Let The Poison Out, the new record from The Beets, came out today. The band, from NYC, have stuck to the same formula that’s brought them attention in the past. Rest assured, the twanging nylon strings, slacker lyrics and lo-fi charm remain, but this time everything feels a little weirder. Eat No Dick 3, Preso Voy and Wipe It Off (as well as the Sybian Ride saga beneath) testify that things have got real dirty.

To celebrate the release, and find out what on earth is going on, we sent over a few questions to the band and they didn’t disappoint.

The Beets – Doing as I Do by hardlyartrecords

What was the recording process for the new record? How long did it take to record?

The record process was pretty simple, we usually practice all the songs to be recorded in the weeks coming to the actual session, then we just got in there and banged out the record in two days.  We recorded it live with some vocal overdubs after.  We like recording live just doing 1 or 2 takes and moving on.  I cant understand bands going in and taking weeks to record,  i’d go crazy. Sometimes it’s better when you don’t think.

Where did the name Let the Poison Out come from?

The name is a Howard Stern reference,  on the show there is a machine called the Sybian that they get women to ride. The Sybian is a masturbation device designed for use by females, developed by dance instructor Dave Lampert in the 1980s. It consists of a saddle-like seat containing an electric motor connected to a rod that protrudes from a hole in the center. Well they had been having Sybian rides for some time but never met the inventor, so for the 123rd Sybian ride they have the inventor come in.  To their surprise, in walks a creepy 79 year old man,  anyhow in the show the inventor has a porn actress named Raven ride the Sybian, and he sits on the front with her facing her, real close.  And while she’s feeling the glory that is the Sybian he talks her through it with quotes to spare: fuck me Raven, let the poison out, get the poison out of your system, fuck me Raven.  Etc.   Lives were changed forever, google it. Priceless.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOCMc88qPig&feature=related- Not THE Let The Poison Out video, but she’s definitely getting cured.)

How does this record differ from your previous albums? 

The biggest difference would be the recording Quality, this time around we recorded at Marlborough Farms with Gary Olsen.  We still recorded onto tape but this reel was much larger which made for a considerable jump in fidelity, it’s by far nowhere near hi-fi, but it is crisper.  Aside from that it’s pretty much  the same ongoing themes we have in terms of lyrics and music style. You can consider it The Beets Vol. 3, on the never ending journey through fuckall.

What were your influences on the new record?

Ham and cheese sandwiches, Eduardo Mateo, Howard Stern, comic books, The Ramones, Queens NY, life, blood, guts, spit, and puke.

The production on Let The Poison Out sounds sort of light. Do you consider yourself “lo-fi”? 

We consider ourselves the best band in America.

Do you see yourselves as part of a movement or a scene?

We definitely don’t belong to any sort of movement per say, we have met great people playing music in Brooklyn and Queens and found a bit of a niche here with the lo-fi tag, or the Brooklyn scene, thrown into the garage rock scene for a bit.  I don’t really know where we belong really.  We feel we have a lot more in common in terms of personality and view of life with these great friends we’ve made in the scene but in terms of music we stand alone.  Not in a negative sort of way but we’re just doing something different from the other bands.

Are you guys listening to any contemporary English bands? 

WETDOG, Country Teasers, Your Mother in a Handbag.

Any dates in the UK coming up?

We hope to hit Europe next year, there’s been some interest thus far and with the release of the new album hopefully we can pick up some steam and make it a reality, if there’s a booking agent out there come find us.

Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans in the UK?

We never thought anyone outside of NY would ever hear us, or that we’d have the opportunity to put out a record, now we are on #3.  It really blows my mind, and if I have anything to say to the fans – you have made my days, we have bloody FANS halfway across the godamn world, my stars! So to the handful out there: Keep keeping on and a baba booey to you all. 

Let The Poison Out is available now from Hardly Art.

This interview first appeared in Psych Magazine, published 12/09/2011.

How would you describe the Strange Boys?

Phillip Sambol: Far flung.

Further flung than most bands?

Ryan Sambol: Unfortunately, no. PS: I meant that in a geographical sense. By the time this is published Ryan will be in SF, Greg in Montreal, Mike in LA and I will be in Olympia..

To me, Be Brave sounds like it came from the lifestyle you lead when you’re touring. There are bursts of adrenaline, like Friday in Paris, then there are really reflective, introverted songs that feel sort of like hangovers, like All You Can Hide Inside. The Strange Boys are a band that tour hard. Has this been a defining influence?

