In celebration of The Stones’ 50th anniversary, broadcaster and music historian Pete Fornatale endeavored to get to the bottom of many of the stories surrounding The Rolling Stones’ members and catalog. He passed away in 2012 shortly before the release of his book, 50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of the Rolling Stones, earlier this year, but I recently spoke with his two co-authors: son Peter Thomas Fornatale and broadcaster Bernie Corbett.

With LA preparing to welcome The Stones back to The Staples Canter this evening, the guys dished on the band’s longevity, surprising media savvy, and much more.

Pete [Fornatale] was obviously a longtime Stones lover. How and when did the book process begin and how did you become a part of it?

Peter Thomas Fornatale (PTF): The book was something Bernie was super passionate about from the beginning, and he really drove the train on in a lot of ways. My dad and I had worked together on this book about Woodstock [Back to the Garden] that was tied into the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and we did have in mind that it would be great to capitalize on another rock n’ roll anniversary for the follow-up.

Bernie Corbett (BC): And I think after seeing my interview skills on Back to the Garden, Pete became more and more convinced of my music credibility. I started to talk to young Pete, and I said, “I gotta do a book with your dad.”

Are all the interviews in the book firsthand from Pete’s experience as a broadcaster and interviewer as well as done specifically for the book?

BC: Exactly. We were also able to get access to Dave Herman’s interviews [one of Pete’s colleagues at WNEW], which included a fabulous interview with Keith Richards. Then I did somewhere between 30-40 interviews for the book.

You had some fresh interviews from Keith — that’s a little bit of a coup. I think Keith often took a backseat in terms of speaking to the public and giving interviews.

BC: Absolutely. The interview was from the Dave Herman archive. I think the conversation was such that young Pete’s dad called Dave Herman and asked if he could use them, and Dave Herman says, “Yeah, you can have them on one condition. Can you take these off of cassette and put them onto disc for me?” [Laughs]

Given all the myths about the band, what were some of the biggest misconceptions you had going into the book?

PTF: There are so many little stories. It was really nice getting to the bottom of things like did Keith Richards really have a complete blood transfusion as a way of attempting to beat his addictions?

BC: One of the things we’ve kind of gone to bat with right up front was the historical reporting of who the drummer was when The Stones played their first gig on July 12, 1962. Keith’s contention was that Mick Avery was the drummer. Well, not to disparage Keith, but I think we have proven conclusively that Mick Avery was not the guy. We’re 90% sure that it was Tony Chapman.

Were the guys putting some of the myths that were propagated out there to have a laugh? Or do you find that among the multitude of stories and all the drugs that peoples’ memories naturally became a little muddled?

PTF: It’s a mix, I think. The blood transfusion was definitely a case of Keith having a laugh with a reporter.

Did The Stones deem any subject as off limits for you for the book?

BC: No, they really didn’t. If anything, some of them were way more expansive than we thought. God rest his soul, Andy Johns, a young engineer working on Exile on Main St., was talking about the first time he shot heroin with Keith in the basement at Nellcote. My jaw was dropping while I was doing that interview, let me tell you.

PTF: Some people were logistically tricky to get, but I was very pleased at the level of access we were able to get.

What inspired you to release another album?

The response from fans all over the country has been incredible and really inspiring. I’ve been inspired to write a lot of music during this tour. We were brainstorming what to do with all this new music, and there were a number of cities in the US that I wanted to hit but wasn’t able to, so I’m pleased to announce that in the fall we’re going to be releasing Scream: Part Two, which will be the music that I’ve written along this tour. We’re also going to continue the Scream tour in the fall, adding on to what we have now!

Which venue has been your favorite so far on this tour?

One stop along the tour that really surprised me was in Philadelphia. There’s a club there that had really low ceilings, which reminded me of this old club called Space in Miami. Aesthetically that was one of the cooler venues because it didn’t look like the rest of them.

How would you describe the music you’re writing right now?

The new stuff is definitely big room, but at the same time I’ve also written some moody stuff. To be honest, it gets lonely out there on the road sometimes, so there are some tracks that have more emotion. I think it’s a good balance.

What are you listening to right now?

I’ve been listening to a lot of the classic rock stuff. I go through these cycles, and Pink Floyd is what I always go back to. Before this show I studied Dark Side of the Moon — all the shows and all the concerts — and for me there’s no bigger inspiration than Pink Floyd.

What are your top three songs at the moment?

“ID,” “ID,” and “ID.” [Laughs] Two of the biggest tracks on the tour have been “Nothing Without Me” — everywhere I go everyone is singing along to that one — and “Love Rain Down on Me.” Also I did a remix of an old classic, “Solar Coaster” by Solarstone, and I brought that out on the tour. It’s just one of those moments when the fans are blown away, so that’s been one of the surprise tracks on the tour.

