Outta Sight

Unfortunate News

2011-03-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

It is with extremely heavy hearts that we announce that we have recently parted ways with our bassist Andy Hamm. Due to unresolved differences within the band, we strongly feel that, in order to continue in a positive direction, this is the best course of action. We wish Andy the best and will miss him deeply.

-Kelcey, Matt, Ryan and Taylor

2011-01-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

Head-Holes

2010-10-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

*photo by Jeremy Hahn

So, I’ve never blogged before in my life, and with my new camera in tow to help illustrate the goings-on of my everyday fortunes/blessings/accidents/shit, I’ve decided to give it a go. I think this feeling of wanting to express myself as a real person could not have come at a better time. You see, most people are able to have a singular voice. Good or bad, it is theirs and theirs alone, and you can take it or leave it. But now that I’m playing in a band that has reached a place we’ve only ever dreamed of reaching, it has definitely come with its setbacks. I am no longer a singular voice. I am no longer just Kelcey Ayer from a small surf town in southern California with a crazy personality and an even crazier Colombian mother who creates new forms of profanity daily (shit-damnit, etc.). I am the keyboardist/singer(one-of) of Local Natives. I am not a person anymore, but something different. I don’t have the privilege of saying whatever I want or doing whatever I please... I represent something. Whatever I do, I have four other people that I carry around with me that people can see even when they’re not there. We are each like mutants with four other heads attached to our bodies, and in some way we have to figure out how to carry them. I have to walk differently to support the weight, I need an additional seat when I’m flying for the extra head-room, I need to cut extra neck holes in my sweaters and shirts for their comfort; adjustments must be made or else you just topple over. Or piss people off. Or rip head-holes in your sweaters or shirts.

Last week I did the one thing that anybody in a band can do as a sure-fire way of supremely souring the vibes of a live show besides just telling an audience to fuck-off. We were two songs into the set, I think we just finished “World News”, and I said, “Hello Vancouver!”. We were in Toronto. I can remember the feeling as the incorrect name came out of my mouth. It was one of those things where you knew that you were saying something wrong, something that would have consequences (like when you say something really out-of-line to your girlfriend without thinking, a joke about their weight or something (not that I’ve ever done that, I’m very nice)), and there’s this moment of disbelief that lasts for a portion of a second. Then the horror strikes. Right after I said it, I put my hands on my head in shock as I heard an amalgamation of cheering, laughing, and booing. I immediately stepped back from my keyboard and laid on the floor, a move that seemed completely appropriate from my mixed feelings of embarrassment and shame. Taylor then chimed in and greeted the audience with it’s actual city name and things moved forward. A few songs later I attempted a futile apology, but there was no way I was going to make up for this mistake. The damage had been done, and if people we’re going to take offense, no words of mine we’re going to change their minds. Hell, if I was watching a show where someone said San Francisco and I was at home in LA, the very least I would think was, “What? Yikes.” But I’m forgiving and always think positively to an absurd degree.

We’ve been touring straight for almost two years. It started slow, but as time went on we found it harder and harder to fit in breaks. This year I think we’ve spent a little under a month at home with all breaks added up. And in all that touring, even in places in Holland with names I could hardly pronounce, I have never said the wrong name. This was a freak accident. I even said Vancouver with such conviction and pride, my mind truly thinking not that we were somewhere else, but that there was here. It’s funny too, earlier that night, Taylor and I walked out of the Thai place we had dinner at and he immediately turned in the complete wrong direction towards the venue, sparking a conversation about how I pride myself on always walking on the grid of an atlas in my head. My dad is a pilot, and I like to think he shared some paternal bond of his navigational skills to me. But in reality, all of this doesn’t matter. These people don’t know my track record. They don’t know my father’s profession. They don’t know me. I’m playing to complete strangers every night who have no idea who I am, just that I am part of a combination of people in a band. People judge me all over the world based on the music we write. That’s the weight. But I guess it’s the weight that I wanted. And if you topple over a couple times, it’s understandable. You’re one man carrying five heads. I imagine that that is how some people go crazy in this business, or entertainment in general. Holding yourself up to having the strength of five men, or whatever the case may be, is delusional. You have limits. Caring not to know them is suicide.

I guess if the worst thing that happens in my career is that a few people in Toronto think I’m a jackass, I should be ok. What I did doesn’t mean I’m a jerk, just that I was dumb for a couple minutes when I’m usually not. But I’m sure I’ll have more fuck-ups in the future, so maybe it’s just another adjustment I’ll need to make. If I want to keep being human, being myself and not some cog in a machine, these mistakes will need to happen. I can only hope that people realize we’re people too. That’s it. So, I guess if you’re from Vancouver and reading this, I’m sorry. Just kidding Toronto. Too soon?

-Kelcey ;)

Goodbye Van, hello Mrs. Hippo

2010-10-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

We have a tour bus. It’s monstrous. It sleeps twelve, operates six independent air conditioning units, and between the girth of its walls manages to contain a small kitchen. Should the last couple sentences appear distastefully boastful to you, let me offset that impression by letting you know; nobody is more grateful or surprised to have a tour bus than us. We jumped up and down like an award winning seventh grade Girl Scout troupe when “Mrs. Hippo” (which she was immediately named) first rolled into our lives. The once seemingly insane idea to spend most of the money we’ve saved over the last year to lease the twelve wheel behemoth for this six week US tour came when we saw the drive schedule and venues we’d be playing. Two nights at the Henry Fonda in Los Angeles, the Fillmore in San Francisco, the Showbox in Seattle, etc, etc. The list of legendary venues rolls on to Webster Hall at the end of October in New York. Any band should count their lucky stars to get the chance to perform in so many inspiring spaces. That’s why we got the bus. Not because we deserve it, not because it makes financial sense, but because we owe it to the fans who come out to support us to be our best. Being on the road the last two years straight, we’ve spent enough sleepless 48 hour periods trading off driving through the night and pissed in enough shaking, empty water bottles while barreling down the freeway to appreciate the finer comforts Mrs. Hippo affords the touring life. However, its not the two satellite televisions or the ability to pour myself a bowl of cereal en route between Portland and Boulder that makes me fond of that incessantly sputtering hunk of metal. It’s the early morning instore performances we’ve been able to add (and hit our harmonies at). The time to finally let the new songs start kicking their way from my mind into existence. The capability to stay out at the bars with our new friends The Love Language and watch them freestyle rap battle with the house hip hop band. It’s the best six shows we’ve had all year in a year full of hundreds (literally) of great shows. This is going to be the best tour we’ve ever done. A special thank you to Mrs. Hippo, and to the crazy kids, you men and women of the west coast. Eastward ho!

Taylor

Local Natives

*photos by Bethany Toews

Alive or Dead

2010-10-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

Right around week three everyone stops talking about touring and starts to reveal their inner geek. Its like spending the holidays with all the relatives you've only met through birthday cards, except now bitchy Aunt Betty is asleep and the rest of you are three cocktails deep and playing Yahtzee in the basement. The comfort of questions such as " So where is everyone from?" or "How was the sound up there tonight?" are now gone in the best ways possible. All of us have already had plenty of time to grow close with The Union Line. The two of us toured together on our first US run and its easy to get to know each other when there are less than 10 people at every show. The Love Language are the newbies of the touring train. Before spending the last three weeks together the only I knew about The Love Language was their music. I since have learned that BJ likes to free style flow in podunk San Francisco bars, Missy gives a mean haircut with Crayola scissors, Jordan plays a mean dance synth and Justin is only good at pool when he's not drunk(I won $10). Short story short, all of us have become friends. My first friends ever from North Carolina in fact. The Union Line will continue with us until NY but sadly we part ways with The Love Language tonight in Houston.

