LA Art Tards @ The Mime 3/18/11

Eric Jackson Tambourine Man (above), Darger De Milo



LA Ghost



Guy Doing the Robot




My Good Friend

Stripper Pussy is somewhere in there

This was a fun night. I was well equipped with my "Nikon Canon" aka Kodak disposable camera that evening. Performances by Tan Dollar (I got there too late to catch their set unfortunately), My Good Friend, Darger De Milo, LA Ghost, and Stripper Pussy (I thought I took pictures, guess I was pretty faded by their set).

DEaf Interview

I recently had a nice little chat with Vivian and Luis of the LA no wave/minimalist dance band, DEaf. I fell in love with this band after walking in on their first show some time last year at Silver Factory Studios, where I caught their last show. It's hard not to love the great combination of Luis' synthy, distorted guitar, Vivian's unique, solid drum beats, their vocals playing off each other, their changes, their energy, plus they're cool as hell!


TE: Is there a certain direction that you guys want to see your music go into?

V: Direction? I don’t know, I think we’re still kind of growing.

L: It’s kind of like we’re just letting it go kind of organically cuz I think there was a lot of stuff I played before where I pushed it too much and it got sucky at the end

V: We’re trying not to force it

L: Yeah, we’re trying to just let it happen. Whatever happens happens.

TE: Who are your main influences?

L: A lot of hip hop

V: [laughs]

L: Seriously, I’m not lying, it’s weird.

L: A lot of noise and a lot of no wave

V: No wave

L: A lot of no wave and a lot of hip hop, which is weird. A lot of no wave and hip hop, a lot of sixties too. I love the sixties, so a lot of sixties kind of garage rock

V: Probably like a lo-fi but like with a high-fi kind of advantage to it cuz he has a lot of synth sounds that he uses, but then there’s a lot of raw energy behind it so kind of lo-fi but it’s kind of hi-fi

L: Yeah, it’s weird


TE: What’s the craziest thing you guys would like to see happen at one of your shows?


L: I would love to see the entire crowd dance. That would be so fucking cool

V: Especially in LA

L: Yeah, especially in LA, that would be so rad. We’ve had shows where we get like 5 people, 10 people dancing, or maybe like Pehrspace but it’s so tiny there, that you can only fit so many people, but still it would be like 5 people dancing. I wish the whole crowd would dance, that would be really cool. But other than that, I don’t know crazy? Maybe if somebody threw up.
I worked sound for Manhattan Murder Mystery ,and Matt, the singer, threw up while he was singing, it was rad, I thought that was pretty cool.


V: He used his army helmet

L: Yeah, he totally barfed in the helmet, it was fucking rad; Like right after he did a mean swig of Canadian Mist whiskey, and then he just barfed. And then he kept playing, they played another song, it was awesome. And he didn’t even realize he barfed .I told him "Hey dude you totally barfed" " he's like "I did? Oh, oh man, you saw that?" I'm like
"What do you mean I saw that? I was working sound, I heard it"

V: But now that's your goal

L: No I don't want to barf, I want to make somebody barf, that'd be cool. If I make somebody barf that would be rad. Like a low end sound [makes low end sound], or if they pooped their pants, that'd be awesome

TE: Is there another instrument or a few instruments you'd like to incorporate in your music soon?

V: We tried but it didn't sound right because of the whole balance between hi-fi, lo-fi kind of thing. Yeah, we're still trying to figure [it] out. We'd love to have some accordion or some crazy instrument

L: Like a sax, but I don't know if it's weird

V: We have friends that play trumpet or some weird instrument and we're like "Oh, how can we use that in the song?"

L: Yeah, I really love James Chance, he has almost like a soul, kind of like James Brown, funk/James Brown [sound], and I would love a sound like that, but then we gotta get more people and it's just kind of hard. We think about it, and I have a feeling too we'll end up doing it and be like "No, let's just go back to how we were", more raw and punk. We have a lot of punk influences too. It's weird I didn't even say that, we have a lot of punk influences, mostly all punk influences [laughs].

Check out their music, blogs, and merch! And get your ass to a DEaf show! (So far next one is Aprl 8 @ the Smell)


http://deafbandla.tumblr.com/
http://deafbandla.blogspot.com/
http://soundcloud.com/deafbandla
http://deaf.bandcamp.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/hypersweet

Elvis Is Dead

Elvis Galvez has played solo sets before, but this last Friday's set at Silver Factory Studios was definitely a different one for him; he was plugged in. Armed with a vocal pedal, his Fender Jaguar, and his delay pedals, Elvis shared a beautiful experimental set with the curious ears of the dark room. Galvez sings with such beautiful conviction in a way that may provoke an audience to feel that same conviction inside themselves.

TE: Who were your main influences for your Elvis Is Dead set?

EG: Sammy Seinz, Tianna Edmonson, Jorge Salazar, Sailor Jerry, Julie Canizalez, Cecilia Navarrete, and my foreskin, and also John Frusciante, and Sonic Youth

TE: How long did it take you to prepare that set? How long did you work on it for?

EG: I didn’t really work on a set, I just messed around the past two days with the setup I had kind of, and I just kind of decided to just wing it and that’s what happened.

TE: Will you do more sets like that in the future?

EG: I think I want to but with people to accompany me. Just kind of fuck around and make sound.

myspace.com/elvisgalvez

WAKE UP!

Since I am crippled, sick, and encouraged, I am bringing back the blog. First few posts will be mini interviews with Elvis Is Dead, DEaf, Sunrise Owl, Emerald Lounge, and Backseat Bingo. I recently caught the show at Silver Factory Studios featuring all 5 bands/performers, which kicked ass and proved to be a talent-filled night. Special thanks to my good friend Christian Rivera for taking pictures on his cell phone since my 'ol camera let me down that night. Hope you enjoy what's to come, don't forget to go to shows!