How is life on the tour bus?

It’s not quite as glamorous as it is in the movies. You’ve got a bed in the back, and you think you’re going to sleep on that bed, but the roads in the US are quite bouncy, so that doesn’t really happen.

How do you feel about playing in the US as opposed to elsewhere in the world?

It’s amazing. From Albuquerque to Tulsa to LA, it’s amazing what this music has done, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes now. Going to someplace like Tulsa and having the fans come up to me afterwards and thank me for coming to them because they travel all over and are so passionate… We have a merch table at every show, and by the end of the show everyone is wearing t-shirts. I feel so lucky to be a part of the scene in the US.

How does it feel to be the number one DJ in the US?

DJ Times has built this out as a victory tour, but for me it’s a “Thank you” tour. Whether I’m playing for 5 fans in my living room or thousands at Avalon, I love this music, and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. I’m just one of the lucky ones because I’ve met so many talented people around the world who are struggling to get their music heard.

How do you prepare for a 12-hour set?

Musically I prepare three different sets: an opening set, a peak hour set with all the strobes and confetti, and my rabbit hole set. After that, I freestyle it and feel the crowd. When I was a resident DJ, that’s all I did. I’d show up with my records and feel the crowd, so for me those long sets are when I can do that again.

How did the New World Punx collaboration come about?

Ferry Corsten and I were hanging out at a barbecue in Ibiza, and we were chatting about music and styles. We realized how alike we were with everything from music to production to the fans, so we decided to get in the studio and make a track together.

When we were in the studio, we had so much fun! We then had a couple of dates where we spun back to back, and it was so successful that we started getting calls from promoters to do back to back sets. We decided we needed to give ourselves a name so that people would know when we were going to do those sets, so we combined the name of one of my biggest tracks (“The New World”) and the second part from one of Ferry’s tracks (“Punk”) and put it together.  

In the beginning, we wanted to update old classics, calling it “Old Tunes in New Jackets,” but now we’ve started writing some original tracks as well. The trance scene can get pretty serious, and we want to put a bit more fun back into it and not be so serious.

What’s the magic between you and Avalon?

There aren’t a lot of places left like this in the world. They have such an amazing combination of the community, sound, production, and management. They get it. I’ve played in some places where security is trying to push everyone out the door, but that’s not what I’m all about. I want it to be an after party as well as the main party.

Would you ever consider an Avalon residency?

I’d love to live here and play shows here every single night, but unfortunately there are only 52 weeks in a year and there are other cities in the world where the fans deserve shows too.

You’re doing an open-to-close set at Tomorrowland. How does that feel?

I’m worried about that one because at Avalon I have fans on the side keeping me cool, but at Tomorrowland I’ve played two-hour sets and come out drenched in sweat. Playing there all day long should be interesting.

Are there any younger acts that we should be on the lookout for?

KhoMha, of course. Everytime he makes a track I just have to take a step back and listen at full volume. Also Orjan Nilsen is really good and diverse. I’ve heard some of his deeper stuff, and I think it’s outrageous. The scene is rich with young talent.

Where do you see trance going in the next couple years?

Hopefully a good balance of serious trance and fun trance — not the fighting in between it. I think there’s a place for everything. When I do my radio show, I try to get a bit heavy, and then when I do the live shows, I want people to leave feeling good.

Years ago I went to a show by The Cure. I love the Cure, and they do the best depressing music ever, but when I left the show, I felt awful. I think about those memories, and even though I make some dark, depressing music, I don’t ever want people to leave my show feeling depressed. I want them to leave feeling awesome and like they had a good release.

If you could give a younger version of yourself advice, what would you say?

When I first started off I remember riding my bike home from a gig, and it was brutal because I rode for 20 miles with a stack of records on my handlebars. I went past this construction zone, and they were watering the area to keep the dust down, but the combination of the oil and water made the road really slippery and I crashed.

I was all bloody, and my records went all over. I laid there looking at the stars, and I thought to myself that if a car hit me, I wouldn’t even care. If I could go back in time, I’d tell that kid laying in the street, “Get your ass up. Everything is going to be amazing.”

After my talk with Markus, I went into Avalon and enjoyed an unbelievable display of visuals, sound, and music in the quintessential listening environment. The room was packed with screaming and chanting fans who sang and danced nonstop at this party that went until 8am. The crowed went crazy when he dropped “Nothing Without Me,” a song whose official music video has more than 1 million views on YouTube, and with tracks like ”Love Rain Down” and ”Digital Madness,” Markus slayed those unicorns left and right.

While Avalon has one of the most incredible state-of-the-art sound and visual systems in LA, the multi-layered and multi-dimensional visuals that Markus brought took over the club from top to bottom, immersing the audience in lights and colors in sync with his pulsing beats. Without a doubt, this was one of the most visually stunning and energetic performances I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing.

