The Soft Pack

The Soft Pack are a fantastic band from LA by way of SD. If you like your garage rock with California cool then Soft Pack are the band for you.

What are your plans for the year? You all released your self titled debut, that must have been nice to get out. Any plans for further recording? Do you know what day you are playing Coachella? I am coming back to see Coachella and I am excited to see Soft Pack.

Brian: Once we finish up the current tour we're on in a week or so, we're going to be taking a bit of time off to get started on writing our next full length. We're really excited about doing some new stuff, and we already have a heap of new ideas to work with. Maybe even do an ep or something in the next few months? We'll be playing Coachella on Sunday, which we couldn't be more stoked about. Pavement is one of our favorites, and we are certainly looking forward to some other bands as well. I personally am extremely pale-skinned, and am not particularly looking forward to the sunburn situation. I am going to be as red as a lobster, I'm sure of it.

Who do you all look to for inspiration? The band has a classic garage band sound. Where the songs are urgent and fast, but they are also fun and have serious hooks. What goes into recording? Does the band like to play the songs live for a while then record?

Brian: We all have our personal favorites, but the band was formed out of huge inspiration from Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Matt Lamkin is a Fall fanatic, Matty is a Replacements maniac, Dave is a Sly Stone psycho, and I am kind of a Bowie freak. Whether or not that comes out in our sound is debatable. We also like a lot of garage stuff as well, but spend much more time listening to Grace Jones and Big Boys lately. Recording the record took a lot of love and attention to being faithful to our live sound. I guess we achieved something there. We definitely captured a nice little document of where we were at as a band last summer. If we can help it, we will have songs kicking around in the live set for a while before they're recorded. Sometimes, we have to finish them for the record in the studio though, which can be either a good or bad thing depending on the end result.

You all are apart of the San Diego scene, can you describe that? Seems like SD has a great scene with bands like Wavves, Crocodiles, etc. coming out with fantastic music. I heard you all are now living in LA is that true? How is LA different from SD?

Brian: San Diego has always had something going on, even if the rest of the world wasn't noticing. It's a great town. Three of us were born there and spent a long time living there before we moved to Los Angeles. L.A. has been really great though--great bands, great friends--I still miss S.D. though, and we all have some really great friends there as well. I used to play in bands with the Crocodiles boys for many years, actually. We have spent a lot of time in a van together, and know way too much dirt about one another.

The band has put out fantastic videos, how did these come about? Did you all come up with the concepts yourselves/direct the videos yourselves?

Brian: I believe Matt is mostly responsible for the "Extinction" video, but I wasn't in the band yet. The one for "Answer to Yourself" was shot at Matt and Matty's old work, a pizza place in Del Mar, CA. That was kind of more collaborative with us all, but with Matt and our good friend, Felipe Lima doing most of it. Felipe also shot us on the beach for "Down on Loving" and has done a lot of other incidental videos. The most recent one for "C'mon" was done with our buddy Michael Reich of Videothing.com fame. We have some very talented friends who have been cool enough to help us out with all of that stuff. I myself don't have the technical know-how to take care of it.

Panda Teeth

Panda Teeth are an electronic group from Milwaukee. He oozes summer ambient/chillwave/lo-fi electronic awesomeness.

What goes into making a song? Do you find your self humming at tune and develop it into a song or do you sit down and consciously try to come up with something?

Sometimes I will end up humming a tune or coming up with a melody, but I haven't really used any of those for panda teeth songs yet. Usually I'll just sit down with my gear, put on some headphones, make some sounds and see where I think the songs should go from there. The writing process for panda teeth was born out of necessity. I moved to Milwaukee and had no band mates, but I did have a few effects pedals, an old casio CT-310, a Gameboy I got from a friend, a delay pedal with a looping feature and some drums. I just started looping parts, adding drums and going from there. It was all just experimenting with nothing really to go on. I'd never even heard of Fuck Buttons back then.

The songs I have heard have a definite lo-fi/glo-fi/chillwave sound, but aren't really any of those style. Which to me is refreshing, because if I hear one more song that is trying to be nostalgic I might go out of my mind. What do you think of these scene and where your music may fit into it?

That's really flattering, thanks! Trying to fit my songs into any certain style isn't part of my writing process at all, so it's good to hear that they come out sounding a little all over the map. If my music fits into the lo-fi chillwave scene I'm cool with that. I haven't listened to much chillwave yet but I've definitely dug what I have heard.

What goes into naming your songs? I could be reading too much into it, but on Fuck Mountain you have references to Life Aquatic, Pulp Fiction, and Arrested Development. I personally always like references bands make to other songs/tv shows/movies.