I have included two videos below. The first of which is the product of Kelcey's new 'toy' aka first digital camera. Among the chaos of what sounded like Mozart in our heads was the reality of a sloppy jam captured after a long night in Oklahoma. Its a good visual to go with the above words.

The second is our new video for Wide Eyes. We paired up with a wonderful director Cat Solen and continued on a somewhat gory aquatic adventure. Ryan sparked the idea of the land shark and we ran with it. Scene ideas were soon flying out of our mouths like fruit flys to a rotten banana.

Deleted Scene #1

Man sits at dining room table with parents and girlfriend.

Mom brings out the main course which is covered by a beautiful sterling silver handle top.

Dad grabs knife and lifts the handle top to reveal the sharks head

Camera cuts to main characters screaming face

Camera cuts back to Dad's arm now lodged in the sharks mouth and as mom trys to tear Dad free his arm is ripped from his body (blood spewing)

Cut back to main character's face screaming with sheer terror

Cut back to now Mom's arm is suddenly also being devoured by shark as Mom tries desperately to pull away

Deleted Scene #2

Man walks into house and immediately notices blood on his new white carpet

Man's eyes follow a blood trail to the foot of the stairs

As the eye follows the blood it starts to reveal the shark

Camera pulls back to reveal shark standing with a grin on his face and the man's pet dog's severed head dangling from his left fin.

Deleted Scene #3

Camera close up on a picture of the man's dog surrounded by roses

Camra Pulls back to reveal a funeral in progress

The man slowly walks toward the casket, doggy toy in hand as he wipes a tear from his cheek

Right before he reaches the casket a shark fin busts out of the top

In the end it really came down to that we didnt have enough money to pull any of these scenes off and hence they got the axe. Ill let Ryan tell you about the fridge scene. Budget was tight enough that even getting enough fake blood was an issue. Please take notice to the end scene where two liters blood I personally made out of corn syrup, food coloring and chunks of ground beef play a leading role. Hope you have as much fun watching as I did learning to make fake blood. Enjoy.

Andy

Local Natives

(via our blog www.outtasightblog.blogspot.com)

Touring Rhymes with...

2010-09-20T17:19:00.001-07:00

Touring

-verb (used with object)

1. The act or 'life adjustment process' of spending most of your young adult life living/eating/breathing inside a 16 passenger Ford E-350 Econoline Van and/orMercedes 7 passenger Sprinter Van(trailer optional).

Touring with four of your best friends is something we asked for. In fact, we begged for it, dreamt about it and worked our asses off for it. I've always believed to truly realize and soak up something thats special, you have to dive head into it. We have spent the last year(minus a few weeks) on the road. Playing 12 tracks from our first album as a band in places I never thought I'd end up this soon. The sensation of my initial head first dive has come and gone in blink of a few months. I am now in the midst of trying to clinch my knees mid-air as my body attempts itself into the perfect cannon-ball off the high-dive. We asked for it and we got it....now what do I do with it?

The beast of mixing work, with travel, with what you love hasn't been as breezy as I imagined it always would be...and that has to be a great thing. A constant reminder of how much further we have to go as a new band along with how lucky I should feel to be where we are currently at. This Friday is the first show of our biggest tour to date. I am currently busier now with more things I care about than I ever have been. College blue-books have been replaced by over analyzed graphics of ourselves throwing up hair and bar tending C-class weddings on broken down yacht boats has been shoved aside with trying to learn exactly what a Moog Murf pedal can do for my bass tone. Being uncomfortable is comfortable for me...and that doesn't need to make sense to anyone but myself.

There's a chance I'll hit my tail bone on the aqua-green concrete at the bottom of the pool. Right in that spot that makes it a joke to all your friends to watch you try and sit down on a bar stool. Or perhaps, just maybe I'll hit that shit just right. I imagine a tidal wave of chlorine being shoved under everyone's eye lids within twenty feet of the impact. The lifeguard will blow his whistle and yell muffled gibberish from his oversized cone. Mothers will be frantically looking around for their children and Ill be wrapped in a damp towel that I got from the zoo, laughing...just laughing.

Andy

Local Natives

They just dont make neck pillows like they used to.(the 5th guy is our friend/TM Chris whom I'm 99% sure is on his Blackberry)

from the stage at FYF Fest a few weeks ago in LA (notice the sound booth tent which is mysteriously missing its 4th leg?)

Two for the price of Two

2010-09-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

All work and no play make Local Natives...something something. After spending the entire summer season on the road we have returned home for a couple of weeks to try and get our heads on straight. Vacation week one has now come to a close and my mind is filled with memories of sawed off b-b shotguns, milk and dry ice soaked fruit loops, girls dancing in their underwear, boys dancing in their underwear, glass shards in my pool, shark fins on remote control boats and pouring shots of whiskey with a family of raccoons. Either our heads have been twisted off like a butcher at a Barbie party or we have our fingers crossed that there are now two music videos in our back pocket. A trim here, a cut there and they should soon be done.

Andy
Local Natives

(video above and pictures below from the video shoots)

Milk Photo courtesy of Jim Brandon

inspiration

2010-08-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

tour post(s) coming sooooon

Andy
Local Natives

yes

2010-06-20T14:40:00.001-07:00

FesT..i..vAl

2010-06-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

The pound is my favorite coin in the world. I like that its the perfect size/weight and that it looks like Pirate Booty. I like our new Sprinter Van. It doesn't have a leaky roof and my knees have room to hold normal conversations with the other knees around them without feeling self conscious about being a 'close talker'. I like cider. Its like that fake sparkling apple wine you loved as a kid every Thanksgiving, only its available everyday and it has alcohol. I like Mark and Spencers. Mark supplies me with hummus and Spencer keeps me happy because we are broke and he is a cheap date. I like that its the World Cup. I say soccer you say football....we all say cheers and start chanting some old english pub song that I've never heard before but somehow already know all the words to. I like watching Borroca dissolve into a pint of water. I like saying festival. There's so many over here they have their own separate season right between Spring and Summer. Its called FesT..i...vAL season.

Andy
Local Natives

before (Isle of Wight)

after (Isle of Wight)

p.s. I finished the image at the top a year ago and never really knew where/when to use it until now. I think it applies well for the coming months.

The World News Video

2010-05-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

*more pics from the video HERE

Conversations commenced, debates were introduced and in the end World News was picked to be the next song to be treated with moving pictures. The one and only guideline we had etched in stone this time around was that we wanted to be hands on with the entire process.

As a group we had a window of two weeks back in LA before leaving for tour again. These fourteen days would be our box for finding a director, getting a treatment in and then shooting the entire video. We had tried our hand at working with Matthew Lessner for our last video, but given each others schedules and time constraints it was never meant to be. This time around however, we were able to cross paths and meet in Malibu for a day at the beach.