For More Info:

Markus Schulz
The M Machine
KhoMha

I’m going to be totally honest here. I was a huge fan of Beams and Apocalypso, but I was initially a bit lukewarm on Pacifica because, to me, it was such a huge departure in sound. It’s since endeared itself to me, but I definitely had to grow to appreciate the smoother instrumentals and lyricism of it.

A lot of people have mentioned that the album took a lot longer to get into. It’s definitely not as hard-edged as Apocalypso was. I think that’s because we’re not as hard-edged as we were four years ago when we made that record. We’re a bit older now and have children.

Maybe it was a dangerous record to put out in the Youtube/Spotify age where there’s so much music out there and you almost have to have these big, smashing numbers to cut through all the noise otherwise people don’t give your albums the time. I know that’s something I’m guilty of as well.

Certainly when I listen to Apocalypso now it reminds me of the time when we were making it, similar to looking through a photo album and reminiscing. We still love it, but we made Apocalypso already, and we would have been bored making it again. Pacifica I think accurately represents us as we were in 2011 when we were making it.

Some fans of The Presets have remarked that Pacifica was an attempt to sell out, but I saw it as more of an experimental leap than anything.

That’s what we think, too. If we wanted to sell out, we could have easily done it by making three more “My People”s. It is a little bit crummy because I know some of our fans were a little bummed that there wasn’t a track like that on Pacifica. While working on the album, we actually started some tracks that sounded similar to ones from Apocalypso, but they just weren’t happening. The worst thing we could have done was finish those songs and put them on the record when we weren’t really feeling them.

It’s interesting because critics, especially in Australia, have loved this album, but commercial radio doesn’t play much of us anymore and not as many people have bought it. At the end of the day, the only thing you really have control over is making music that you like. We’ve done that every time we put out a record or EP. If we can just keep having a career doing that, we’ll be really happy. If the fans dig it, if the radio wants to play it, and if people want to buy it, that’s all awesome, but we can’t control any of that.

Is this trajectory that you’ve established with Pacifica going to continue for your next release? Have you even begun thinking about a fourth album?

Kim and I have started making music for our next project. Whether it’ll be for a record or something else, I don’t quite know yet. I can tell you what it won’t be: it won’t be Apocalypso again and it won’t be Pacifica again. It’ll just be the next step. I’m sure it’ll still be something you can dance to, and I’m fairly certain I’ll sing on it, but those are pretty much the only things that are guaranteed.

Any songs from your catalog that are particularly meaningful for you right now?

Lyrically and musically “Fall” is a track Kim and I both believe in. Actually, all the songs from Pacifica feel very true to us today. It’ll be interesting to see how that ages in a couple years time.

Funny you should mention “Fall” because that track in particular was one that I wasn’t sold on until I saw it live. It’s since grown to be one of my favorite tracks on the record. It has to be one of the more romantic songs you guys have ever written, no?

Oh good! It is still worth playing then; that’s reassuring! For sure, yes. It’s definitely a song that’s a celebration of love.

You mentioned earlier that each album is a snapshot of the era it was made in. Do you ever get tired of playing some of these songs that people expect from you when they don’t represent how you feel now?

Thankfully, no. There are a few songs that I get a little bit sick of, and honestly, we just don’t play them anymore. Particularly some of our earlier stuff from Beams that are character-driven songs where we’re speaking from the perspective of these larger-than-life versions of us. These are characters that just get harder and harder to inhabit honestly as you’re growing older.

But the big hits — “My People,” “This Boy’s In Love,” “Girl And The Sea” — those we still really love. We are trying to get closer to songs that really and truly represent who we are, but we still play what we want to.

You both have a background in classical music but now produce predominantly electronic music. How did that shift occur and does that background influence what you make now?

It’s one of those things like any other classical art — ballet, painting, etc. — that is very hard to shake later in life, for better or for worse. Sometimes that training is great help, and sometimes it gets in the way a little bit because it can be limiting.

I almost think of the synthesizer and drum machine as an orchestra at times. Even though the sounds are wildly different, their roles are very similar. That background is certainly not necessary to make good music, though. Some of the most interesting, talented musicians I know don’t have a clue what a D-major chord is and still produce great work.

Photo by: Jordan Graham

A lot of people who make electronic music typically collaborate heavily with their peers, but you guys have yet to release any collaborative tracks on your albums. Is there any particular reason why and is that something you’re open to?

It’s definitely something we’re open to, given the right opportunity. As far as why, we’ve never really had the time. Kim and I spend a lot of time doing other stuff with other people outside of The Presets, but then when we get together, we focus our energy on this band.

We did do a collaboration with my brother, who’s a choreographer in Melbourne. That was super fun and something we never really had a chance to do before. We’d love to do more of that kind of stuff.

