The New Rochelles

     What makes a good pop punk band? Surely it’s not musical skill; The Ramones have been hounded for years over their technical simplicity and yet they remain kings. It most certainly isn’t lyrics; most pop punk bands use the simplest of words to describe everyday mundane events, love, hate and every emotion in between. What I feel makes a good pop punk band is the ability to emotionally throw yourself into your music, admitting imperfection, vulnerability, and most importantly, just have pure, unpolluted fun. Long Beach, NY’s, The New Rochelles take all of these qualities, stuff them into very loud amplifiers and blast it at you like confetti cannons. What makes most grownups so boring? Whatever it is listening to the New Rochelles will help in steering clear of it!

Interview by J Castro

First off, who’s all in the band and what is everyone’s function in The New Rochelles?

RONNIE: I'm Ronnie Rochelle. I'm the singer and I play guitar.

RICKY: I’m Ricky; I play drums and sing backing vocals.

ROOKIE: I’m Rookie; I play bass.

How did you all meet and decide to play music together?

RONNIE: Ricky and I have been playing music since the dawn of time, we found Rookie on a street corner somewhere and he was eager to downstroke with us.

As kids, who or what inspired you to want to learn how to play or write music?

RONNIE: I learned how to play music just to pick up girls.

RICKY: I recorded a demo cassette at home with a childhood friend. We had no real instruments but we made a bunch of sequenced sounds and I was drawn to that. Then another friend and I wanted to start a band at age 13 as a social thing, so we bought drums and a guitar and began to play.

ROOKIE: It seemed easy enough.

Do you remember who first introduced you to punk music?

RONNIE: I was fooling around in the neighborhood one day as a kid; I found a duffel bag full of beer, porn and some Screeching Weasel cassette tapes. The rest is history.

RICKY: My friends and I stumbled on it together at the end of Jr. High School. My dad bought Ramones Mania right after Joey Ramone died, that’s how I got into the Ramones.

ROOKIE: My Dad grew up in Rockaway Beach, so The Ramones were always on in the house growing up.

You guys released a split 7” with Austria’s Dee Cracks last year on Swamp Cabbage Records. Tell me a bit about the song “Cuidado”. Was it inspired by firsthand experience?

RONNIE: “Cuidado” is inspired from a true story involving me, the US border patrol and one fine Mexican mamacita. I can't go into much detail as legal issues are still pending.

I don’t hear any politics or heavy social issues in your lyrics. Is this a conscience decision? What do you guys’ think of MRR and the punk rock political correctness police?

RONNIE: I wouldn't be able to tell you who or what is going on politically in the world.

People just write about what's on their minds. For me, pizza and other stupid shit is always on mine.

RICKY: We’re unaffiliated with MRR and the punk rock police.

ROOKIE: Politics are dumb.

When you guys aren’t playing or listening to music, what will people typically find you doing?

RONNIE: When I'm not playing music I'm usually at the beach, cracking a cold one. I also like old Nintendo games.

RICKY: Working a job and hanging out with my girlfriend. I'm easy to please. You can find me playing Game Boy and drinking beers while she watches some television show about snobby housewives or families with 38 children.

ROOKIE: You can find me watching whatever baseball game is on or picking my nose, sometimes both.

There is documented evidence that the U.S. Government has used Van Halen and Skinny Puppy to torment prisoners. If you were in charge of selecting the music to use to torture people what songs would you use? Give me your top five.

RONNIE: If you turn on top 40 radio right now for about an hour you'll hear the same 5 songs about 30 times. So, that seems pretty torturous to me. Is torturous a word?

RICKY: Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith.

ROOKIE: Nirvana, Sublime, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley and Led Zeppelin.

I read that out of all the art forms, music has the power to change a person’s mood the fastest. Do you agree with this? If so, are there any records you put on that will almost always ease you out of a bad day?

RONNIE: Nothing beats putting an original Ramones record on a turntable; much like prescription narcotics, its mind altering.

RICKY: Tie-dying T-shirts always does the trick for me.

ROOKIE: I only listen to the McRackins, what mood am I in?

Can you tell me about the most memorable New Rochelles gig, good or bad, and what made it so?

RONNIE: Every New Rochelles gig was a blur. I think one time we played with Green Day?

RICKY: We played a Halloween show as the Ramones a few years back. There was a great crowd and it ruled.

ROOKIE: I think one time we got through an entire set.

Where can people go to hear or buy your music?

RONNIE: Ask Rookie about where to buy our music, I seriously couldn't even tell you. Do we even have stuff for sale?