The treatment itself was loose. Anything from beach babes with Dolphin Tits, to creeper water fur creatures, to sibling fist fights were spit up during back and fourth idea driven treatment emails. At the conclusion we were left smiling with..."a lost vision of a privileged group of eccentric's picnic at the beach after casually downing several bottles of cough syrup".

Everyone met on a perfect day on a perfect beach in perfect Malibu, CA. The "Ghost Band" had already been up since 6am marching and lip syncing. I remember noting that they all were wearing one incredible earring which reminded me of my Uncle Roy circa 1992. Taylor snapped on suspenders, Matt fitted his early baseball stadium concessions hat and Kelcey was forced to pick between either a red or purple bow tie. The only natural next step was of course to be greeted by a traveling pack of professional frisbee dogs. The love that was had between these dogs that white plastic disc would make any human green with envy. Camera lights quickly turned from off to red and soon we were all smiles and white bread frosting. Our good sport swimsuited close friends somehow found themselves knee deep in a baby pool of Gatorade. And while Ryan and I fed the beast, the others resorted to their inner sugar-buzzed 10yr old, banging sticks, throwing frisbees and forgetting about anything having to do with anything. There must have been something in the air...

Feel free to watch HERE and there are more pictures from the video posted HERE. Hoping you enjoy them as much we did.

Andy
Local Natives

Snow Home Video

2010-04-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

Snow is 9wks of overseas winter touring...

listen or watch below

Andy
Local Natives

2nd SXSW

2010-04-01T16:11:00.001-07:00

- First time repeat to the SXSW whirlpool

- 3 blow up mattresses who made best friends with 3 holes = 3 hrs of sleep each night

- 9 shows in 3 days. The best show was the one where we showed up just in time, made a couple of mistakes, crammed 6 six songs in 25min, laughed about someone's pedal failing and then haggled with the cop on 6th st. to let us pull the van in to load

- Finally got to hang out with three rusted cars from the 1920's, enjoyed early morning breakfast burritos and found photo companionship with a local stuffed man and his fake donkey

- Cold winds, sunscreen that wont soak in and burnt necks

- Hanging out at 3am in abandoned shopping malls, shrimp dogs and hangovers

- ...and finally 5 bestwursts dogs with curry ketchup, brown mustard, sauteed onions and a sourdough bun

We love Austin

Andy
Local Natives

The Barcelona Spa

2010-03-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

One could guess that Barcelona is a city run by art students and drag queens. Our 'travel' day which was supposed to start the morning after our set in Barcelona, quickly turned its head into a day spent at the spa and a night spent in Swedish Death Metal bars.

We awoke slightly bright eyed and barely bushy tailed. Used pizza boxes strung the floor while stripped off t-shirts and used pants were busy soaking up an overnight flooded hotel room. We had a long day of driving ahead of us and so we hightailed to the nearest Paella pot roast to fuel our bellies. About half way into our meal the fact was brought up that we had TWO days to drive 8hrs. A unanimous decision was made then and there that we would take the day off in Barcelona.

There were two very unique things about the 'ZT' hotel we were staying in. 1. It was by far the nicest hotel we'd had on tour and 2. It had a Spa. The only reason we were able to stay in the ZT was because the venue had helped us out. This meant that with the little extra cash we had in our pockets we could splurge and squeeze into the skin tight blue spandex (otherwise known as Spain's version of the Spa swimsuit). A day spent in the spa is to be a quiet and relaxing time, a short vacation away from the everyday toils of tour and a peaceful time to reflect. Hence, we entered the spa quiet as a clam, beers in hand and cannon balls into the pool. It was only 20min later we were greeted in the sauna by the hotel clerk who explained that there had been complaints we were being too loud. When we asked him who was complaining he simply said "Everyone".

We retired to our rooms to gather our shoes and decide on the fate of what was next to come. It came down to Matt, myself, our sound tech Mark and our TM Chris. With the rest of the band retired, we headed out to Mark's favorite Swedish death metal bar for what turned out to be a 'not so quick' cocktail. I don't think any of us know exactly what 'Carnival in Barcelona' is but we did find out as we hopped from club to club, bar to bar, party to party, that it makes people drink, smile, converse and dress up like Penguins, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Super Mario Bros.,The cast of LOST and various glam metal bands. An unexpected all day adventure starting at The Barcelona Spa and ending in a pile of soggy fries and moldy mayonnaise.

Andy
Local Natives

Honey Home Video

2010-02-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

Today is February 16th and today is the day that our first album has been officially released in our home country.

We shall celebrate with home videos.

Shot in three days before leaving for tour with my digital camera. Cut and sliced when I had too much time on the plane. Honey is not a music video and its not official. Honey is what leaks...

Andy
Local Natives

Home on wheels

2010-01-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

This is our Van in Germany during the coldest winter in 20yrs

This is our "BIG DOG" driver Mark

This is Mark yelling at the cars ahead of us

& thats us

This is us inside the van. I think its my favorite band photo we have right now.

2004 Mercedes Sprinter Full-size Cargo Van -125k - $179000 (Local Natives UK/European Tour) Includes Driver

Date: 2010-01-29, 2:45PM EST
Reply to: Big Dog

GASOLINE--2004 Mercedes Sprinter Full-size Cargo Van -125k

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Or
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Important information about this deal:
Comes with DRIVER!
No Big Dog Fee!
No Documentation Fee!
No Dealer Preparation Fee!
*******ALL PRICES ARE FIRM*******
All Pictures Are Taken From the Actual Car! All Cars Have a Dirty Title!
Cash or Finance Same High Price!

Arctic Tundra condition
6 cyl(has a hard time starting)
Manual
Power Windows that leak ice cold water
Leather Bucket Seats
No Radio (AM/FM)
No CD Player
TV including full seasons of Mad Men and movie classics such as Pans Labyrinth
No Air Conditioning
No Keyless Entry
No Remote Truck Lid

Our dealership is open 7 days a week. Please call our internet sales department at 1-555- BIG DOG for more information about this car. Free Airport Pick-up for the small fee of $500. All cars run great, drives excellent and are well maintained most of the time. All cars are sold with actual mileage and dirty title.

An Astra lighter and deck of cards I got out of a Hamburg vending machine. The deck of cards was half complete and the back of the lighter reads "Fur Puff Daddy und Puff Muddi"

On the left is the vending machine I bought them from

Seems to be a some kind of 'Foosball Shrine" found in the bar

A window display collection of Dolphin dildos found in one of many of the sex shops surrounding our venue last night in the red light district of Hamburg

The beautiful Square in Brussels

Never did we think we'd see these things or visit these places.

Andy
Local Natives

We don't DJ

2010-01-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

After two pints and three bar games of 'Video Match' Matt and I decided to jump on the tube and head over to meet Ryan at a place called the The Flower Pot. Ryan and James were spinning the ipod wheel there for the first time in front of more than just themselves.

Matt and I quickly came to find that the tube route we needed was closed. After returning to the pub to collect my lost scarf and grab some change, we appeared to be on the number 27 bus heading to the Pot. It was a Saturday night in the middle of London, which meant the streets were filled with crazys whom could slur us in the right direction. Three drawn out question and answers later, we were lost. Matt slapped on his cell and was told the club was just past the Pizzer Express on the left. That Pizza place didn’t exist in this part of the city.