PS: Yes. RS: For a long time they’ve been one in the same thing; the lives we lead and the music we make. Be Brave and Live Music both reflect that.

So this is where the name Live Music came from? Do you think it’s possible to separate the music you make from the lifestyle you lead?

RS: Maybe, we haven’t tried it yet.

The line-up has been quite fluid over the last few years. Tim Presley played guitar for a while, then there was Jenna DeWitt on vocals and saxophone. Who could the Strange Boys not function without?

PS: I don’t think any of us could function without each other. RS: It’s tough to say because when someone’s around and in the group, you can’t imagine it without them. It seems whomever is there is completely necessary at the time.

Coming from an Englishman, your music sounds distinctly American. Are there many English bands that you take inspiration from?

PS: The Stones. RS: The Beatles, The Fall, (Van Morrison, does that count as English?) Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker.

PS: Oh, and Joe Cocker too.

Have you played with any English bands while you’ve been over here that have caught your eye?

PS: We always try to play with Sex Beet when we come over to your side. We also played with Spectrals last time we were there and they were quite good.

Kate Moss launched a collection for Topshop with a video of her dancing to Be Brave. Do you mind your music being used for commercial purposes?

PS: No. RS: Depends on how it pays, but never for evil.

A lot of the interviews we’ve read with you don’t seem to go too well. The questions are usually longer than your answers (ahem). Is there something that annoys you about interviews or interviewers?

PS: Expectations. RS: It’s the subject matter. We like thinking, but it’s hard to think of an answer to meaningless questions.

Do you think there is much point to an interview?

RS: It would depend on the questions and answers, but it’s good to try.

Do you think you can explain your music in words? If so, how would you explain The Strange Boys?

RS: You could, but what’s the point.

There’s a video of a pretty rowdy show White Fence played with you on your last tour. Do you find the way you’re being received live is changing? Are crowds receiving you more energetically now than a few years back?

RS: Yes, but I think knowing a song helps, and that only comes with time. Also, the craziest show you can play is an all ages LA show.

Do you think the Strange Boys sound best live or in the studio?

RS: They’re just different things. The studio for us is always an early version of a song, the stage is the succeeding versions mixed with the way we feel at the time.

Does it get ugly on stage if you’re feeling bad?

RS: Only if you want it to. Sometimes you can make the easy mistake of wanting it to. Other times it can heal you. PS: I would say only if you let it. At the beginning of a tour or a studio session you are excited and try to make the most of everyday, but by the end of either you are only focused on the performance and everything else sort of falls by the wayside.

Which contemporary American bands do you like that you think we should check out across the pond?

PS: White Fence, Natural Child, King Tuff, Denney and the Jets.

These bands come from a traditional rock and roll blueprint. Do you think this is the best way for young people to express themselves in America?

RS: No, it’s just contemporary personal taste. PS: As Willie Dixon said, “Blues are the roots, all the other musics are the fruits.”

The American Radio recording you did for AV Scion hints at a few different directions that he Strange Boys could go in, but some of the sounds, like reggae and salsa, are radical departures from the records you’ve put out in the past. Does the new record incorporate any of these sounds?

RS: Not in such an extreme way like on American radio, but some new things show up.

What sort of sounds can we expect? I have the expectation that the new record will sound a lot more country, it seems like a natural progression from some of the sounds on Be Brave.

RS: If you want to fully enjoy it, lose your expectations. PS: We never felt like a “garage” band, which is how we’ve been perceived because we are on In The Red, I think Live Music will put that to rest.

What have been the main influences, musically or otherwise, for the new record?

RS: Friends mostly, the Grateful Dead and Nashville..

Have you spent much time in Nashville? The name conjures images of Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Townes Van Zandt: quintessential American musicians that fully lived their music. Do you see yourselves in this tradition?

RS: I see myself in a suit and a hat, but haven’t found ones that fit.

What has been the recording process for the new album?

PS: We did a session with Mike McHugh in California last December, and a session with Jim Eno in Texas this April, took the best tracks from each, put them together and that’s the album.

Do you prefer analogue equipment to digital? What equipment do you record with?

RS: This one was mostly tape and some digital. All analog at the distillery with Mike, and a mix of analog and digital with Jim at public hi-fi. We try to use what’s easiest and what sounds the best.

Do you have any preference for how the album should be listened to?

RS: In or on the AM.