You're actually reading into the song titles perfectly. Not all my songs are tv/movie references, but Fuck Mountain definitely has references to Life Aquatic, Arrested Development, and Arsenic and Old Lace. What did you think was the Pulp Fiction reference? I'm pretty sure there's no Pulp Fiction reference in there, but there should have been. That's a great film. When it comes to naming the songs I usually like titles that read like quotes that have been taken out of context to the point of being absurd. Only some of them are actual references though, the rest of them I just come up with.

How have you released most of your music? It looks like you have mostly released stuff on tape, is that true? Do you like tape releases? Any plans to release stuff on vinyl? I have recently started to buy tapes again because bands are putting out awesome limited run tapes and they are way cheaper than vinyl.

I've only released two albums so far, but they've been released in both CD and cassette formats. I love tape releases, and definitely plan on releasing some vinyl, and probably even re-releasing the past albums on vinyl as well. Tape and vinyl just have this really warm, organic sound to them. I usually don't like CDs as a format because they've always just felt cheap to me. The only time I'll usually buy a CD is if it's the only way I can get a band's music, or if it's got some really unique limited run qualities to it. It seems like far too often people just upload the CD, listen to the music on their computer and take a glance at the album artwork, while the CD itself gets put on a shelf. If that's how someone likes to listen to music that's fine, it's definitely convenient, but when I'm at home I'd much rather put on a record or put in a tape. Going through the motions of physically looking through and picking out what you want to listen to is pretty satisfying.

Whats the Milwauke scene like? I haven't heard much from the city with the exception of Rhymesayers rap and the Hold Steady. I can not imagine that those two bands are much of an influence on you. Is there a big electronic/art scene?

Rhymesayers and the Hold Steady are actually from Minneapolis, MN. Believe it or not I love the Hold Steady, but they haven't really influenced anything I've written so far. As far as the Milwaukee scene goes I'd say there definitely is a pretty strong music and art scene, but I'm not really associated with it at all, mainly because I haven't met many people in the area. When I moved to Milwaukee most of my previous musical connections and friends were in the Minneapolis area, so I play all of my shows either there or far out of town. It would be more convenient to play most of my shows here, but I love being on the road and meeting new people, so needing to travel to play shows is actually kind of nice.

Teebs

Teebs produces great dubbed out beats. These are the sounds of 3 am Saturday nights. I can not wait for this full length to drop!

How was the Kode 9 show? I saw that you were playing with Kode 9 and Dr. Strangeloop. It looked like that show was epic.

The brainfeeder show a bit ago was wooooow. amazing line up. so many inspiring people in one place. the energy was so high even before the show started..like planets aligning or something.

What inspires you to make music? I have read that FlyLo is very influenced by his family and that Strangeloop seems to try and create the sounds he sees. Your sound is similar to theirs, but still retains its own unique identity. I know that you teamed up with Jackhigh, how did that come about? Are there any other releases on the horizon? Do you prefer to play producer or DJ?

a lot of things are inspirational to me...could be anything but i feel as though i make music because i love the way it feels when your making it. You get to enter a place and when you leave you bring back a part of it into the sound

jackhigh and i got together by mutual friends 1000names and we just started making tunes together from there. Yeah theres some compilation stuff coming and also my first LP for Brainfeeder.

between playing music producing or djin...i dig them all. It just depends on what mood im in i suppose.

You are a becoming a well known artist around LA, which came first music or art? To me your art and music are complimentary. The patterns and colors you use are what I imagine what the sounds would look like if it were a painting. Who are your influences in painting? Which do you prefer to do or do you find both equally satisfying just in different ways?

painting n drawing came first...and my influences are always changing there too. Lately ive caught myself eying twomblys stuff...or even just random kid drawings.

and i love doing both music n art...they kind of hit in waves due to work loads or just feeling but i go back n forth not painting for a while and thinkin of new things while i make tunes, or vice versa

I have read you are a skateboarder, is this true? Do you have any particular areas or styles you like to skate? I am a pretty awful skater, but have always found just cruising around the city on a board to be a lot of fun. A new natural rhythm develops as you push around and you start to see life in a different way. Has skateboarding influenced your music? I am currently listening to sunrise remedy and can imagine it being used for a skate/snowboard video.

yeah i enjoy skating a lot..i dont have as much time to do it though these days but its definitely always in the trunk of my car when opportunity strikes.

Screaming Females

According to reputable sources, Ted Leo, the Screaming Females are one of the best live acts around. If the live show is at all like their recordings, then we are all set. The Screaming Females are opening tonight for Ted Leo in Boston. I will for sure be there and get pictures for the blog. Below is my interview with them.

How is the tour going? Whats its like to tour with Ted Leo? I met him once and he is a super nice guy. He seems very supportive of his opening bands, tweeting photos from sets and similar stuff. What are your plans for the rest of the year? It looks like you have been recording how is that going? Can we expect a new album in the near future?