RICKY: I’m sure they’ll figure it out.

ROOKIE: You can hear/buy our music including our debut 7-inch “It’s New!” and our split 7-inch with DeeCracks “The Smile Of The Tiger” at https://www.facebook.com/thenewrochelles or http://thenewrochelles1.bandcamp.com/. Coming soon our split 7-inch with Windowsill on Swamp Cabbage and Lost Youth Records and our complete discography “It’s New, Too!” on Kid Tested Records.

What lies in the near future for The New Rochelles?

RONNIE: Who knows what the future holds for The New Rochelles. I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow.

RICKY: It's a secret.

ROOKIE: More debt, more dependency, more fun.

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White Murder

     Musically, White Murder are as varied as their talented musical pedigree of previous bands, Red Onions, Teenage Knockouts, Neon King Kong, Jail Weddings just to name a few. While this variation might be a thorn in the side for the lazy ear, it is a revelation to those ears willing to go along for the musical ride known as White Murder. What White Murder does so effortlessly is pick and choose scenes and styles (punk, post-punk), from multiple decades (‘70’s –‘90’s) to combine a very unique band fronted by two female vocalists who don’t merely trade off vocals as they sing together in such effortless cohesion that you think it’s just one signing the entire time. 

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

All five of us.

Where is the band from?

Long Beach, San Pedro, Los Angeles

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

Paul Gonzalez – Drums

Hannah Blumenfeld – Microphone

Mary Animal – Microphone

Michael D’Amico – Bass Guitar

Reuben Kaiban - Guitar

How did the band start?

Our first band meeting was at The Pike, over breakfast and many Bloody Marys. We called White Murder our “life raft” because we were all going through our own major life crises.

What bands did you have in mind when starting this band? White Murder’s sound is definitively a mix of punk, post-punk and late 80’s indie sound.

We all brought our own influences and we had no idea what the band was going to sound like until our first practice.

While doing research on the band, I read an article in Long Beach Post about White Murder. In the article, the band was referred to as a super group to the disagreement and dismay of some of the commenter’s. Do you think there a definition of super group?  If so, what would it be?

Aren't super groups from the '70s?  We were all born in the '70s, so...

One thing that strikes me most about White Murder is the sound especially when considering the previous bands (Neon King Kong, Jail Weddings, Red Onions, Teenage Knockouts) the members have been sounds nothing like the previous bands. Was this a conscious decision when songwriting?

The only conscious decision was “no hi-hats!”

Do you think music can still be a vital force in such a disposable age?

Why else would we be doing this?

How does the dual vocals partnership work especially since you two are signing all the lyrics together? Do you write the lyrics together or one writes them or you take turns?

We write together.

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects music in any way?

People are less hydrated and more melodic.

Some bands institute rules for their band. For example, no more than 1 drink before playing live. In a Razorcake interview, I had read the band has a dinner rule before the show. What is the reasoning behind this?

It isn't a rule. But, it helps a great fucking deal to be on the same page. It's family style!  As a matter of fact, we're answering these questions while eating dinner together.

In the video for “Safety In Numbers” the band is seen inflicting harm to an unseen person, handed a shovel and told, we guess, to dig their own grave. In the “Cold Dark Night” video, the band meets their demise at the hands of homicidal hitchhiker. Are the stories in these videos connected?

The stories in the videos are not connected. “Safety in Numbers,” was made by Jimmy Fusil; who we love. “Cold Dark Night,” was made by Noel Maitland; who we love.

Where can people hear the band?

whitemurder.com

What’s next for White Murder?

Right now, we're going to digest our tacos and play a show in Tempe, AZ. After that, new songs and a new record.

Bandcamp and Soundcloud links:

http://whitemurder.com

https://soundcloud.com/whitemurder





White Murder - "Cold Dark Night" from The Blank Agency on Vimeo.

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Sonnyskyes

Can weathermen inspire a longtime musician to break out on his own and start his own labor of love project? Well, yes and no. “I felt a kinship to [weathermen] because they perform alone.” Even though the LP The Imaginary Friend Ship was record entirely by himself, Sonnyskyes has enlisted some friends to help him perform his brand of stripped down lo-fi garage pop that ranges from 13^th Floor Elevators psych to early 60’s fuzzed out pop live. The debut LP The Imaginary Friend Ship from Sonnyskyes took three years to complete, but has very quickly gathered attention in LA Record, led to shows with Lovely Bad Things and Burger Records agreeing to release the cassette version of the LP.