Your following in your home country (Australia) is pretty massive, and you guys frequently sell out large venues and headline festivals there. Is it an adjustment coming over Stateside where you play smaller club venues and the like?

It’s quite nice, actually! There’s something really fun and intimate about playing to a room of 500 people. Don’t get me wrong, we have a great time playing on stage at a festival with thousands of people, but there’s something really cool about being able to play shitty little nightclubs. The audience is right there in front of you, and you can grab hold of them and be in the moment a bit easier than at a festival.

You guys seem to have a gift for creating music that translates incredibly well in a live setting. Is that something you keep in mind during the songwriting process?

Not really. We do have that faith and knowledge that we make music that’s fun to dance to, but at the same time, we’ve got more ballad-y love songs that I wouldn’t feel confident pulling out at a dance club that we still choose to make for the record. You kind of have to dress the songs in clothes they’re comfortable in with regards to style, production, and color. If that means you can’t play them live, that’s fine.

I’ve got to say, the Señor Coconut remix of “Ghosts” is one of the most fantastic remixes I’ve ever heard. I know you guys have a habit of playing remixes of your songs when performing live. Is there any chance you’ll be working that into future live shows?

It’s great, isn’t it? Kim and I were big fans of his work, and we were so happy he agreed to do this remix for us. We have talked about using it live, actually. If we did, we’d probably do our own little techno, dancey, coconutty remix of it. Keep your ears peeled! We haven’t got one yet, but we might well put one together sometime soon for our live sets.

What are your brutally honest impressions of LA?

Let me put it this way. The first time I went to New York, I instantly got it. With LA, the first few times I went there, it took me a long time to get into it, but every time I’ve gone back, it’s grown on me more, and now it’s one of my favorite places in the States. Maybe it’s like our new music in that it takes a long time to grow on people.

The people are cool, the restaurants are awesome, the weather is nice. There are actually a lot of Australians moving there, so in some ways it does sort of feel like Australia. We share the same ocean, the same kind of climate, and the same chilled-out vibe. I really, really dig LA now.

Don’t miss your chance to catch The Presets at Avalon Hollywood on Tuesday, May 21st. LAmb is giving one lucky reader a FREE pair of tickets to the show, so enter now for your chance to win!

For more info:

The Presets

Steinfeldt recently released a book, Rock ‘N’ Roll Lens, which documents his years as a concert photographer capturing such iconic musicians as Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, and Paul McCartney. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask this legendary shutterbug about his technique, inspiration, and favorite artists.

Who are you favorite bands/artists to photograph and why?

Prince because he always looks good, The Rolling Stones because they put on great shows, and Madonna because she always has a new look.

How did you get involved in the world of concert photography?

I bought a $100 camera to photograph my road trips. The photos turned out great, and I started taking the camera to concerts. Those photos turned out great, too, and got published in SPIN and Rolling Stone magazines.

Who are some other photographers that you admire?

Richard Avedon is my favorite photographer, and others that I admire include Jim Marshall, Bob Gruen, Henry Diltz, Lynn Goldsmith, and Herb Ritts. I also admire many cinematographers, including my favorite, Karl Freund.

How did you decide which photos to include in the book? It must have been difficult to sift through so many great photos.

This was a huge job. Out of a quarter of a million photos, I chose 50 of the best. It was important that each photo had a great story to go with it, so that played a part in the edit.

What concert venue is your favorite to shoot in? I recently posted an article on LA Music Blog of the Top 10 Music Venues in Los Angeles, and I’m interested to see if any of your favorites made the cut.

They would include The Troubadour, Viper Room, Mint, Whisky A Go Go, Roxy, Palladium, Hotel Cafe, and many more. Also First Avenue is among my favorite venues back in my hometown of Minneapolis.

It was refreshing to hear that your first camera was a $100 Minolta! Some of my best concert photos were taken with my kit lens 18-55mm, and as a photographer, I find that it is not always the best equipment that leads to the best photos. Do you find that philosophy to be true?

Absolutely. And remember — regarding your camera — don’t leave home without it!

For more info:

Jimmy Steinfeldt

What prompted you to release a live album?

We thought that now would be a good time to put down a document of the live show as it currently is. We’re at a point were we’ve got old music and new music, and we’re trying to make it all work together.

Do you prefer playing at big festivals like Coachella or would you rather spread your music in other ways?

Playing live isn’t primarily a way of spreading our music — it’s more something that we enjoy doing. It’s fun. Playing live, even to a big crowd, is less efficient than using online methods.

Where do you find your musical inspiration?

Wherever we last left it.

Who are some of your musical influences?

Raymond Scott, Delia Derbyshire, Joe Meek, Aphex Twin…

Are there any younger/newer artists or styles that have caught your attention recently?

Objekt, Blawan, Factory Floor…

Any collaborations you hope to have?