We did eventually find the wooden ‘Welcome to the Flower Pot’ sign floating just above the surface of the sidewalk and upon entering were quickly greeted by many familiar faces…and it felt wonderful. We did the American thing and requested large ciders followed by shots of gasoline spiked well whiskey that someone over my shoulder had bought us. The current DJ was still playing which meant we hadn’t missed Ryan and his inauguration. My guess is, that it was around midnight when the Local Natives first attempt at “DJ” started to commence. Some people danced, some people didn’t, some of us stood awkwardly on stage, some didnt and some of us got a una-brow made out of blue sparkles painted on their face. For how the remainder of the night commenced, you'll have to ask someone else who was there. Cheers

Andy
Local Natives

Its cold in here

2010-01-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

Trying our best to translate bad American television with French overdubs...

Reminded that "chips" don't mean "chips"

Drinking Champagne actually from Champagne

Sleeping in crumpled paper positions we didn't think possible...

Old Friends in other countries

Long underwear hiding underneath our jeans

Our UK/European Winter Tour has begun and I need to remind myself to take more pictures.

Andy
Local Natives

Writing on the Walls

2009-12-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hotel in Portland, OR at 4am...I don't know what these mean, what these say, why they ended up on the hotel room walls, or why Kelcey and Scott were giving me the stink-shady-eyes.

All lovely

Andy
Local Natives

Balance

2009-12-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

I walked in on my dog dying. A hunch backed body barely limped up to my side rubbing her exposed rib line on my thigh. As I reached down to greet her, a set of white glazed eyes met me...and then looked right through me. This was not my dog? Where is my dog? I was only gone for a matter of days since last visiting my families house.

Time seems to have hit fast forward while we were having too much fun. As a band, we had just been through Colorado on our way out to meet up with Fools Gold/Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and now we were here again to play a show with them in Boulder. I felt like a fifth grade kid during the summer break. A whole season can seem like its passed in a matter of days and at any given point your not exactly sure what day it is or what the clock reads. It was a surprising and very grateful feeling to see that many of my home town friends along with most my family showed up to our Boulder show. This surprise has been consistent throughout each one of us as we crawled across the states. We have been having a lot of good times these past couple of U.S. tours and it was needed. Finding a balance between what we are trying to accomplish as a band/individual musicians and drawing on hotel walls at 5am in Portland is what my mind see-saw's over.

In reality we have been out playing in some form or another for about 3months straight now and I feel fortunate that amongst my summer break I was able to touch base and say goodbye to my first pet. I am currently sitting in my hostel bunk at 5am in the UK. We'll be here for about a week and then back home for the holidays.

Andy
Local Natives

2009-11-27T10:16:00.001-08:00

I can still remember the fear of the unknown road. Ominous tales from the more seasoned musicians I knew warned that tour either caused you to quit the dream of being in a band or left you hooked for life. As we started touring it become apparent that we were of the latter breed. We became addicted to the weird bars and gas station stops and the random acts of kindness from strangers that we encountered on the road. It still shocks me how often people will answer yes to the question, “Can five doods you don’t know come over and crash on your floor tonight?” It’s the unplanned happenings that make the monotonous 6 hour/day drives seem like nothing.

Case and point: Kelcey got to talking to the woman next to him on the flight home from our first tour in the UK. Kelcey explained how he was a musician, and Diane, who was finishing a vacation by visiting Los Angeles with her mother, offered to put us up any time we were near her home in Vermont. Diane would later write to inform us that she had, as Kelcey had asked her to, checked out our music, and that the song Airplanes especially spoke to her as she had gone through a recent death of someone close to her. Three months later we are playing a show in Burlington Vermont and racking our brains to think of a friend or relative whose house we could commandeer for the night. Diane shows up at the concert and graciously offers her place, a beautiful home in the woods of Vermont with several open rooms where her children have long since vacated. The comfortable sleep space and homemade breakfast in the morning were incredibly rejuvenating to a group of exhausted people.

In the morning we said our thank you’s, took a group photo, and backed into the mud of her driveway, getting completely stuck. We tried everything to get the van unstuck and we’re at it for over an hour before the entire community began to get involved. A 70 year old woman and her grandson helped us put dry brush under the tires. In the end it took two tractors and two hours to finally pull the van free. Though it was still early by musician standards, we played an acoustic version of Airplanes for our new friends as a thank you, barely making it to our show in Montreal in time to play. But rather than frustrated, I felt completely refreshed by the experience, remembering why it is that we love the touring life.

Taylor
Local Natives

Back at Silver Lake Coffee

2009-11-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

I couldn't sleep this morning. It was one of the wonderful mornings where its just a little too cold outside my grey checkered Ikea comforter and just right underneath. My room falls on the side of the house opposite of the sun rising and combined with dark curtains, "in theory", should create a high ranking slumber cave of sleep. Yet, for some reason I couldn't fall back asleep. So after six or so weeks of playing shows Im back at my usual morning hunger better known as Silver Lake Coffee.

It was our first time as a band playing in NYC for CMJ. A similar yet not so similar SXSW festival for the east coast. We flew straight in from London and quickly had to settle into an all to perfect Brooklyn loft Matt somehow found on Craigslist for only $80/night. We were lucky enough to be asked to play six shows for CMJ. Two a day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

After a few of us had a New York argument with a number of grumpy equipment rental employees and after locking down a bruised and battered mini van to haul ourselves around in, we headed over to Fontanas for our first show. Jet lag is no excuse, but I would be lying if I said we weren't all feeling a little "out of the ordinary" when we starting playing in this basement. Overall, however it was a great little first show. I think the fact that our eyes were swelling shut and our heads were higher than a kite actually played into the overall good feeling of the whole set. A large thank you to our friends at Aquarium Drunkard for having us. That evening was our official showcase at The Mercury Lounge. We packed down some falafel and made it in time to see Patrick Watson whom Kelcey had been convincing us all to listen to for the past few weeks. He had such an amazing set! Everyone in the band were true artists and along with being a great performer Patrick was also a stand up gentlemen. Our set went over well and the sandwiches at Katz are over rated and touristy.

Friday's shows were a little bit later in the day and it was nice for all of us to enjoy eating yellow starbursts and sleeping in. We met with many of our UK friends/family at Santos for our Neon Gold/Chess Club show. The rumor was that Andrew WK of all people owned the bar and after noticing the 2-3 hundred large speakers literally covering the length of the side walls the rumors were confirmed. I think we were all a little bummed that we couldn't hang out longer with all our friends as we crammed into the van and headed to the next show right after the set. I had been emailing back and forth for some time about this next gig. It was described as a "brooklyn loft house party" and past that none of us knew that much... yet it somehow just felt like it was going to be something special from the get go. Our Mom van ravaged the rain soaked streets of back alley Brooklyn as we pulled up to our destination around 9pm I think. I want you to imagine the best and most unique loft house you've ever been to or seen and then forget about it because this loft was at least three times better than that. Somehow the 5 to 6 wonderful people who dwelled here manged to fit three stories inside the box. Each floor connected with staggering staircases lined with people. A kitchen full of veggie lasagna, waffles w/cream and a wooden swing hung with rope from the ceiling greeted us as we entered. An oak bar with a kind bartender served PBR's and red wine in the corner while good live music was filling the room and about 310 ears, which is 155 people, which is just the right amount. We met some new friends, played a loose set and Taylor randomly ran into one of his favorite artists there...which is an understatement. Thanks to Robbie and Brooklyn Vegan for letting us in. Good feelings all around.

