In the heart of East L.A., an area renowned for its influential low-rider culture, Chicano culture-based art, and Latino community the four young men who comprise emerging psych-rock band Levitation Room might seem out of place, yet they exist harmoniously with their surroundings and not in spite of them. Their decidedly hallucinogenic jams whisper and hum the same gentle refrains of their summer-of-love influences conjuring up the cognitive imagery of sunny beach days spent with friends in a marijuana haze along with lyrical and sonic meditations on life, love, and self-awareness. Originally coming together in 2012, guitarist/vocalist Julian Porte and guitarist Gabriel Fernandez bonded over a shared love of British Invasion groups and 1960’s psychedelic outfits like The Beatles, The Kinks, The Zombies and The Seeds and began drafting their earliest tunes before welcoming drummer Johnathan Martin to the fold. After a long search, the trio recruited their fourth member bassist Jonathan Martin (not to be confused with their drummer) and continued to flesh out their songs.

What sets Levitation Room apart from many of their neo-psych contemporaries in the midst of a nation-wide revival that has seen the likes of Tame Impala turning up on modern rock radio and former underdogs turned scene godfathers The Brian Jonestown Massacre consistently sell out 3000+ capacity shows is their 24/7 dedication to their craft. These dudes are not weekend warriors who, come Friday night, throw on their paisley shirts just in time to regurgitate a recycled and inferior product upon the alter of the counter-culture gods of yesteryear before cleaning up in time to re-join the rat race by Monday morning; they walk the walk and talk the talk. Julian Porte supports himself as a street musician, busking various spots around LA. Gabriel works as a free-lance graphic designer, Johnathan teaches drum lessons and to top it all off 2014 saw the guys acquire a home-base in the form of Everydaze Music, a retail store equal parts rehearsal space, vintage clothing shop, and musical instrument depot. Operating as a creativity-driven co-op, the four band mates form the central core of larger collective running day-to-day operations along with several of their friends. Located at the busy intersection of Whittier and Atlantic in East LA, the space has already played host to a number of shows and events and boasts an ever-expanding variety of services and goods.

Though they might have their work cut out for them, Levitation Room shows no signs of diverting from their path anytime soon. In the last few months alone they completed their first-ever west coast tour playing to packed audiences gaining loads of new fans and garnering critical acclaim at every tour stop. The coming months will see their very first self-produced recordings re-issued by Lollipop Records and they are currently hard at work on their first ever full-length album for famous California label Burger Records, also to be written, recorded, and produced by the band themselves. All members remain enthusiastic about the future and if their stalwart dedication to consciousness-expanding music continues to match their work ethic the future should be bright indeed, not only for the band members themselves, but for anyone lucky enough to be along for the ride with them.

-Christopher Diers Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.