We have some secret ones in the works, but we can’t let on what they are for now.

Do you ever plan to revive your song “Hot Dog” in your sets?

We’ve actually been asked that recently by someone else. Dunno. It wouldn’t really fit with most of the other things we’re playing at the moment. Most of the older tracks (like “Hustler”) that we are playing have been totally reworked, so they are almost completely different.

What advice or inspiration would you give to aspiring producers?

Get one piece of gear (not a laptop) and learn to use it really well.

What can we look forward to in 2013?

We’re playing a bunch of festivals over the summer, and we have a couple of singles and the first of our collabs coming out soon, so watch this space.

Watch this video on YouTube.

The Live album is now available for purchase.

For more info:

Simian Mobile Disco

With ten tracks clocking in at forty minutes, the album is a brilliant, consuming, multi-genre journey led by frontman Finn Andrews, who generously took the time to answer a few questions for LA Music Blog.

With your father so heavily involved in the music industry, have you always been inspired to be a musician?

When I was growing up, I just used to wonder who all these sickly, malnourished weirdos were hanging around. It didn’t look that appealing at first, to be honest. I look forward to freaking out my children in a similar way in the future.

English producer Bill Price is a monumental member of the classic rock scene. What was it like working with him on this record?

He’s been making incredible records for 50 years, and it’s not often you get to work with someone like that. I watched everything he did every day to get these sounds just in case we don’t get the chance to lure him out of retirement again.

How did recording Time Stays, We Go in Laurel Canyon/Los Angeles compare to your hometown? Do you feel your surroundings affected you at all or have you recorded outside of London previously?

We made our second record, Nux Vomica, there [Los Angeles] too, and it was such a great experience for us that we knew we wanted to go back at some point. We live in London and everyone we know is in London, and that can be distracting, to say the least.

Since your last release, you wrote many more songs than the 10 that you chose to be on Time Stays, We Go. What made you choose those tracks over the others you wrote?

We’ve always tried to make records that feel like they follow a story overall, rather than just a collection of 10 songs played 10 different ways. I treated the songs sort of like scenes in a film, I guess.

Your videos for “Iodine and Iron” and “Out From the Valley” share a timeless, nostalgic, black-and-white aesthetic. What inspires you when releasing these live performance videos?

Black and white seems less distracting than filming things in color with lots of fast cuts, and we really wanted these performances to feel as direct and simple as possible.

Time Stays, We Go marks your fourth album release. How do you feel the band has grown and changed over these past few years?

I hope we’re just getting better. I feel like a kid in this, and I always have. I think that might be a good way to stay if I can.

“Out From the Valley” was recorded at Abbey Road studios, one of the significant symbols of music greatness (especially for a band originating from London). What was that experience like?

Yeah, it’s an amazing place really — it felt like walking into a time capsule, and that’s exactly the feeling we were after.

Time Stays, We Go will be released on April 23rd via Pitch Beast Records, and tickets are available to the band’s show at The Echo in Los Angeles on April 26th.

The Veils Tour Dates:

4/20: Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl
4/21: Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
4/22: Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
4/24: San Francisco, CA @ Independent
4/26: Los Angeles, CA @ Echo – BritWeek Show
4/29: Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
5/01: Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
5/02: Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
5/04: Toronto, ON @ Drake Hotel
5/05: Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
5/06: Boston, MA @ Cafe 939
5/07: New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
5/09: Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas
5/10: Washington, DC @ Rock n Roll Hotel

For more info:

The Veils’ Official Website
The Veils’ Official Facebook

Delving deeper, much of the album touches on yearning, chasing, and the kind of devotion that any girl could only hope to inspire in a loved one (see: “She Lit A Fire“). Each song boasts a subtle beauty and understated energy that builds with every verse and additional instrument. Schneider’s creativity and artistry supplement his already immense musical talents, and the visual artist carries the beauty of the illustrative aesthetic and storytelling themes into the band project with cinematic music videos.

With the upcoming Coachella Music Festival sandwiching an April 18th show at the Glass House and a sturdy lineup of tour dates, Ben took a few minutes to chat with me about inspirations, artistic outlets, and plans for the future.

Watch this video on YouTube.

How was your South By Southwest?

It was good. Busy as always. Not so bad as the last time we went there, but it’s always a little bit hectic. It gets a little annoying every time having ten minutes to set up and a half an hour to play. You know, just a little bit hectic.

I haven’t been fortunate enough to see Lord Huron perform live, but your album hasn’t left my record player since I got it. You have such an expansive and large sound. Do you find that there are challenges in transitioning everything to your live show or is it pretty seamless?

It’s definitely something different. If we could, we’d have 12 people playing with us every night and just do it right and big and expansive, but that’s obviously not happening as far as budget or logistics go. We do our best, and I’m lucky to have great guys playing with me who understand what we’re trying to do. They’re pretty good at opening up the sound as much as possible.

There are certain things that you can’t do live, but at the same time, there’s an urgency and immediacy to live shows that you can’t cut a record to. You just consider them different experiences, and I think that’s a healthy way to approach it.

You have some of the most visually stunning music videos I’ve ever seen. What inspires your backdrop and themes when creating these?

We always have an aesthetic that goes along with the songs. I guess I don’t really know where that comes from, but what we’re trying to do with the videos is extend that aesthetic as much as possible with a limited budget. Living out here [in LA], you’ve got access to a lot of great landscapes, and we just go out looking for a good place to shoot. For “Time to Run,” it was out in the middle of the desert. We’ve got a new one coming out for “Lonesome Dreams” in a couple weeks that we’re really excited about, and that one uses a lot of great natural places around town here.

Photo credit: Ben Schneider

You moved to Los Angeles after growing up in Michigan, and I know you spent some time in New York and France, but how do you find that LA compares to your hometown?

It’s different. It’s a big city for one thing, which my hometown was not. There’s no snow and not much of a fall, so it’s definitely different, but I love it. It’s really grown on me. When I first got here I wasn’t so sure; it took me some time. I consider it less of one huge city and sort of a string of small towns. I decided to find a part of it that suited me, which I did eventually. The great part for me is, unlike New York, I can just jump in my car and get out to the mountains in twenty minutes, or the desert, or the ocean. You can really get anywhere.

One of my favorite things about your album is that you really capture a sense of journey and searching or yearning. Is your context autobiographical, observed, or a little bit of both?

I’d say it’s a little bit of both. That feeling has definitely been a big part of my life. I like to keep on the move, trying to see a little bit of this world and experience different things before my time is up. All the stories on the album are either about my life or the lives of people who are close to me. I look at them through a fictional lens, but they all come from stuff that’s happened to us.

Since then, I’ve avidly followed Costa’s career, witnessing his growth over the course of four full-length albums. Each record carefully pulls beauty from melancholy and surrounds it with light-hearted vocals, guitar, and, with his recently released self-titled album, a symphony of strings and horns that reach an even deeper level of musical maturity. With the new album just released and a slew of upcoming tour dates, including a sold-out show at The Troubadour tonight, I was beyond excited to be able to speak with Costa about the new record and the things that led him to where he his now.

I noticed on Spotify that you had commentary to go along with your latest album. What inspired you to do that?

Spotify did. They asked me if I would do it, so I said “OK,” then I made some stuff up that happened to coincide with the songs. Most of it’s true, but I can’t give it all away; I have to leave something to the imagination. But yeah, they came to me and asked if I’d be into the idea, so I gave a little bit of backstory to some of the songs. It’s only on Spotify; it’s not on anything else.

I know you’d picked up guitar and piano at a young age, but I was reading that you set up some of your newest songs for horns and that you also played trumpet when you were younger. What other instruments do you play that others might not know about?

Yeah, I play a bunch of instruments. I’ll walk around the house and tell you the ones that I play. I play the harmonica, just strap that thing around the neck. The trumpet, that was actually the first instrument I was trained on in school. I don’t know why I was drawn to it, but I think I probably saw something on TV when I was a kid, when people were blasting away on those things and being excited that you could make these strange noises come out of it, so then I started playing trumpet, then the drums and all the basic stuff: drums, bass, stuff that you play in a traditional rock band.

The autoharp, that thing’s pretty self explanatory. It’s kind of nice to write on the autoharp because the chords are laid out differently, so you think of the melodies a little differently. I play a bunch of different stuff, but these are the things I’m not really good at. It’s nice because the natural melodies of certain instruments are for different voicing, so I like changing it for that reason — you come up with interesting melodies. When I sit down with the guitar, I kind of know what I’m doing on that thing — I have my go-to places — but on other instruments, it’s a little more liberating. I like to mess with those when I’m working on a song.

I didn’t name that many instruments, and there are little odds and ends that I play, but those are the main things.

I definitely feel like that’s more than the average person plays.

I have a lot of spare time [LAUGHS], so I put myself into it. Oh, the banjo. I play the banjo, too. That’s for when I’m an old man sitting on the porch; I’ll be able to have that in my repertoire. I’ll be able to play some old clawhammer stuff for my great-great grandkids.

I was intrigued after hearing a couple of the band’s singles and an amazing remix by Gardens & Villa, but seeing the group’s live performance and their ability to fill a room with enormous sound and stage presence was what truly impressed me, so when I was given the opportunity to ask the LA locals a few questions, I jumped at the chance to get to know our Featured Artists a bit better.

How did you come together as a collaborative duo?