Our first stop on Saturday was a Brooklyn Vegan show at Pianos which is also the same place where we played our first show ever in NYC. Then again, we have only played NYC twice ever, but I thought I'd mention anyways. We arrived at the venue early and started the day off with bloody mary's and good conversation. Straight after our show we had to high tail it over to Delancys for our last show of CMJ. Amidst the leaves and vines of a roof top jungle we scurried into a damp corner and put together a relatively on the fly acoustic set. Sound was being tweaked, songs were being ad libbed and we made up the set as we went. Matt managed to put together some percussion with his foot on a tambourine and his sticks playing anything in front of him. Ryan found a dead pig floating in the jungle pool while celebrating after wards.

We spent the next few days soaking in the rain, eating the sandwiches around the corner and learning the ins and outs of the L line. New York treated us all very well and across the board a memorable and significant experience. Thanks again to everyone who invited us out to play. We leave in 30min for our west coast run with White Rabbits.

Andy
Local Natives

Macky and Jimmy Nine

2009-10-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Currently enjoying a delicious penne pasta with a light spinach creme sauce. Paired with a pint of Berliner Kind at our last show for this tour in Berlin.

Seeing as the below mentioned humans have literally been our eyes, ears and muscle for this expedition, I feel its not only appropriate, but necessary to expose their amazingness to the world. Not unlike two giant English Eagles riding into the apocalypse atop horses made from the steel of the Eiffel Tower, these two fine young gentlemen have entered the Local Natives family in all the right ways.

Meet Mark:

He can either be found behind the wheel of our "hell van" or in most cases twiddling his thumbs behind the sound board. In his right hand a latte and in his left an blood pudding sausage. None of us know whos holding the wheel. He sense of humor is spot on, his sound assessments are even better and he deserves his own late night talk show. Truly a good person all around. Also the only man I know that drinks hot chocolate when he needs a pick me up after driving for 6 hours.

Meet Chris:

He can be discovered inside any Travelodge that exists in the UK or pacing outside working way too hard on his blackberry. We get to where we need to be because of him. We get the things we need because of him and we get woken up every morning right as Im about to enter a wonderful dream because of him. He's on top of literally everything. We are like spoiled children around him and are truly lucky to have come across such a man. In his left hand is nothing bc he misplaced his blackberry again and in his right is a half lit American Spirit...which I think might be a little too "strong" for him.

If you have read anything remotely good(which there's been a lot) about the past four weeks on this blog then its because of these two. Thank you.

Local Natives

Glasgow

2009-10-09T11:08:00.001-07:00

It’s funny to me when Brit folk are impressed by the 4 hour drives, like the one we had from Leeds to Glasgow. Used to touring the states, our average city to city time is over 6 hours, and we’ve become much too familiar with the occasional 30+ hour drive in the last few months. Van time is good time. It’s time for humus and pita and reading books. Finished The History of Love while a constant portrait of gloomy skied, ship laden fields filled the van window.

As a support band, it can take a few songs for a crowd who don’t know your music to respond, but the Glasgow kids would have gone crazy for a miniature monkey clashing a cymbal thrown out onto the stage. These were kids ready for new music. Everything is cake until halfway through the second song we hear muffled yell through our monitors; “stop f*cking playing!!” Confused, half the band decides to keep going with the song until the fire alarm kicked in, completely drowning us out. We finally relinquished as the crowd evacuated the building. They say it was the smoke machine that did it, which I think is a much better theory than someone straight hated our set and in a last ditch effort to escape misery decided to try and end the show.

Once they let everyone back inside our set time was almost up, so we finished with a couple songs and ended with Sun Hands. We invited up Nick from Marina, Alexis from Golden Silvers, and Joey from Yes Giantess for a massive ending drum jam session. So many drums on stage my ears were bleeding after the set. Needless to say that will be a repeat set closer for the rest of the tour.

I was determined to get in a solid night at Glasgow based off two reasons: 1. We had a day off following and 2. When we asked the bartender what was the recommended Scottish beer, he replied, “Whiskey.”

We ended up at the local Art School turned euro trance club in downtown. Three hours of intense communal dance moves and a few “beers” later, we were ready to go find a place to continue the celebration of Glasgow, but unfortunately had no common sense. First place we were kicked out of was Yes Giantess’ Hilton suite. Dance moves were auditioned, beds were somersaulted over, lamps overturned, and a three member Hilton employee confrontation council was at our door not to be haggled with within a half an hour. Next we tried to bring the group to our own room at the Glasgow Travel Lodge. We literally didn’t make it through the door as the desk woman was threatening angrily to call the police the moment she saw us approaching. Soggy, miserably tired and near deciding to just bum it and sleep in some cushionless couches left outside for the trash, we finally found victory at Nick and Nick’s (Marina’s rhythm section) who were at another hotel down the street. We pushed the two single beds next to each other and crammed seven people horizontally like sardines, finally closing our eyes at 7:30am. Needless, to say Glagow lived up to the infamy.

Taylor

Local Natives

Album Artwork

2009-10-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

Matt:

Ryan:Andy:

Taylor:

Kelcey:

There is a little tail end on the album artwork so for sharing purposes only...

An idea is sparked somewhere in the think blob of the better known human brain. This idea soon sprouts a new think stem from which blooms a road map of new trails, rails and roads. Every once and a while we will focus and dwell, analyze and reanalyze this idea to the point of over inflation. The head throbs and swells like a belly breathing and suddenly your focal point is lost and bursts into varieties you can't recall. It's funny how this idea, this dream and this pursuit over time molds itself into an ever constant pressure to obtain what you've always wanted...and it makes you feel as if your head is going to explode.

With this atrocity in mind I headed out to Ralphs(supermarket) around the corner from our house to get some supplies. I had been really wanting to use meat in something for awhile so I knew I needed that. With the rest of the bits and chunks I tried to find elements that would apply to each one of our personalities. I could go into detail on why Taylor has foil in his head or why Kelcey has cottage cheese but I won't. White trash bags which were taped to the yellow tile floor in our upstairs bathroom. I had a pile of groceries, dirt, weeds, paint and a camera. Like a fool with a sleep mask on I proceeded to blop, drop and throw specific liquids and solids onto the flattened trash bags. For the broken skulls I supplied shattered bottles and broken melons. Cleaning the melon seeds out of my bath tub drain proved to be the longest part of the entire process. I thought a splatter logo would fit well enough with the rest of these piles created and the words were brought about with left over black paint. The layout of LN was based off the wolf poster we had.

The mouths on the back were simply my way of fucking with an image of each of us singing. I just really liked the idea of someone imaging those images when listening.

The inside poster was done by Matt. It was originally a random photo someone had taken at a party turned food fight at our previous house. All of us have always loved this image and thought it really captured the idea of "Gorilla Manor" in a nutshell. Notice how Matt is literally in mid air caught in the mayhem of flour, peanut butter, pasta, sugar, cereal and liquor.

