Quarantine Online Sets: Version 20

It was a WFNM night on Instagram. I got to catch Foley, Audrey Nuna and Minke.

Best set of the three has to go to Minke. I was just blown away. I was so blown away I had to check her music out online. I went to Youtube and just fell for the music even more. Her song "Something Better" must be inspired by choir music. She's a London transfer to Los Angeles. We are lucky to have her and I hope to catch her live soon.

Minke

Audrey Nuna was very humorous as she brought her music from her spot on the East Coast. She asked questions of those watching such as: What's your favorite type of potatoes? Baked, French Fries, mashed. Do you have an innie or an outie belly button? She had a friend playing keys while she sat on a chair and did her free style, tune driven rapping.

Audrey Nuna

Opening up the night for me was Foley from New Zealand. They played off each other well while hitting their dance sounds. I say dance as when I checked out their music online it had a party sound to it, but during their set they played it out acoustic style on their guitars.

Foley

Quick Hit Band Interview: Rose Cologne

Rose Cologne at the Bootleg Theater (shot for Buzzbands)

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? A blend of post-punk, surf and psychedelia... the love child of The Cramps, Mazzy Star and Shocking Blue.

What motivates you to write your music? Pain, fear, love... and a desire for a deeper inner experience shared thru sonic wavelengths and shot out into hearts and minds of the universe.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Tiffany Stringer

Tiffany Stringer at The Hi Hat

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? The sound of live shows are pretty pop-rock centered. I’ve been referring to my latest recordings as alternative-pop because I’ve been experimenting with the classic pop elements as well as anything I come across that inspires me/ makes me feel carbonated inside.

Where is your favorite spot to write music? And why the spot? My favorite place to write music is in a special moment as it is happening. It feels like I’m a researcher, trying to capture as much of the moment as possible.

Own final thoughts: Life imitates art! I’ve started being quite intentional about the art I create because I’ve seen first hand how it changes one’s reality.

Quick Hit Band Interview: The Gems

The Gems at The Smell

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? The band started when the lead singer (Thurston Day) and drummer (Jackson Fox ) became friends in their freshman year of high-school and started casually playing music together. It grew more intense from there.

What band/artist would you most like to open for and why the choice? A band we would love to open for would be Franz Ferdinand. We have opened for them before in 2018 at the Wiltern and it was a really fun and interactive show and we are looking forward to playing with them again in the future. However, we would love to open for a band like Interpol because we look up to them in a lot of ways.
Own unique information about the band: we started with just 2 members and have now grown to be a 4-piece band with: Thurston Day (vocals/guitar) Jakob Sorensen (Bass) Michael Faust (keyboards/vocals) Jackson Fox (Drums) We have finished recording our latest Album “WHITE LIES” and will be releasing it sometime towards the end of this year!

Quick Hit Band Interview: Talk Time

Talk Time at The Satellite

Interview with the band (with Mike). Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? It started by accident! Edson (singer, guitarist) accidentally emailed Mike (guitarist) with something he was working on thinking it was a different Mike. They had played a bit before when Mike stood in on a couple gigs for Edson's previous band, and at the time both of them were still sort of reeling from the break up of their last projects. From there Mike shared something he was working on which ended up being the proof of concept for 𝑇𝐴𝐿𝐾 𝑇𝐼𝑀𝐸 and the first single, Year of Self. We were then fortunate enough to round out the group with players, Andrew, John, and Derek to finish an EP with Producer Matt Bishop and forge a path forward as a cohesive ensemble.

Is there a story behind one of your songs that you’d like to share? One of the centerpieces of the EP, "True North" is about finding perspective and keeping love as a compass in this terrifying, ambiguous, but beautiful life.

Quick Hit Band Interview: The Haunts

The Haunts at The Hi Hat

Initially seen on  CaliforniaRocker.

Interview with the band. Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? Aaron and Alanna had been in several bands prior to The Haunts, and had just left their prior band to start a more stripped back project. After several unsatisfactory sessions auditioning vocalists, they were ready to just go fully instrumental, until they met Max in the final few auditions they had scheduled. One hungover morning audition later, The Haunts were official!

For the band and its future, how would you define success? For us, success is getting to play shows in front of different crowds and have the music we make be positively received. We really do appreciate each and every person that comes to our shows, and we love to meet and interact with everyone. We have a lot of goals and plans for 2020, and are excited to see what the next year holds for us as we branch out of California more. Hopefully our future successes include being able to fully support ourselves off of our music!

Own Q&A: Why don’t The Haunts have a bassist? We started this band with the concept of being able to strip down a song to its most bare components, while also still being able to write songs we all felt were complete. We think a big aspect of our songwriting process is to not overthink any aspect and remember that there really aren’t any rules to what defines a band. We’re sure we’ll end up with a 4th member at some point, but for now, as long as we’re happy making and playing the music we write, the rest will hopefully follow. Plus, our minivan we tour in is super small, but that answer isn’t as fun.

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 19

Friday nights on Los Angeleno's Facebook page hosts short videos from various artists between the hours of 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. -- though occasionally some artists/bands have their videos posted much later. The short form videos allow for creativity to shine through.

Up first on this recent Friday night was Corey Vogel. He's a drummer and his video was just memorizing. He was never on screen. Instead, there was video that started off with him spraying a water hose at clay cups/planters. It then shifted to the vibrating drum beats that had maroon clay bouncing around. Waffle shaped objects were put on the same surface and the drum beats shattered the objects into thousands I small pieces within a few moments. It closed with wooden sticks beating on bamboo.

Corey Vogel

Pure Protein was up next with sonic space sounds. Emily Lacy has to be close friends with Bloody Death Skull. She spent half her video providing a tutorial about her playing methodology. It was just strange with her playing her keyboard with every part of her body. It was expressionist keyboard playing.

Pure Protein

Emily Lacy

The Gooms is a band I've seen play a couple online music festivals. Yet, it was always just the lead singer. This time, 3 of the 4 members were playing. The fourth member, their bassist, was in the Bay Area with his parents. It was so great seeing this band in almost full form. You could tell they were having such a good time together and it makes it a thrill. The band was dressed in a vacation type of mood with a Hawaiian shirt and lei.

The Gooms

Closing out the night was Polartropica. Polartropica is always up to provide some interpretative surrounding. There was a whole plastic garden set up around her. That was my interpretation though Los Angeleno described it as "candy-colored spaceship."

Polartropica