Photography Coley Brown

Words Joe Stevens

This article was first published in Psych Magazine, released 12/09/2011

If Valerie Solanas was still here, she’d be writing Thomas Cohen, Bradley Baker, Samuel Kilcoyne, Huw Webb and Melissa Rigby on 5 bullets. Not only did S.C.U.M pinch her psycho-satirical cock-dicing manifesto for their name but – as a band-cum-artwork – they’ve demonstrated the kind of Warholian wiring of arrogance, self-effacement and aes- theticism that she felt needed a good shooting. The new single, Whitechapel has been received like aid packages in warzones. The immediate question it prompts is what, since their rampage round the London live circuit came to an end last summer, have the band been up to? When we meet them to talk this over, just after the UK leg of their tour with The Kills. How was it?

Kilcoyne: Even though we’d heard the songs about fif- teen times already from doing the European tour, com- ing back to England and hearing them was fantastic. Doing a support tour does blow your mind when you play with bands like The Kills who’ve got everything down to a tee. It kind of inspired us to make our own show that much bigger and louder.

Rigby: Yeah, I saw it as easing us into the reality of do- ing our own tour ‘cause we had no pressure, we knew there’d be people there every night.

Baker: Leeds was probably the best night, we went on their tour bus.

Rigby: Us being us, we got really excited about the fact that they have beds and drinks brought to them at the click of a button, and uh, I don’t know, we realised how different it can be. Jamie was saying he spent five years, before he joined The Kills, in a splitter van that had no windows. To talk to the driver you had to tap on the piece of wood in between, so you realise it’s not that bad. But yeah, it was great hanging out with them.

Your live set is almost all new material, what are we to ex- pect from the album?

Cohen: I think, without knowing what people’s expecta- tions are, that it’s something that they will be able to live with a lot more than they think that they could. It’s a record that you can exist with rather than something that happens, which I don’t think people would expect.

Rigby: Yeah I think either way, if people have hated us or followed us, they’re going to be surprised. People probably haven’t heard anything since Signals [the band’s missives from different corners of Europe that they release as free downloads every now and again]. That was like going into a studio, “everyone pick up your instrument and play”. It’s the complete opposite to that.

Their debut is, like their previous work, a bold-sounding affair, but this time it’s backed-up with a recently acquired technical prowess and attention to structure. It’s a happy marriage of art and pop, to borrow a cliché, in the vein of OK Computer or Wire’s 154 – only sounding nothing like either of those records. Recorded with Ken Thomas, pro- ducer of Sigur Ross, Public Image and Cocteau Twins, it mines 60s space-rock, garage and 90s psychedelic haze, shooting this and other influences – Lee Hazelwood, De- peche Mode, Neil Young – through their own synthesizer and bass-heavy prism. Is it a rock and roll record?

Kilcoyne: I’d say that, yeah, rock and roll. You bring in all these things like synthesizers, but when were syn- thesizers not rock and roll? When were Kraftwerk not rock and roll? When were Hawkwind, Silver Machine not rock and roll? We bring all these elements into it but we still fucking pound it with the same thing.

That jars with the image some people have of you as a kind of pretentious art-school conceit?

Kilcoyne: We didn’t realise the level of criticism you could get for being honest. The way we’ve always seen groups play is with complete seriousness; you love what you’re doing, you do it and you do it for a reason. What the fuck?

We’re pretentious because we’re not jumping on our amps and stuff? Yeah we’re doing this thing with holy water be- cause we’re in a fucking church! We’re not artists by the right of going to art college, we don’t write down our the- sis of how we perform, we don’t give a shit about that. You show that you give a fuck about what you do. If you care about that and you show some seriousness or if you have some imagination about it, you’re suddenly ‘middle-class’ or pretentious and it’s like well, come on, for fuck’s sake!

The impression from some areas of the press, first time round, of bored public school boys is rather far off the mark and in person, S.C.U.M are more down-to-earth than their cosmic stage show. A discussion of blogs combining food and bands proves a case in point.

Cohen: Me and Sam were going to do something like that, but other people’s food. Just about what other types of food that other people have that look really attractive.

Rigby: We were going to do S.C.U.M dine with me but we never got round to it, I think it would be great, Tom’s been practicing, last night.

Cohen: I made that soup again – you remember [the soup to which he’s referring is a Thai tofu and vegetable soup he made last summer on one of the last nights recording the album]. Yeah, no that soup was good but the ingredi- ents were terrible and there’s a Chinese supermarket in Dalston and all the ingredients were really good Edgar. You know those dumplings you get as starters, they had those as well.

To return to music quickly, what have you lot been listening to recently?