Thats it. Hope you enjoy

Andy
Local Natives

Front Cover:

Back Cover:Inside Lyrics/Info fold out:

Inside fold:
Inside Poster:

First date in Newcastle

2009-10-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

We have now been on the road overseas for about one week. Sufficient to say that the little details that squiggle their way in between people from the states and people over here are beginning to show their necks. Its a breathe of fresh air to find trophies like a greek salad, pita bread and hummus or four kinds of couscous inside many of the gas stations along our routes. I also feel the need to mention they are selling for around $2. I think most Americans would guess couscous is a small beetle found in Australia or maybe in Florida. I am nipped by the fact that most of the showers here are quite awkward and small. I feel as if I am completing my weekend chores as a kid while trying to find out if hot water was just a fantasy of mine or not. The older architecture can be blamed and would also explain the smaller elevators and consistent smell of body odor in the air. A pint is a true pint and people could give two shits who you are before they say hello to you. In other words, we are enjoying ourselves very much.

In many ways we are on a first awkward date with the UK. We have decided to meet solely based on pure fascination with each other. Neither of us know exactly what we are looking for and don't really care. Unsure of what to say we sip our wine and spew nothing by hot air making asses out of ourselves. We'll drink, we'll dance and maybe, just maybe not one of us, but both of us will get lucky.

just discovered animation on photoshop...

Making me queasy at the moment:
1. Triangles
2. Space art
3. Rainbows
4. coughing
5. commitment
6. Travelodge bedding

Making me healthy at the moment:
1. Vernon Courtland Johnston
2. skulls
3. bad animation
4. Mark and Spencers
5. ksubi
6. commitment

Andy
Local Natives

Soaked in Manchester

2009-09-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

We have settled in, soaked some of it in and are readying ourselves for more. Currently being a rather large geek and spending my precious back stage time on the internet in Manchester. To my left is a beautiful and most likely ancient church. I am quickly reminded of how young the United States is compared to most of the world. Ryan is finally in a place where many of his favorite bands grew up and Matt is taking very nicely to his "prawn cocktail crisps"(translation: ketchup flavored potato chips). We are slowly but surely being integrated into this proper society.

Being that this is a tour put on by a major publication, we are all also getting our first lick of being interviewed. I think the majority of us still get a little giddy at the fact that people outside of Southern California are interested in us. Certain questions for new bands have to be asked. i.e. How did you get you started? Tell us about the album? etc. In the gut of us all we take what we create very close to heart and I can't say how many times we've been at our wits end trying to get a melody just right or yelling into each others faces fighting over a lead line or bridge. Yet with the monotony and repetitiveness it was interesting to see how lackadaisical we would get as the day progressed. Earnestness and tension are best and often served in our small rehearsal studio in Los Angeles....so we'll have some fun while away.

Off to Dublin and more. I have to say I am looking forward to a right pint of Guinness. Officially labeled "Picture Perfect Dublin Tourist".

Andy
Local Natives

pictured below is literally the scene I came upon when we opened our suitcase filled entirely of our "van made" cd's in London. I thought it was very fitting visually to the above blurp.

Close Quarters

2009-09-23T01:49:00.000-07:00

Everyone keep close, very, very close. We are currently so far from home(just landed in the UK) and in many ways even farther from the ones we love. Yet I watch as all of us scramble and fumble to make sure that we stay close w/those we are physically farthest from. As a band we keep close to try and keep it honest, to openly communicate and to annoy the living hell out of each other. We pack ourselves into a blue tin box known as our "tour van" and find ourselves focused on sitting up straight and keeping equal elbow room. We cram and spoon each other onto one bedroom hard wood floors, crashing with old friends or running into new ones. We push our bodies into seats 34A-E and fight to fall asleep in airplane chairs that seem more fitting for a five year old leprechaun than a full grown human. I see each of our material belongings condense and deflate into a single carry-on and a computer bag. Ambian, laptop, cellphone, alcohol, hard drive and headphones are my new materialistic best friends. Without these I am a quivering, crying child.

We are all very new to this "closeness". Learning as we trip, bruise, pass out and stub our toes along the way...and it makes me smile. We should be so lucky that we are in such close quarters.

Andy
Local Natives

Dreams

2009-09-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

I'm slightly shaky because of the caffeine. I'm slightly hungover because of the Anchor Steam. I'm slightly foggy on all the details of these past five Mondays spent playing at Spaceland.

For some reason I think most of us were under the impression August was going to be a little lazy. Looking forward to the thought of finding random movies to watch on Netflix and getting around to exploring the corner bars of Atwater Village. I got as far as Naked Lunch and the bear special at Hugo's...which isn't that far. August shaped up to be a very busy but all around productive 31 days. We have added some music to the final album. We have finalized all the artwork/packaging. Its mixed, its mastered, its stirred, its salted, its sweetened, its splattered.

Five Mondays in the month of August meant a quintuplet of free shows for our residency at the glitter curtain known as Spaceland. So very pleased with how this residency turned out. Humbled that so many great local LA bands decided to join us and thankful for all the people who got involved, whether it be a laptop DJ in the corner or just a fellow blog friend. I am a failure in the realm of photos or videos from this past months shenanigans, but I'm sure I'll be reminded of all them over the next few weeks(as I stare into a destroyed kitchen deconstructed at 3am last night).

Every single one of us appreciate the fact that so many new friends came out each Monday. We are still dipping our toes into the deep end of L.A. and it was overwhelming to get such a welcoming response to what we put way too much time and effort into.

I'm gonna take a nap.

Andy
Local Natives

p.s. Every month Spaceland does a little piece of art d'residency on the display board right inside the doorway. This was the one we got....Note the bent frames on the glasses and the PBR in hand.

This is a Barnstorming Tour

2009-08-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

So its already been a few weeks since we returned from our initiation into The Daytrotter Barnstroming Tour. We have been perspiring in our rehearsal studio everyday and and every night since returning. My finger tips are worn down to their nubs from writing new lines and my eye lids are barely peeled open. We also have to be back at Spaceland in 30min for our second August residency night. That being said I'll keep my summary of the Barnstorming tour short and sweet.

Middle America Mayhem was introduced to the Local Natives in all the right ways. The people in middle of nowhere Iowa and Wisconsin know how to throw a proper Barn Show. Thanks for showing us the ways of the 'Small Town Love'. Below are all tid bits of the actual barns that we played in, partied in, fell in, tripped in, yelled in, hugged in, kissed in and just did a shit ton of weird fun in.

This is all thanks to: Sean, Phil, Josh, John, Erin, Chelsea and Maria at Daytrotter, Kevin and Piper w/the cameras, Shoe with the sound goo and all the bands who joined us along the way.

Andy
Local Natives

After the UK

2009-07-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Its now 930am on Wednesday and according to my hazy math, makes that around 530pm in the UK. Safe to say that I am crazed, cracked out and very jet lagged. I think I remember eating pizza last night w/my girlfriend but that might have been a dream?

We(Local Natives) embarked on our first ever UK dates about 10 days ago. First impressions are important and we had tightened our belts and tied our shoelaces in hopes of leaving a good one.

Day 1 landed us at a small flat in Knotting Hill. We stood outside the cab gazing up at four flights of the steepest and most narrow stairs I had seen in awhile. This fourth floor flat would become our home for the next week and these stairs would become our morning and evening calisthenics. After proclaiming our corners and each taking a European bath of deodorant and chewing gum, we started formulating our plan of sleep and relaxation to prepare for the first show.