I played Jon a song I had tried to reconstruct after hearing it in a dream. It sounded like the way someone sounds when they try to describe a dream to another person, and when they start to say it out loud, its meaning is lost, the details are out of order, and the nuances escape words. When Jon heard the song, he focused in on one tiny part and said, “That’s it, that’s the song” as if discerning the meaning of the dream from one or two words. It turned out to be a cathartic experience for both of us, and we sort of got hooked and tried to keep creating on that page until we wrote an album.

You two formed The Reflections fairly recently, and you’ve already had shows at The Bootleg Theatre, The Echo, and most recently, a residency at The Satellite. All this without even an EP. What’s it like to move so quickly into the local music scene with so much success?

It’s nice to hit the ground running, but we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, which can sometimes make it hard to notice that things are going well.

Your profile describes your sound as “indie pop with dashes of chill wave.” Who are some of your influences?

It sounds odd, but I don’t believe influences are necessarily the palette that defines a band’s sound. They definitely help define the people that create it, though. Musically a few would be Roy Orbison, Brian Eno, The Cocteau Twins, The Cure, George Harrison…

I know Jon has previous band experience via his current involvement with Bleached. Darian, have you been involved in other projects or is The Reflections your first band experience?

I have had other bands in the past, mostly in New York. I’ve toured, recorded, etc., but this project is so far the closest to my heart. I have been playing music since I was about 10 years old.

Jon, what made you want to leave your drum throne and move to guitar and vocals in this venture?

Drumming was my first adventure in the musical world. Shortly after, I picked up a guitar. I sort of grew up playing both, but it seems as if it’s much harder to find a drummer than a guitar player in this town, which led to me only playing drums for bands. Evidently, you have to create a project if you want to play guitar the way you want to play it.

Having just finished your aforementioned Satellite residency, what’s next for you? Will you be touring? Can we look forward to the release of your full-length Limerence soon?

No touring plans as of yet, but our full-length is due out May 7th. We are really excited about the way it sounds. Kenny Woods, who recorded and mixed it, did an amazing job, and we just finished the artwork, which looks great as well. Also we will be releasing a remix EP and a single over the next few months. We are playing at The Satellite with Chief on April 1st and planning a record release show in May.

Gardens & Villa remixed your single “Disconnected” last month. How did that come about? Did you have an existing relationship with them, or did they reach out solely based upon hearing your music?

We were looking for good people to remix a few of our tracks. I thought Gardens & Villa had an interesting and unique sound and production sense and could lend that to one of our songs to take it somewhere completely different.

For more info:

The Reflections’ Official Website
The Reflections’ Official Facebook

For a Friday night, there was a surprisingly low amount of traffic, and I accidentally showed up on time, but thank God for that because when Julie Edwards and Marc Smollin took the stage, I had my face musically blown off. I was floored by the band’s energy, the layered vocals, and Edward’s multi-talented ability to balance drums, lead vocals, and keys, all while bantering charmingly with the crowd. I had to know more about this band. I followed up with them the next day and got my hands on an EP thanks to Julie’s generosity. I followed them, attended shows whenever I could, and told countless people about them, but like many great bands, their talent was under-appreciated.

When I saw that Julie took on another duo, this time with Lindsey Troy, I quickly began following the new band, Deap Vally. I noted when they played local LA shows and was so excited to see them announce European tour dates. As I continued to follow and support the group, I witnessed the grungy rock-and-roll duo gain rapid attention and play to increasingly larger audiences. They recently opened for Muse (Muse) and are finally starting to get the attention they deserve. Who’d have thought a duo that formed after meeting in a knitting class (taught by Edwards) could lead to international fame?

The band, which has been a consistent display of pleasant surprises, was able to spare Julie for a few minutes to speak with me about the adventure this past year has been for Deap Vally.

I originally learned about Deap Vally through your previous duo, The Pity Party. What made you decide to leave that project and create Deap Vally?

I didn’t really leave The Pity Party and move on; I was just diversifying. With The Pity Party, we had kind of hit a plateau when Lindsey walked into my life. She and I started to jam together, and I honestly never, ever imagined any of this at all, but Pity Party isn’t over — it’s on the back burner at the moment. Marc [of The Pity Party] comes on tour with us and actually is a guitar tech for Lindsey, so I still get to have him in my life and share these experiences with him, which is really awesome.

I feel like you ladies were just going to Europe, opening for the Vaccines, and the next thing I know, you’re opening for Muse. Granted, those are both amazing bands, but Muse seems to have a significantly larger scope of fans. What was it like moving from concert rooms like Hotel Cafe to playing arenas?

It was pretty fast. The way I felt about it was that every band deserves that experience. Every band deserves to learn what I’ve had the privilege of learning over the past six months, and the thing is, every band doesn’t get to. It gives you so much perspective on performance, and it gives you so much knowledge on how to conduct your career. The things I’ve learned are so valuable. I always think, ‘God, if I’d known this during the Pity Party days,’ and I get the sense that we got those big shows because we had to be tested quickly about whether we could handle rooms that size.