Cohen: I’ve taken a lack of music turn, like you know when you lose your IPod headphones and suddenly life is all life and no music – that’s happening. Hahaha! No but, Scott IV’, I’ve lived with that since Winter. ‘My life’s a vain pur- suit of meaningless miles’… Yeah. Ask Sam, he’s one big Psychkick.

Kilcoyne: These guys, Huw and Mel, have always been into Neil Young and introduced me to Neil Young and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I was really into the country sound, grew my hair long and made a CD of stuff that I felt they’d love, which was kind of country psychedelic music.

From going through that I found a record by Gene Clark which was No Other. It fucking blew my head off; his best record, better than The Byrds, one of the most, incredible, beautiful… well, everything about it blew my mind.

Webb: For me, it’s been T2 (the psychedelic band not the bassline/garage producer responsible for Heart- broken). I’ve been massively into that. My favourite thing about it is heavy guitars, with acoustic guitars, and piano; all three of my favourite sounds all together. It’ll all Work Out in Boomland is probably up there with my favourite records of all time.

Rigby: Shit! Um, for me it’s – and I heard it quite re- cently- have you heard Susan Christie? I should play it, it’s great. The record’s called Paint a Lady and it was recorded in 1970 but it never got released ‘cause it wasn’t commercial enough. Finders Keepers picked it up in 2006 and it only got released then. I think they describe it as psychedelic folk music and already, hav- ing heard it about 5 times the whole way through, it’s probably in my top five. I searched to get the LP on the internet for ages and couldn’t find it or it was fifty quid which I didn’t have spare, umm, but then I found it on some really random site for £15 or something, the whole album is amazing, you should definitely check it out.

Baker: I’m definitely swaying towards, like, soundtrack music. Definitely the Enio Morricone Singles Collec- tion, disk one.

Everyone Laughs.

S.C.U.M Released their debut album Again Into Eyes on Mute on 12 September 2011.

Photography Sanna Charles

Words Edgar Smith

This article was first published in Psych Magazine, released 12/09/2011

It’s a gruesome sight, the chimney of a pet crematorium. Margate’s a sort of dreary town as it is, but the sooty tip of a crematoriums chimney is enough to turn your stomach. I’m not really sure why Two Wounded Birds have brought us here; I’m even less sure why they’ve brought a dog with them. I’m beginning to understand where the dark material for songs like Night Patrol and My Lonesome has come from though. And Johnny Danger, lead-singer and song- writer, looks like he belongs in this sort of place, with his jet-black bowl cut and antique leather jacket. And boy, is he a talker. Once you set him off, it’s hard to reel him in. Fortunately, a tape recorder was on hand. What follows is an edited version of his stream of consciousness speech that began with Spector and ended somewhere in space.

Johnny Danger:

I Love Elvis. Who doesn’t appreciate that croon? It’s like velvet. When Elvis sings songs like ‘Love Me Tender’ and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ it’s instantly captivating. He is incredible. Everything about him is perfect, he couldn’t have been human. I can’t sit and talk about Elvis all day. I could, but let’s move on. I love The Beach Boys, but everyone knows that. Brian Wilson is my hero, and I think he is the most incredible songwriter. The Surfer Girl and Shut Down Vol 2 albums contain some of the best pop songs ever made. Surfer Girl, In My Room, Hawaii, Fun Fun Fun, the list is endless. I think he has the best ear for melody I’ve ever heard. Also, that first Doors record is just out of this world. There is so much going on in there, Ray’s organ is crazy. Those songs too. Jim’s voice on End Of The Night, Crystal Ship, it’s just a beautiful tone. And again, the recording of it is great, so much space to it. The Ramones have some of the best songs I’ve ever heard too. It’s brutal, but full of melody and to the point. There’s so much other stuff as well: The Cramps, Blondie, Les Paul, The Beatles, I’d be talking forever…

Rock and Roll should be fun, feral and as off the cuff as possible. Especially when recorded, it shouldn’t be laboured over. I always hear the excitement in those early Rock and Roll records, which is why it’s such a pleasure to listen to it in the first place. Rock and Roll, for me, is just about doing what you want to do when you want to do it and how you want to do it without giving a fuck about anything else.

