, benefit causes, sensuality, Ben’s budding rap career (lol, that’s a lie), travel, learning French, and watching “Big Mouth” and “Lock Up: Extended Stay” on Netflix.

Own Q&A: What drives you the most as a musician?

Stepha: I want to be a voice for those that are put in the shadows. I hope I can be a vessel for them to be heard.

Ben: I sometimes have a hard time expressing myself with words, and music has always been a way for me to get out what I am feeling. Also, I live for those moments when random people come up and say how our music has affected them. That connection is priceless.

El Cid: Lily Waters, Moderns, Uruguay and Strawberry Army

It was off to El Cid to catch 3 bands I'd seen before (Lily Waters, Moderns, Uruguay) and one that was new to me (Strawberry Army)

Things started off with Lily Waters. I just love those deep vocals. And there was that moment of a guitar hug.

Lily Waters

Moderns has those electronic beats. And those eyes that always seem to be staring off in the distance. It was a special night for Moderns as Rosie (lead singer) had her father in the audience for the first time ever.

Moderns

Uruguay has those singer-songwriter jams. And there is always a quick laugh. They mentioned that they won't be playing in Los Angeles for awhile and so purposely were playing songs that their friends had requested.

Uruguay

Strawberry Army closed out the night with a fun blend of garage rock and hair flings. You can definitely tell that they're having a blast playing on stage.

Strawberry Army

This was a Wild Riot event and they seem to always pick out awesome bands for their shows.