Abbas Ali chats to the L.A. alt rockers about hard-ass lyrics, vintage keyboards and L.A.'s music scene. Oh, and attempts some flirting in the process...
The Like are four girls you shouldn’t mess with. The lyrics of a recent single reveal an inner life of a formidable personality, with the refrain “when I am through with him/he will be wishing he was dead”.
So, are they pussycats or hardasses? “I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as a pussycat”, says lead singer Elizabeth ‘Z’ Berg when asked about her personality and that of the band. London born drummer Tennessee Thomas giggles at the question. “I think we all have strong personalities” says bassist Laena Geronimo, as the band confer.
“The thing about the lyrics on the record is that they span a long period of time, and there are many relationships on the record that are being spoken about”, continues Z. “There are songs where I’m angry and I feel like a hardass, and there are songs where I’m absolutely miserable and broken, pathetic... and there are songs where I’m flippant. I feel I sort of run the gamut of emotions”, says Berg of their second LP, Release Me, which fuses the 60s girl group vocals with Animals-style British invasion rock. “That being said, I am a bit of a hardass, and I am a bit of a nightmare”, she adds, apologising to her various exes for documenting their emotional life on record.
Both coming from well-connected musical families, Z and bandmate Thomas formed the 4-piece band back in 2001 in LA as teenagers. A debut album followed in 2005, with mixed reviews, including the observation that it was too smoothly produced and slick. This was followed by the departure of two band members, and a change of a direction and approach.
“I think it happened because of us finally being at a point of moderate to medium adulthood where we just knew what we wanted our band to sound like”,says Z, now in her mid twenties, of the re-think of their music style.
“Yeah, our musical tastes had grown a bit, and we’d figured out what we wanted to play”, adds Tennessee of the record Release Me, which is partly produced by super-producer du jour, Mark Ronson. Deciding to leave aside the salacious tabloid gossip about her relationship with the style icon and musician, I focus on the music instead. I mention the addition of the Farfisa organ, played by new member Annie Monroe, with its rich, distinctive sound adding a new dimension to their overall aesthetic, and the way it sounded to me to be reminiscent of 60s british bands like Procul Harum.
“The keyboard changed the sound so drastically. Firstly 'cos the keyboard takes the solo and it’s the lead instrument. Which is so rare in any kind of modern bands”, says Z. “It fits”, adds Annie, “especially with using a vintage keyboard”.
“The idea was to have was to have it sound like the Supremes fronting the Animals,” explains Tennessee, “played by girls who had the look of those cool girls”.
I ask them about their stylish look, which marks them out among t-shirt and jeans wearing bands. “We don’t like to wear matching outfits. We generally like to co-ordinate, but do like to get dressed up, and put on make up”, says Z.
“We’ve just been sitting in the van all day”, says Tennessee. I explain that I expected them to appear dressed identically, and she smiles. “Well, I didn’t know this was happening right now, otherwise I would have”. When I tell the girls that they needn’t make any effort with their appearance for my sake, there’s an uncomfortable, comic silence as I realise my mistake, before the girls start giggling, and Tennessee says, “When you’re in a hole, it’s best to stop digging”.
We move on to discuss the burgeoning music scene in their native California, which is undergoing something of a renaissance, with an excitement and buzz last seen in the days of LA metal bands some 25 years ago. This time, it’s bands like Best Coast, Fools Gold and Girls thatare making waves.
“We live in Echo Park, Silverlake area, and there’s a scene”, says Tennessee, her English accent standing out from her friends’. “There is definitely a huge musical force in LA”, explains Laena, a musical veteran of the city’s scene, and friends with Best Coast and many others. “It’s sort of underground, but some things have peaked out”.
As for the specifics of how they’ve been received, Z is positive. ”We’ve had a really wonderful receptive response”, continues Z, the strongest personality of the quartet. “There are a lot of great bands - particularly in east L.A., and a lot of bands that we did a residency with. Basically, all of Laena’s friends' bands, that she curated a whole 4 week of shows with. There are a lot of good bands and good people who like music, who get what we’re doing and get what we like, which is a really great feeling, that we’ve found our niche.”
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