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Mike Smith

Where is the band from?

Long Beach, CA

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

Sonnyskyes is my personal recording project.

When I do play out, I have a great backing band: Jonny (guitar) and Kevin (drums) from the Crystal Antlers and Josh Teague (bass).

How did the band start?

I have been recording music since high school. My sketches would be handed over to one of the bands I played in and reinterpreted. I am no longer in a band. So, I decided to really get into the recording process and the concept of Sonnyskyes was born.

Originally the band was called Sonnyskyes & The Telepathics. Why did you decide to drop the Telepathics part?

Sonnyskyes is my weatherman name! I felt a kinship to them because they perform alone. I love the idea that weathermen “predict” the weather. So, the Telepathics was what I called my imaginary band.

Since you have played in bands before, was going solo and recording every instrument yourself liberating musically or far more pressure or both?

Liberating yes! But I had to be disciplined which meant I put a lot of pressure on myself. I had to get in the mindset of each instrument and member of The Telepathics. For example, I would define what the Sonnyskyes bass player would do on a given track.  Then I would pretend I was that bass player, lean against the wall, pretend I had a cig hanging out of my mouth and lay down the bass line. I guess every instrument that was not vocals or guitar I had to define parameters for that member of and stick to the script.

What made the final decision to just go ahead, record everything and self-finance the LP yourself? That’s a big decision and commitment? What was the timeframe of the entire process for the LP from the start of the writing to the first press of the LP?

The project took almost 3 years to wrap up.  I worked so hard for so long I felt just a digital release did not do it justice. It became my baby and I only wanted the best for it!

It is a piece of art to me.

At any time during the writing process, did you miss the collaboration that does happen with a band?

Actually no! However once I started rehearsing the songs with friends to play a few shows… I realized how much I missed it! Collaboration through music is kind of unique as opposed to other art forms… not many people get together and abstract paint.

I was reading on the Let’s Die Friends blog, that you were recording bass and drum tracks at lunch? If this is true, how did you not get in trouble? Also that’s pretty cool that there is an available room at your job to lay down tracks.

While recording the “The Imaginary Friend Ship”, I had a band room at work. I would come in early and mic the drums, lay the tracks down at lunch and then eat at my desk.  Sometimes I would record after hours or on weekends too. I also would record vocals there. It was much better than singing in my spare room at home for all my neighbors to listen!

Currently on Bandcamp, Sonnyskyes LP is available in entirety for free. Is there a reason for this? Is a limited time deal?

I actually paid $20 so I have 1000’s of free downloads.

I love this record and I want people who want it to have it.

LA Record wrote, “Sonnyskyes revels in a fresh presentation that eschews predictable and traditionally packaged rock music for a more untutored, irreverent palate. The album wears its lo-fi sensibilities proudly on its sleeve.” Now that the LP is out, how do you feel reading that first batch of reviews that is coming in?

Awesome! I have played in a few bands and feel like I really have not received this level of positive feedback before. My heart went into these songs and I feel that people can hear it!

Sonnyskyes has received some positive praise rather quickly. This has got to be rewarding. KCRW posted on their site about an early show with Lovely Bad Things, good review in LA Record and isn’t Burger Records putting out the cassette version of the LP? Not to mention the LP itself was showcased on the Pirates Press blog. This has got to be great after all the work?

Burger IS going to release a cassette! I pulled the Best Coast cover off the Burger version and replaced it appropriately with my Colleen Green cover. The response has been quite amazing! Pretty awesome considering it is just I recording tracks in my bedroom.

Sonnyskyes have a played a few live shows so far. At this point is this the direction the band is heading?

I am back to writing and recording new songs. This time around I plan on stepping up the production a bit… Maybe recording final drums and vocals at Jonny’s Cathouse Studio. I think it would be cool to record 4 songs and maybe 2 from the “Imaginary Friend ship” with the live band of pals.  All the while see about lining up some great shows.

Where can people hear the band?

Download album(s) on my bandcamp for free!

http://sonnyskyes1.bandcamp.com/

My soundcloud where I post more ideas and demos.

https://soundcloud.com/sonny-skyes

What’s next for Sonnyskyes?

I plan to just keep at it… for whoever cares to listen!

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Three Two Ones

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Jimmy Moran – Vocals, Guitar

Where is the band from?

Long Beach, CA

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

Jimmy Moran - Vocals and Guitar

Phil Robles – Guitar, Backing Vocals

Billy Parkinson – Drums, Backing Vocals

How did the band start?