Day 2 and 3 was a combo of jet lag non-sleep and exploring our surroundings. We were met by our newfound friends and touring partners Mark and Chris early on day 3. They pulled up in a beautiful white rented Sprinter w/no bumper. Inside was a stack attack of rental amps, drums, converters etc.. Before our first gig at The Lexington we had to report to BBC 6 for a live session w/DJ Cerys(spelled right?). We were crammed into a small room and I remember looking at the microscopic monitors and thinking "how the hell are we going to record full band and still be able to hear ourselves through these monitors?". A volume twist here, a reposition there and I quickly learned that everything actually sounded amazing. We were asked to do 3 live songs followed by a very pleasant interview w/DJ Cerys. We arrived for sound check at The Lexington perfectly on time, which was a new feeling for us. An hour and a half later a fevered sound check was finished and a few monitors had been replaced. Our nerves were now eased and it quickly became set time. I can't say how amazing it is to play our first ever gig in the UK to not only a filled room but to a filled room of people who are singing the words to your songs. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't a cocky eyed rock star moment. The room was small and our set was short, however everyone there was incredibly welcoming and their energy fed all our stomachs during the show. We hung out w/some new found friends and finished off the night with "digestive cookies".... its a UK thing

Day 4 would bring us to the "famous in our eyes" Shepard’s Bush Empire. We had heard nothing but great things about this beautiful venue and on top of that we were opening for Of Montreal. Sound checking alone would probably been enough to make us happy at this point. The only question I had burrowing through my head up until show time was "would fans the fans of Of Montreal like our sound?". I was guessing there might be 15 people there who wanted to see Local Natives and the rest would be checking their watches, yawning up in the air and impatiently waiting to see Of Montreal. The venue itself is like a giant upside down spiraling pit. Walking out on stage was like being swallowed into the neck of a giraffe lined with 2000 people. We finished our first two songs with ease and at our first pause Kelsey’s nerves were hitting their peak. I'd be lying if I said we weren't all a bit nervous particularly about this show. One of Kelsey’s drumsticks fell out of his hand and hit a key on the synthesizer letting out a giant "buahhhh!" just as he was approaching the mic to address the crowd. His voice managed to quiver out "Um, we have, um an ep for sale in the back...." and at that point I busted into laughter. Kelsey is usually very comfortable on stage and I don't think most of the people there even noticed his flub, but for some reason seeing him so out of character struck my funny bone w/a hammer. I spent the rest of the set trying to keep it together w/out bursting into laughter thinking about it. The crowd seemed from my vantage point to be very warm to us and we were pleased with how welcoming the OM fans were. Of Montreal put on a great set including a cover of Bat For Lashes "Daniel" which we also love.

Day 5 we didn't have a show scheduled but we also weren't off the hook. A little station called BBC Radio 1 wanted us to come into the studio and record four live tracks. The band was about to set foot into the legendary studio where John Peel captured live sessions from too many great bands to name. We were greeted outside the studio by a security guard we’ll call Mr. Fuzz (he is an important part of this story and I forget his name). Mr. Fuzz kindly instructed us to load our equipment into the freight elevator, jump in and ride it down to the basement where we were to load out. Everything was running as planned. As Ryan, Kelsey, Phil and I entered the packed elevator; Phil had made a remark about how he found it was odd that there were no interior buttons for us to descend floors. The steel gates slammed shut and Mr. Fuzz proceeded to press the outside button and we started our decent into hell. Surrounded by stacks of amps, grey brick walls and close enough to each other to get whiffs of unclean pits, our enclosed caged prison came to a screeching halt in between floors. We searched the elevator for a call button or a phone and instead came across a dusty sign which read: Absolutely no persons are allowed in freight elevator at anytime. Mr. Fuzz yelled down to us and we yelled back. Our accent was foreign to him as was his to us. Nothing was running as planned. An hour and a half later the jam was fixed and all of us had become a bit closer. The session itself went very smoothly. Our engineer knew what he was doing. No questions asked and the final mixes were incredible. Not sure when these will be broadcast, but we'll let you know.

Day 6 was a headlining show at a venue called The Borderline in London. Before heading there we stopped by for an XFM live session. This was by far the smallest room we did a session in and was also the first time we could really hear each other’s voices as most of the instruments were done DI and Matt was in a separate room. It was a little weird for me playing some of our more energetic songs and really only hearing the vocals while the tape was running. Great practice for all of us though to hear the ins and outs of certain harmonies. We had just released our first single through Chess Club and they helped put on the show that evening at The Borderline for us. The venue itself felt was like an underground Pirate bar. The crowd was great and I think the set went very well.

Day 7-10 meant Latitude Festival. We had all been to our fair share of festivals in the states, but none of us had played at a festival before. The best way to describe Latitude is like a wonderful Forest filled with the happiest people you'll ever meet. You can camp there, bring all the food and booze you want, pints are less than $8 and everyone there is simply having a good time listening to music. Nothing against the festivals in the states, but can't we please take some pointers from this......please? We were playing at the Sunrise stage the first day of the festival at 630pm. After wondering the grounds we found ourselves literally in the middle of a thick, almost neon green forest where just down the dirt path laid a giant open white tent with our stage inside. The setting sun shot through the tops of the trees like little laser beams and light bulbs strung from branch to branch suddenly lit up. How the hell did we end up in this wonderful place? As we started to line check my stomach cringed up as despite the surroundings, only 40 or so people in the crowd had found us. We all grouped together, shrugged our shoulders and were ready to start the set. Fast-forward to song three and the tent was packed. Like bees to a honey comb people heard music and starting swarming. I could hear Taylor's excitement seeping through as he let everyone know this was our first ever-festival show. I wish there was another Latitude festival next week.

Up until now the band as a whole had been pretty well behaved. Voices needed to be in tip top shape, hangovers were out of the question and "well rested" was the theme of every evening. However, with our last show successfully finished, it was time to let the beast out. As I brought my guitar back to the van, everyone was bursting with a high from our last show. I think our manager actually ran up and hugged us all? and if you know our manager he's not the hugging type of guy. A $5 bottle of scotch/whiskey was passed around the circle and slowly I think we could all feel the barbells being lifted off our shoulders. We rounded up the crew and celebrated back at the meal tent with warm ciders, warmer lager and laughter...lots of laughter. All of us stumbled our way out into Mother Nature, quickly finding refuge in the local 'Peace Pipe TeePee Tent'. We sat in a circle and all planned on having no plans at all for the remainder of the festival.

Highlighted bands for us included Bat For Lashes, Wild Beasts, The Doves and Thom Yorke to name a few. The weather at the festival was odd. Literally in a matter minutes scorching sunlight would turn to treacherous rain and then back again. This meant for us Yankees that at least 3-4 times a day we would change out of our shorts and tees into long pants, parkas and wellies. While the locals danced in the rain with flip flops and tank tops, we would be coated head to toe in water proof material running to the drink tent for another lager and some coverage. By day three of the festival we had made so many new friends and wavered from tent to tent, band to band with quite the large crew of people.