Jarrett: Tour has been great. Ted Leo and the guys in the Pharmacists are amazing people. They have been so great to us and we are truly excited to play with them every night. Also they fucking rock! They put on an unbelievable performance every night. We are going to be doing a lot more touring through June and then hopefully taking it easy for a little bit. We just finished up our fourth full length, called Castle Talk, which should be out in late summer. Then we will hit the road again.

What inspires your guys sound? There is some punk rock in it, but there are also hooks and melodies that seem closer to brit-pop, ie the Jam, Squeeze, stuff like that. I also can definitely hear a 80's hardcore influence and some riot grrl style. Then again I could be totally off base.

Jarrett: Our sound is what happens when the three of us get together in our basement and play music. We have no preconceived notions about what this band should sound like. That allows us to draw on all of our influences.

You all are from New Jersey, whats the scene like there? Part of this blog is to document regional scenes, so I am always interested in hearing what people have to say about where they come from. It seems like New Jersey's proximity to New York has meant there is always a fresh crop of new and talented bands.

Jarrett: Jersey's proximity to NYC definitely has an effect on the scene. New Brunswick, NJ, where we are from, is a college town that for an outsider would look to be completely lacking in young culture. There is only one legit venue and it is a 21+ bar. So most of the students can't go there. What has happened is that New Brunswick has one of the best basement show scenes in the country. Touring bands come through multiple times every week and there is a show almost every night. Because all of the shows are officially illegal not a lot of people outside the town know how awesome it is. I also have a feeling that there are a lot of people in town that don't know how awesome it is! Lots of Jersey people think they have to go to NYC to see a great show but it totally isn't that way. I think New Brunswick has some of the best shows I've ever been to.

What is your preferred venue? On your blog you have a bunch of youtube videos of the band playing a basement show in Philly. It looks like that show was awesome. Do you prefer smaller shows where everyone goes nuts to bigger more traditional shows where people act

appropriately?

Jarrett: Recently our label Don GIovanni Records ran a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. The label exists because of the New Brunswick basement scene and only releases bands that are connected to that. The idea was to run a show at a very traditional venue and show off how many people love these bands that don't often get attention from hip blogs and places like that. The crowd was amazing. People were dancing everywhere and our friends kept jumping up on stage and singing along. The point of this is that people having a great time and traditional venues can go together. We prefer to play all ages shows but for a number of reasons that isn't always possible.

Thanks!

Interview: Drug Wars

San Diego is the new hotbed for Southern California bands. Last week we profiled Crocodiles, this week say hello to Drug Wars. Drug Wars play fantastic post-punk recalling a noisier fugazi. They have a great sound and I can not wait for the new record.

Drug Wars has a very post-hardcore sound, what has influenced the bands to development? I know that San Diego had a rich history of post-hardcore from bands like Drive like Jehu to Plot to Blow Up Eiffel Tower to you all.

Well, all of us in the band come from different music backgrounds and when we started playing we kind of wanted to go outside the comfort zone of what we were all used to. Cory (Drums) grew up playing in rock and pop bands, whereas I grew up playing in punk and metal bands, and then tommy (vocals) and Brandon (Bass) always seem to be a tag team in every band they're in from Oi! to hardcore. When Cory and I started this project we kind of had to have a middle ground. We weren't exactly going for any specific style or anything, it all unfolded beat by beat as we went along. Now, it's very natural.

How do you like the SD scene? I found out about you all from Crocodiles who recommend the band. It seems like the scene is very supportive of each other. Have you found this to be the case?

It's funny that you mention Crocodiles because Welchez actually came up with the name Drug Wars for the band name when we were at a bar one night. I was kind of weary at first because I thought of the video game, but then I settled on it and was like, "Fuck Yeah. Drug Wars? Fuck Yeah". San Diego isn't really even a small city, it's like a big town. Everybody knows everybody. For the most part, it is pretty supportive because you're usually always going to see your friends bands play with whoever else happens to be coming to town that night. Plus, everybody is around all the time. For instance, you'll stop by a thrift store and see Rob Crowe dropping off physics books, then you'll get to eat dinner at a restaurant and John Reis is sitting at the table behind you, followed up with a trip to the bar where you run into a bunch of members from a myriad of other bands from around town.


What are your plans for the year? Any plans for a tour? It looks like you all have been recording an album, when would that come out?

So far this year we're working on album that's almost done. We're supposed to record a live session at the studio where we did our 7inch because he wants to start his own Peel Sessions type thing. And for touring... we all work full-time so anything thats more then a week or two has to be planned out far in advance. In june we're going to have a nice extended weekend trip up the coast, and then there have been talks about going out for a week or so in the fall, possibly on the east coast.

Wacka Flocka Flame

Dudes in my suite hate on him, but I love the Flame

PROFILE: Wacka Flocka Flame from dee vazquez on Vimeo.

Local Natives

I prolly post way too many Yours Truly videos, but they are too good.

I went to High School with these guys.