There’s something special about listening to older records, not just because it’s had time to mature as time has gone by, etched onto our consciousness, but because for me there was something special in the way those records were captured to tape. I like how it feels when you listen to it, it’s like you’re in the room with the band, right in the centre of everything that’s going on, things just come out from left and right and there are dynamics in the sounds you’re hearing, every instrument isn’t at the same level like some of the records made today. It feels like a real event, recording on tape, something physical and special. I also like recording instruments live all together. I’d much rather get a minimal number of takes done and get one that has got a good bounce or feel to it, rather than rehearsing it to death and sounding like the players aren’t interested. Of course that can’t be done for every song, but I think it’s good to get feel rather than dead on perfection, you can’t feel anything from that. I like reverb a lot. I like it used in the studio for certain types of songs. Having a drum kit with some good plate reverb sounds great and really gets a great live sounding kit. I like Phil Spector’s recording techniques, I really like his production on the Paris Sister’s version of ‘ I Love How You Love Me’ because the vocal is the big thing in the centre and there is this rumbly almost trebleless bass that kicks in and the kit sounds really quiet but still really big. It’s just a great sounding record. What I’m trying to get at is that when you hear it, it makes you feel something because the recording is so honest and accessible. When we record, the way a record sounds is just as important as the song we are recording. Working in the studio is really exciting.

I know the rest of the band don’t share my views on this and they think I’m crazy for believing it, but I think there are alien ruins or bases or things on the moon. Stuff that hasn’t originated from earth. Why do I think this? Well, I think NASA has tampered a lot of photos and I think there are anomalies in videos and photos that show things that are undeniable. We have to stop pretending we know everything about space because of what we are told by NASA. They wouldn’t tell us if they found that kind of stuff on the Moon would they? Can you imagine the panic? The religious implications? They gotta control the herd.

Together Forever is out through Moshi Moshi this Halloween.

I’ve never met Ryan Howe, aka Punks on Mars. We’ve chatted enough via email, but I’ve never actually laid eyes on him. I don’t know if you’ve ever got to know someone without ever meeting them or even seeing a photograph of them, but it’s impossible to stop yourself from creating a mental image based on the triggers your correspondent sets off. From our first few emails, I imagined Ryan as your typical lean, hard-nosed underground artist, even though his brand of futuristic, glam tinged 80s punk is unique. From there onwards, things began to change. Ryan has a way with words that allows him to say things like “posi-chill Reich” and “glam-punk mimesis” without sounding like a crank. As he outlined his ambitions for Punks on Mars (which are an Orwellian nightmare of mind-control, brain washing and subliminal messaging) another, more sinister image began to form in my mind’s eye: I began to imagine Ryan as less of a person than a control unit, a brain, preserved in a glass vat and connected to a synthesiser and a laptop via a mo- tor and a speed-drip. Listen to Punks on Mars’ self-titled debut and you’ll begin to understand. Read the interview below and it’ll make even more sense; Punks on Mars is an anomaly: an ami pro, floppy disk parody of a celebrity obsessed, vitamin-tab fuelled, interplanetary future.

How would you introduce Punks on Mars?

If I couldn’t play them a song I would say it’s cartoon hyper-glam, or parody punk. ‘Elvis and the Chipmunks.’ I have a 7” out on Zoo Music called Hey! Tiffany that represents the most crystallized version of that.

In terms of genre it kind of shifts. For a while I was re- cording neo-surfer cyber music (as Luke Perry) with arpeggiators and programmed drum machines and I’m definitely still into that but it’s kind of more about full band glampunk mimesis with junkie rat techno mo- ments on the most recent releases I’ve done. But I think it’s punk facelifted, even though I’m not really part of a punk community at all. It’s punk to me because it’s expressly not ‘chill’; it does not emerge from a tropi- cal vibe context; it’s not moody or like background trip- py music or anything like that. That shit’s totally like dominating a portion of the (underground) market right now which is cool and there are probably a lot of good bands that get sucked into that but it’s like a posi-chill Reich where everything’s sick and we’re all down with everybody and nobody cares to distinguish their art. Seriously the world of music and music criticism is like totally California Uber Alles-style right now. Total soft- Zen fascism. The music is so complacent and it doesn’t have anything to do with being commercial or sounding that way; commercial music is totally sick. It’s super content with this hazy chill escapism that’s just like blah-ed out to the max.

The sound itself though is definitely evolving to HD lev- els: totally HI-FI FOR THE MASSES. It’s still punk when it’s more HD…I feel like lo-fi has brainwashed me to an extent and now I want to react to that with some more hi-fi action. The reality is that you can deep fry anything with tape and people will probably be stoked but it’s like people aren’t hearing the actual music that’s there, just the process. It’s like, “sick, yeah, this was like on a VHS in my parent’s basement huhuuhu, GARFIELD SIMPSONS huhuhuh.”

The brainwashing potential of digital recording is way heavier a medium to work with anyway, which is some- thing I’m interested in. It can appeal to people that haven’t been informed by blogs that lo-fidelity is cool.

It seems like you’re channelling the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy radio shows and Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds type sci-fi with a glam rock bent. Is this accurate?

Punks on Mars, compared to my other projects, is kind of like a repository for adolescent dreams that I really had and continue to have (like Elvis in the mirror style) or ones that are fabricated for art’s sake or ripped from an alterna- tive bubblegum teen drama universe. I’m definitely about repping certain influences (e.g. Gary Glitter), like certain glam and Anglophilia. Like Anglophilia 4 times removed. Whenever I play a show I’m serenading the queen. Defi- nitely into the Bay City Rollers as a kind of hyper-saccha- rine pop brainwashing outfit that transmit pro-abstinence messages in their music. I’ve also found inspiration in Weird Al’s music recently too. I’m totally down with the way he appropriates tracks or will just parody Devo to make his own track (i.e. dare to be stupid).

Mars is just the frontier of parodic forms… The colonies on Mars parody earth culture. The forthcoming Punks on Mars self-title is definitely tinged with a radio-drama kind of format (complete with jingles) though I’m not familiar with The Hitch-Hikers Guide. The radio is definitely rel- evant as a romantic idea (and we still have it even though it’s XM digital) as a platform for mass dreaming.

Your online presence is quite discreet. There’s no Punks on Mars Myspace, Bandcamp or website. What’s the reasoning behind this?

That’s kind of a result of just being scattered but it’s also about liberating the identity of the music so that it’s perceived in an alien way. But now I’m realizing that net presence is just an outgrowth of releasing mu- sic… It’s actually sick because you have total access to propagate your image and just spam the blogworld.

The Ratgum Records blog is the site for my personal record label and is going to be geared towards pseudo promotion and infomercials for records a la Target Vid- eo but ratted out to the max. It’s going to be a way to further manifest the performative part of the music. I’m so tired of this idea that like its cool to pretend your re- cord was like dug out of a 100 year old garbage can and is some like rare artefact. I mean, I like that idea but I also like all aspects of the pop world and how stars’ identities are micromanaged way beyond the moviesthey appear in and the records they make…headshots, press releases, commercial appearances, charity ben- efits, billboards, fan clubs, the works.

The first Ratgum release is going to be the Punks on Mars self-titled 12” which I did the art for and stuff… There will also be videos and commercials to go with the release. That record is definitely more in the kind of public access on Mars realm but it’s also kind of my definitive pop-art statement to-date. Eventually I want to produce other artists and bands and kind of develop a cottage production company where all the content is filtered through my head. Eventually all of my mu- sic (and affiliated products) will be presented under the Ratgum label (even if another label is putting it out) as way to allow my art to be fragmented but also traceable back to me…

 

There’s a contradiction somewhere between the names Total Slacker and Thrashin’. Lying in bed at 11am on a Wednesday morning, too lazy to make a cup of coffee, that’s total slacking. Ripping a guitar to pieces with hot licks like you haven’t heard since Mark Knopfler (haha, Slash is too easy! Go to the NME for that shit!), total slacking it aint!  What a smug pedant I’ve become. The bottom line is Thrashin’ comes out this Monday  and it’s a great album. Pick up a copy of Psych Magazine (it’s free, tightwad) for our official review. In the meantime, here’s what the band have to say for themselves.

Total Slacker, what’s wrong with the Salvation Army? (Track 9 of Thrashin’, called Stealing From the Salvation Army, has the chorus “Stealing from the Salvation Army is the greatest steal of all ‘cus you’re stealing from the Republican Parties.” I think it’s parties, as in Republican shindigs…)

We don’t really like that it contributes monies that are made from donations, to the republican campaign funds. If most people really knew that, I think they would think twice about that organization. 

Total Slacker’s Thrashin’ is out through Marshall Teller on Monday 26th September. Go out and get it!