All in all, an amazing trip. Thanks again to everyone who came to see us play for the first time out there. We hope to see everyone we hung out with during our stay in Knotting Hill as well as at Latitude when we return in September. I wish I could go more into detail about all the shenanigans and people we became friends with, but I fear I've rambled on too long already. We'll talk to you soon.

Andy
Local Natives

ps. I don't think I'll ever get used to the concept of drinking 'cider' all night. Its all beneficial.

Before the UK

2009-07-09T10:52:00.001-07:00

Busy in all the right ways...

Its currently 10 a.m. on Thursday morning. In one hour I leave for another all day practice in our humble rehearsal hole in downtown L.A. Trying to cram in any and all last minute rehearsals before heading over to the U.K. for the first time in the band's history. After we run our 30min set into the ground, we run our 45min til its beaten to a pulp. We then quickly move onto writing new material...which has been moving along quite well. Excitement tangled with antsy met with a punch in the stomach is the best fit description of our mind set right now.

Our arrival back in the states is July 22nd and we shove our way into August with a Monday night(s) residency at Spaceland. For all the bands whom are confirmed to play w/us during August already, thank you. I know especially for our friends in LA bands whom have a great following, its always a bit sticky to jump on an early or late night slot. This band is very well acquainted with both of those set times and can relate, so thank you again. Really looking forward to these shows.

The album is being put through the polisher, hand waxed, rinsed, washed and then set out in the sun for a few birds to shit on, because none of us like a brand new pair of white shoes.

In the meantime I do know our song Sun Hands(along with a few others) is out there to download which is another track off the album. I'm pretty sure if you search Hype Machine you can find it. The Sun Hands 7" single will be out via Chess Club records on the 13th(ahhhh first time I'll see some of my artwork on professional print record!).

Andy
Local Natives

Boarder Crossing times 5

2009-06-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Our first trips to both Toronto and Montreal were very pleasant. The sun was out(which from what I hear is more than whats going on back in LA), the French was flowing and we learned the hard way the Canadian Indian food wasn't the best choice before our set.

If I had to pick between the two cities it would be Toronto hands down. I'll have to blame that solely on the area we played in Montreal. The words "ghost town, alleys and depression" come to mind. There was just something off in the air and I think we'd all like to give it another chance soon. Despite the red hot sun during the day, Mother Nature did hurl some thick rain at us while trying to load into Ryan's Cousin's house to crash that night. A sleepy head on a soggy pillow case was a new experience.

The area we played at in Toronto reminded me of Downtown LA in a way. We were on a mission for some fun and after asking around for only about 10min we found it. Plesantry was in the form of a 3rd floor Apartment, kids jerkin in the streets and a caged, plastic tipped, hollowed out swisher sweet which we freed from the local 7/11. Oh and the sound guy at the venue's name was Axle and he saw Red Hot Chili Peppers play at The Viper Room in 1988. He made a very strong point to make sure each one of us knew that so I thought I'd pass that on. Ryan's Mother's Cousin's Mother had a wonderful house only about 5min away from the venue and we were able to enjoy a comfortable couch and a gourmet burger in peace.

Buffalo NY is right on the boarder being tugged between the US and Canada. It was the first really small and comfortable pub we had played on this tour and despite it's size, it felt really nice inside. We invited Blind Pilot up to jam with us on Sun Hands and I think everyone was in a great place that night. During a rough sound check we ran into a nice gentlemen by the name of Marty and his wife Susan. God bless America that people like this still exist. We had no where to stay that night until running into these two saviors. They lived about 20min east in one of the most creative houses I've seen in awhile. A breath of fresh air from the scented candles, shades of tan living rooms and flat green lawns. Marty makes a mean quiche and combined with Dave's Insanity hot sauce makes for quite the pick me up after a night of wine and great conversation. The Blind Pilot guys stayed with us as well. It was quite nice getting to knew each of them better. I remember having some great "music" dialog with Katie until like 3am, upon which we each escaped to our individual cave dwellings for some much needed rest.

Andy
Local Natives

Straight outta DC

2009-06-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

Second date was straight outta DC(we listened to NWA on our way from NYC and damn there is some great lines in some of those songs). I think its safe to say that the people in DC like music. We were blown away with how many people turned up to the show early to take a gamble on us before Blind Pilot. Thank you for that. We got a $10 food credit there and quickly proceeded to eat enough pita bread and hummus to fill a pregnant whale. The set itself was good overall. A few mishits here and there but fun all in all. I think we are still in the "just excited to be here period" stage.

The next day we had off so we slummed it over to the local park square for some much needed acoustic rehearsals. The center of the square housed a gigantic fountain surrounded by the who's who of downtown DC. To the left were two gritty young men giving eachother haircuts with a rusty razor. To the right was an internet tv crew that actually ended up filming and interviewing us for their fashion site. And right in the center was a man with his smelly pants rolled up, wading knee deep through the fountain waters stealing peoples wishes. I can't imagine the bad karma that comes with the coins that ended up in his pockets.

From DC our path led us to Philly. Being "way to touristy" to the area we were off to get cheesesteaks in our bellies. "You gotta go to Ginos" "No gibroni Pats is da spot" "Go screw yo mutta, Ginos is da best" "Screw my mutta? Someone told me Gino himself screwed yo mutta...go to Pats". I'm going to speak for the whole band on this one: Pats serves fatty meat on dried bread with canned mushrooms and crusty unmelted imitation provolone for $8. You can make up your own mind from there. We didn't go to the other spot. Our show that night was at a rad little bar/restuarant called JohnnyBrendas. Funny enough the last time I was in Philadelphia on business actually, this is the bar we ended up at the one night I went out. Its run by one of the nicest guys we have ever run into on tour and the microbrew/food selection is quite impressive. We finally got some much needed hang out time w/Blind Pilot whom all are great people. With no money for hotels and not a single realible friend in Philly, we had to make some new friends in hopes for some floor space to sleep on. Our oasis was owned by our new friend Dano and his two roomates. They were renting a huge art loft in the city and on top of that they left us bagels and muffins in the morning......no shitting bagels AND muffins.

Andy
Local Natives

ps. a gujogillion thanks to Mel, Mrs. Mel and Mels Mother's Cousin for their hospitality. The DKNY bubbly is still lingering on my tongue:)

Bowery Ballroom

2009-06-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

Back on the road means back on the blog. Being the responsible and forward thinking young gentlemen that I am, I forgot to bring my camera out with me on our first date in NYC.

We were slotted to play Saturday night at Bowery Ballroom with our new tour friends in Blind Pilot(very much looking forward to getting to know these guys). With shows on the west coast all the way up to just weeks ago, we literally had to jump in the van and make a bee-line across the country straight to the Ballroom. This meant driving.......a ton of driving. Ryan, Matt, Taylor, Kelcey, Amanda and I all become very comfortable with Mrs. Pandora on the iphone and quickly learned the pros of caffeine.

The trip was planned out to precision. We arrived in the city a day early to ensure a good night's rest. It was raining quite hard outside upon arrival and after soaking in enough of the dampened streets I found myself alongside two proper UK gents in the local pub. We talked about music and soon after the rest of the band wondered in, we talked about pints and 3-4 shots of Jameson. It was now around 4:30pm w/dinner plans at 6pm and we were all as wet as the sidewalks outside. