Lead singer Cassie Ramone from Vivian Girls didn’t evade my camera this time. When the group was in town back in late 2008, I spoke with Katy and Ali, bassist and drummer from the all girl trio. Vivian Girls emerged as part of the Brooklyn music scene over the past few years, along with other indie bands such as Yeasayer and MGMT. Among my favorite tunes from V Girls are “Second Date” and “Lake House.” A clip from the latter song is featured in the video below. The interview took place on the legendary burgundy leather couch at The Smell in Downtown L.A.
An alternative title for this post could be “Masked Men Rock Downtown Alley.” Seeing a band like Hello My Name is Red reminds me why I write an indie music blog. Just down the alley from The Vivian Girls show at The Smell last Saturday, three guys wheeled up in a black SUV, hooked up their amps to a car battery, and kicked more ass in a few songs than a lot of bands could in a two hour set. The band does an accurate job describing its sound on their MySpace page as “loud, catchy, bouncy, sloppy, soothing sounds.” The outside venue didn’t provide the best lighting conditions unfortunately, but the video below provides a taste of the sweet acid these guys serve up. Short interview with the lead singer about halfway through.
New L.A. band The Deadlies played a set at Boardner’s in Hollywood recently. The group has a unique sound that fuses power pop with 8 bit keyboards and melodic vocals. I spoke with the band about the one thing they’d like to see change in the indie music scene. And as you’ll notice, they were very complimentary to the interviewer toward the end of the video.
Caught L.A. band Moonrats at The Smell Friday evening. The ‘rats sound is an edgey guitar pop with melodic vocals and great use (not over-use) of keyboards. A lot of well-produced tracks on the band’s MySpace page, particularly “Sleepwalk” and “Blue, White and Red.” The video below contains clips from the show and a short interview with lead singer Nathan Thelen, in which he mentions that indie bands could use more venues like Vera in the Netherlands. Sounds like a cool place.