The biggest show we played with Muse was 14,000 people, the smallest was 11,000, and I just thought they were going to be a nightmare. After the first soundcheck in an arena, I was depressed, but then we came out and played the show, and the shows were great. It was exhilarating and really fun to play in front of that many people and to get that many people excited and get them to react to stuff. It was so much fun. We were touring in Eastern Europe, so I would learn phrases, like I’d learn how to say ‘We’re so happy to be here’ in Latvian, and say it to the crowd. It was so much fun. I’m looking forward to going back to Europe in a couple weeks and learning more stuff that I’ll forget.

It’s awesome that you’re making that effort to connect with the cities that you’re playing in.

It’s just so cool to go to all these different places with all these different cultures where all these people are speaking different languages and eating totally different foods. They love when you talk to them in their language. It makes them so happy, so when they see an opening band that they’ve never heard of before, it’s a nice way to break the ice.

And now you’re playing Coachella. I know last year you played an opening, kick-off party, and now you’ve got a spot on one of the festival stages. What’s next for you? Are you going to be releasing an album?

I believe our first release in the States, which is our Get Deap EP, is coming out in March. The four songs on it are four of our favorites, and we’re so excited to finally be releasing something in the States. That’s our home country, you know? It’s really been an adventure to go touring in Europe, and we even went to Japan, but we’ve been aching to get back to the States. At this point, that’s more exciting than some of these other things, but we do have a tour coming up with Mumford and Sons in Europe in a couple weeks that will be crazy.

Ben Lovett of Mumford and Sons is a part owner of a label called Communion, and he kind of discovered us and signed us along with Island out here in the UK. He’s a real supporter of us, which I think is so awesome because we’re such a different band than Mumford and Sons. We have a very different vibe, but they have very eclectic music taste. They love all kinds of music, and they’re huge fans in general. Even as big as they are, they still love going to small club shows and discovering new music and finding inspiration, which is rad. It’ll be really fun to be on tour with them.

I think that something that strikes me about Deap Vally is that you embrace and evoke a gritty, unrefined sound, which I feel is iconic in an age of auto-tune. What inspired your image and sound?

I think I’m just old school, personally. I was shaped in the ’90s, and that was such an amazing time for heavy rock. It was everywhere. It was mainstream. I got really into Led Zepplin, and they are so raw. I think a lot of people are put off by Robert Plant’s vocals, and if you listen to Zepplin, you can’t lay a click track to it; it won’t adhere to it. It has its own flow and dynamic and rhythm. It’s very raw. Even if you listen to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, [Karen O's] vocals are so raw, and those are things that really speak to me and Lindsey.

I think auto-tune is deceitful. I don’t think it’s right to do it unless you’re planning on using it as a really overt effect, like Lil’ Wayne or the way Cher used it in that first auto-tuned song, “Do You Believe in Life After Love?” That was the first weird moment of that, but just to use it… First of all, I don’t know who chooses to use it, but if a producer decides to use it, he’s probably eroding the self-esteem of the artist, which is a bad idea in the studio.

So what? So they don’t hit the note, who cares? I hate to think of a generation of people who need to hear pitch-perfect singing and need to hear totally quantified, edited drum tracks. It’s creepy. I really think the human element should continue to be there unless you’re talking about electronic music, in which case it’s a totally different playing field. There’s no other way that we would do it. We would never use auto-tune.

You and Lindsey are noted for your awesome stage wear and overall for your lack of sexual inhibition in your live show. Did you initially plan on setting a, I heard you describe it as, “post-post-post feminist” standard, or did your statement of empowerment come with the progression of the group?

It just came really naturally. Even with The Pity Party, when I played drums, I performed drums. I didn’t just play them; I expressed drums. We never want to hide. We really want to be fearless. We want to channel when we’re on stage. We want to be expressive, we don’t want to hide, and we want to encourage fearlessness in other people. Lindsey and I never talked it through; it just came naturally to both of us for whatever reason.

Do you still find time to knit between your international touring?

Yeah, you spend hours sitting down in moving vehicles on tour, so knitting is the perfect thing to do during that time. We both have our projects, and we’re both knitting a lot. Rock and roll. It’s just something to do, you know? It makes you feel productive even though you’re stuck doing nothing.

Who are some artists you’d recommend to our readers?

Chelsea Wolfe is awesome. Unknown Mortal Orchestra. JJUUJJUU. Only You, which is another sick girl band from LA that we’ve played with a couple times. Also, Here We go Magic and Drenge. They’re actually who we’re on tour with right now. They’re a two piece, and they’re great.

For more info:

Deap Vally’s Official Website
Deap Vally’s Official Facebook