I had a few tunes and rounded up some dudes. It’s been kind of a nightmare!

One of the interesting things about Three Two Ones is that you have two different styles blended seamlessly in the songs. At some parts it reminds me of early Psychedelic Furs and other times more power pop. Can you name some bands and LP’s or 45’s that have had an influence or impact on Three Two Ones songwriting and sound?

Ha, yeah I guess Jenny sounds kind of power poppy. We’ve heard that a few times. I hear more of a Replacements feel in that song, yeah right, I wish. The others tunes are influenced by the cool punk, psych, & melodic bands we all grew up on. I think a good recipe for a good song is catchy & melodic music with just the right amount of middle finger in the lyrics which in our case is a lot.

I find it interesting that there a lot of people that have previously played in more aggressive bands that are secret pop lovers. Jimmy, you were in Discontent years ago. Before Three Two Ones had you wanted to start a more pop influenced band?

I played in Discontent from 1998-2004. Good times with good pals! I’ve played in several other punk bands as well. Phil played in Cheap Sex and Billy was in The New Fidelity.

Do you think music can still be a vital force in such a disposable age?

Yeah, I think good music is powerful and timeless. I think it’s all been done as far as innovative rock n’ roll goes. Seems bands are picking bits and pieces from different decades and genres that they like best. Take a look at The Black Lips. They started just playing 60s lo-fi garage and have slowly evolved into a 60s/modern indie kind of thing. But, what drives me nuts are all these bands that want to sound like them and do the whole lo-fi thing. They pull it off, and are a cool band; everyone else is biting a not so good idea. Why the fuck would you want to record in low fidelity? So people can go see you live where you sound big, hopefully, and then listen to your cd, record or whatever, and then you sound like a shit demo. Silly trends in my opinion, but who the fuck am I, right? Maybe I went a bit off course on this question?

In “Jenny,” what made the band think of calling her an asshole. The reason I ask is because asshole is a word more traditionally directed toward a man. Was it simply a case of a lyrical twist? Or was it another reason?

That’s funny. Well, the person who the song is written about is not named Jenny. However, she was an asshole! Jenny sounded good for the song and I didn’t want to be direct with using her real name. Personally, I think anyone can be an asshole, men and women both alike. I wasn’t trying to be creative with it; I just really hated that bitch.

 Currently, is the band a trio or four-piece?

We are a 4-piece band. We recently lost our bass player, we’re still pals though. Moises Arteaga (Discontent & The Savoys) has been filling in with us until we find someone for the long run. We used to be a 3 piece for like 7 months or so. We have had drummer issues over and over again. So we said, “Fuck it.” We had our buddy Sam Gallagher record drum tracks for us for our live set. We put triggers, effects, on the drums to make them sound like a drum machine and kept the drumming simple and not too busy. We played live to the tracks for a few months just to get out and play live. People dug it! However, it did limit us a lot! We couldn’t just go to practice and jam on new shit. All we had were those tracks to play our set. Finally we hit up Billy Parkinson to come play with us. It turned out that he really wanted to anyway. He’s great! Rock solid and just as nuts as we are! It’s rare to find a drummer who is not a prima donna or egomaniac.

Faster and Louder blog has written, “Three Two Ones are a power trio to watch! They've got a new single out that I foresee landing in the year-end top ten lists.”  Vibrator Buzz wrote “for sure this two song eargasm will be featured in my year end’s best list, really it should be featured in everyone’s best list if there is any justice in this rotten piece of music business.”  Does the band read any of it’s own press? Do these positive reviews give the band more confidence in what they are doing after reading such reviews for the debut single?

Yeah, for sure! Makes us want to keep moving forward. It’s great to hear that stuff!!! Dirk Le Buzz from Vibrator Buzz rules for writing such a killer review about us. He’s super into supporting bands and independent music!

50 years ago people use to buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects music in any way?

Ha-ha!!! Never thought of it that way. I think it kind of sucks that bands really don’t make money-selling records. On the other hand, the Internet is a beautiful thing! Bands need to adapt and give it away for free digitally. Sell your shirts, vinyl, buttons, stickers, etc… But if you can put your music in the hands of countless amounts of people by giving it away for free on the Internet, it’s a no brainer. It’s not like you’re going to make a ton of money like Green Day, U2, or any of these safe, crap bands.

Where can people hear the band?

All of our music can be downloaded FREE on our Three Two Ones Facebook page, ReverbNation, and Bandcamp. Our Jenny 45 can be purchased on our Bandcamp page.

What’s next?