As the first issue of Psych Magazine comes together, we’re relying on our LA correspondent, Mariana Timony, to bring you the latest and greatest from across the pond. Think of contemporary garage and your mind will probably automatically think San Francisco, but as these missives are proving, there is definitely something to be said about what’s happening in Los Angeles at the moment. Read on, stranger…

No fear of retromania? Check out the Allah-Las, a Los Angeles four-piece whose debut single “Catamaran” wouldn’t have been out of place on the record racks in 1966, slotted right between the latest releases from the Monkees and the Beach Boys. Those two bands aren’t terrible frames of reference for describing the sound of the Allah-Las, a warm mix of surf and garage pop awash in the hazy glow of Southern California sunshine. The group has gained accolades in Los Angeles for their breezy take on mid-sixties musical themes, but the Las aren’t interested in being a revival band. Rather, they’re about capturing the spirit of the era with a little help from vintage gear and the golden ear of friend and producer Nick Waterhouse, but mostly drawing from their own experiences as life-long record nerds and dedicated surfers who take their boards on tour with them. You can stream the “Catamaran” single on bandcamp (garage compilation nerds will recognize b-side as an updated spin on a classic track by the Roots), but you really should try and get your hands on the thing itself, if only to replicate the thrill of discovery that once accompanied the unearthing of a rare 45. It’s an artifact of the analog age that the Allah-Las are trying to evoke, one rock and roll song at a time.

Allah-las Guitarist Pedrum Siadatian (the only non-surfer in the bunch) answered a few questions by e-mail about the band, their sound, and where they’d like most to play in UK. I couldn’t believe it either, but that’s one gig nobody will want to miss.

When and where and why did you start your band?

Spencer (Dunham: bass) and I met and became friends working at Amoeba Records (on Sunset Boulevard) back in 2008. We both made music on our own so we got together and played a bit in Spencer’s parents’ basement. We liked the way things were going but needed drums and vocals/guitar so Spencer called up Matt (Correia: drums) and Miles (Michaud: guitar), both of whom he had been friends with since high school. Matt had never played drums, Spence had never played bass, and none of us had ever been in a serious band before, but when we got together, it seemed promising. After about 2 practices, Spencer’s old roommate called him up and asked if we wanted to play his Halloween house party. Very bad show.

What are your main musical influences? Have they changes as you’ve gone along?

In the beginning we were more influenced by punkier garage stuff, like the Gories. We have a ton of influences that run the gamut genre-wise, but we just try to write solid rock and roll songs. Get lots of Seeds, Byrds, and 13th Floor Elevators comparisons.

What are your main non-musical influences?

Los Angeles. Someone recently wrote a little thing about us saying that we sound like the L.A. that people daydream about, rather than the L.A. that actually exists. I think that’s a good way to capture what we’re going for.

You’ve picked a band name that some could find controversial. Was that a deliberate choice?

Not setting out to offend anyone with the name. Just stuck with it cause it’s somewhat clever and sounds nice when you say it. Think Shangri-Las.

How do you approach your songwriting?

We don’t really have a single approach to songwriting. Usually someone brings an idea to the table and we go from there.

Your music has a very West Coast, 60′s feel to it. Do you think this sound will translate outside of California?

Yeah, but it depends. The French would probably be more receptive to our sound than Kazakhs.

You only have one record out right now. When can we expect the next Allah-Las record/single to arrive?

Expect our next 45 single off Pres Records in a few months.

You play a lot of shows, especially in California. What’s an Allah-Las live show like?

It’s hard to say from our perspective what our shows are like, but we like to take people to another time. We’d love to play Europe in the future, but for now we’ll be doing a small West Coast tour in September.

You guys said before that you feel like a lot of people don’t get your band, but the shows I’ve attended have been packed. So do you think that’s changing any?

Things have definitely picked up in the last few months. I think we’re just getting our shit together.

What do you guys do outside of playing music?

I don’t surf, but everybody else in the band does. We all dig the outdoors and good company.

Where would you look forward to playing the most if you toured the UK?

We wanna play in the middle of Stonehenge.

What’s the music scene like in L.A. right now?

There’s something for everybody, just gotta find your place in it all.

Where did you record your first single?

We recorded our single at the Distillery in Costa Mesa (Orange County) with Nick Waterhouse as producer and spiritual advisor. First pressing of 500 is almost sold out, but a repress is on the way.

Mariana Timony

Any place you find bored kids with good enough drugs you’ll hear the sound of weirdo kids banging out their regional update on doped up psychedelia. In Southern California, the place is Orange County and the band is Cosmonauts. Though the 4-piece hails from a quiet suburb, their music is anything but. The songs on Cosmonauts’ debut LP (Permanent Records) are a noisy blend of Brit pop hooks and surf riffs that melt into reverb-soaked jams, all played as loudly as possible. Live? Well, let’s just say this is one band that’s not unfamiliar with having the plug pulled on them.