Keep playing, writing, & having fun! We will be playing in Texas January 3 though 8 via our friend Evan Henry at Dallas Distortion Music. Then we’ll return to Texas in March for SXSW.

Learn how to place music on itunes at ReverbNation.com

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Apparitions

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions? 
Erik and Dan.
 
Where is the band from?  
Erik: Here and there in LA county.

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?
John Tyree on drums
Ryan Bowder on vocals
Dan Graziano on bass
Erik Fettes on guitar
 

50 years ago people use buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects music in anyway?
Dan: Ya get what you pay for maybe 50 years ago you got a better product, i mean some of those albums had 2 or 3 hits on em now ya get one if your lucky. if its good stuff people will still buy it or support the bands in some way. Or maybe people are just cheapskates and that's why Walmart is so damn popular. Ha Ha. 

How did the band start?
Dan: With me and Erik recording demos and stuff, jamming with a lot of different drummers and singers until we found Jon and Ryan and things started falling into place.

What bands did you have in mind when starting this band?
Erik: Not in particular but maybe a certain genre more or less.

When you guys are doing the songwriting, is there a deliberate intention to mix various styles from different genres?
Erik: Every song starts with a general idea when we write we get together we usually just help one another point a song in the right direction.

Do you think music can still be a vital force in such a disposable age?
Dan: It can and will be sir.

Future plans?
Erik: Records, tour, the works if we can pull it off. 

Future releases are coming out when? 
Dan: Our debut 7 inch will be out by October.

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California Lions

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Daniel Perkins

Where is the band from?

Long Beach

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

Carina Downing who sings. Roberto Escobar who sings and plays bass, Alvaro Rodriguez: drums, R Scott: keys, Brad Gordon: guitar and piano; and I sing and play guitar.

How did the band start?

California Lions started when Roberto and I were still in a 60’s mod band called The New Fidelity. We were busy playing a lot of shows with that band, but I had a lot of songs that we didn’t have time to do so I got together with Brad Gordon, who had produced The New Fidelity, and we recorded some of them. Brad produces a lot of singer songwriters on The Hotel Café scene and always has someone coming by to track bass or viola or whatever, so slowly he developed the song ideas into a set of fully produced songs with the musicians who stopped by the studio laying down tracks. At that point some of the songs were getting some licensing interest and we thought it might be fun to start a band around the recordings.

50 years ago people use buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think affects music in anyway?

Ha that’s so true. The other night I was at the liquor store in Santa Cruz and got a water and a beer, and realized the water cost more! But I digress…

Musicians have always been severely underpaid it seems. From a creative standpoint, with current recording technology, everyone can make a record, which is really a great thing, it just seems to put more and more records out there on top of the fact that you can download what you want for free anyway. You just have to be creative and have a plan to keep your expenses low. Not too long ago bands used to spring 1200 bucks to print their new CD’s, not such a good idea today. I’m more apt to burn a few hundred on my computer and hand make a sleeve. And actually maybe make more records!

Been reading that the band has some songs played on TV shows. Which ones? How did that come about?

We just had an instrumental version of our song Yesterday Too Soon on MTV’s Real World  a couple weeks ago, and a few months back we were also on a couple episodes of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. We had something on America’s Got Talent a while back and maybe Toddlers and Tiaras or something too. Most of them are instrumental versions of our songs used for background syncs. The MTV ones came from someone from the licensing agency seeing an early version of California Lions playing a show in Pasadena and requesting our CD. Brad’s production is always super broadcast quality and luckily we had instrumental mixes ready to go so they put the songs to good use. We are on a lot of cable shows too from being requested to be in various libraries, luckily they seem to be the ones that shows are using.

Was anyone in the band a fan of Clouds? I see there are two members of the band in California Lions.

I was a fan of the Clouds they were great! I’m also a fan of Carina and Alvaro’s project This Lake. I remember the first time I saw Carina singing and playing keyboards on the street in Long Beach and I was blown away. I introduced myself later and asked her to play with us. Alvaro came to one of our first shows and next thing you know he’s with us too and we’ve been having a lot of fun.

Where can people hear the band?

We do have two songs up on our bandcamp page:

http://californialions.bandcamp.com/

and we do play around Long Beach a bit.

What’s next?

We’ve finishing recording a new batch of songs, hopefully they’ll turn into a CD soon.

We have a mini residency 3 Thursdays in August (the 9^th, 16^th, ad 23^rd) in downtown LA, and we’ll probably have a CD release in Long Beach sometime soon after that.

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