I caught up with Cosmonauts guitarist and singer Alexander Ahmadi for a quick chat about Orange County, the current craze for cassette tapes, and why guitar pedals will never be as good as an amp turned all the way up. You can stream Cosmonauts’ newish EP and forthcoming single on their bandcamp.

How long have Cosmonauts been in existence?

Since summer of 2009. That’s when Derek (Cowart: guitar/vox) and I (Alexander Ahmadi: guitar/vox) met a friends house show. We didn’t play our first real show as Cosmonauts until Halloween 2009 at a warehouse in Anaheim where James (Sanderson: bass) was a Mary Poppins.

Why did you start a band?

Because we were living in Orange County and we don’t like the beach too much. Shit’s really boring. Derek and I had grown up down the street from each other going to rival high schools, but we just kind of understood each other when it came to music. We know what we each other want to get out of it.

How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it?

I’d tell them to ask someone who’s not in the band.

What are some records that are influencing your band right now?

Lately I’ve been listening to the new Pangea record Night of the Living Dummy, on our local label Burger Records. Also the new Night Beats 12″ on Trouble in Mind Records. Night Beats are friends from Seattle, Washington, and their new recordings are fucking great. We’re definitely going to be doing some touring with them this year.

What are your main musical influences?

Rock ‘n roll and obvious stuff like shoegaze and 80′s noise rock stuff. Some punk and twee-pop and some stoney stuff and THE LENNON/McCARTNEY SONGBOOK.

How do you write your songs?

Lots of times it’s just Derek and I. Sometimes it’s the whole band.

What was it like growing up in Orange County?

Pretty close to what you’d think. We grew up in a place that has lots of social stigma, which is always weird. People expect Orange County kids to look a certain way and that makes it really easy to hate all the kids that do fall into the Orange County stereotype. We’re from “North County”, not the beach cities of “South County”. North County kids aren’t as pretty, have bad attitudes, and act like brats way more than South County kids. But that dissatisfaction breeds a much more artistic and weird community.

You guys are from sunny Southern California, which I think comes through in your music, but there’s also a lot of gloomy British noise rock influence in there. Any reason you’re drawn to that sound?

Well, like I said, we’re from North County. And I guess Derek and I spend a lot of time inside taking drugs and complaining that it never rains here.

A lot of the bands Cosmonauts get compared to used pedals to get their tones, but your band doesn’t. What equipment do you use to get your sound?

Derek’s got a 1972 Fender Super Reverb 4×10 and I’ve got a 1974 Music Man 4×10 which gets confused as a bass amp sometimes. But we just like the natural break-up of amps a lot more than anything we can get with pedals. And it just makes more sense that way, y’know? Because all those pedals are doing are trying to imitate the sound of amp with speaker break-up. And even though we dig lots of drug and psych rock, sometimes the tones are too shiny. I’d much rather prefer buzzy and clingy guitar sounds.

Two of your records have been released on European labels. Did they approach you or vice versa?

They approached us. Our first 7″ was on Goodbye Boozy, an Italian label that’s done stuff with some of our American friends like the Moonhearts and Ty Segall. Our second 7″ is coming out on Bad Afro Records from Copenhagen. Bad Afro has only done European artists until recently. They’re also releasing a 7″ by our friends from San Francisco, Royal Baths. They’re an awesome fucking band and I’m really glad they’re going to be heard in Europe.

Both your record and EP were released on cassette before any other format. Why did you go this route? Are you going to put out another record on cassette?

The entire reason for the cassettes is our local label Burger Records from Fullerton, California. Burger started around the same time we started the band and they’ve been helping us out ever since. Burger released both the cassettes and the first one got released on 12″ vinyl by Permanent Records (Chicago, IL). Burger’s been responsible for the local tape craze. All Orange County bands either have tapes released by Burger, or have released cassettes themselves. Burger’s also going to be releasing our new 12″ this Fall.

What’s a Cosmonauts live show like? Any particularly memorable ones?

I guess the ones that are the most memorably aren’t necessarily the ones with the most bodies or anything, just for some reason or another you can really get off that night. One of our favorites was definitely a house party we played at the Fuzzplex in Oakland, California. We always love playing in Northern California.

You’re known to be a very loud live band. Are you going to start passing out earplugs like My Bloody Valentine?

Nope.

Cosmonauts have already been on one tour across the States and are about to go out on another. Any chance you’ll make it to the UK soon?

We’d love to, but we don’t have any money for plane tickets jut yet. So buy all our records and we’ll come across the pond.

Mariana Timony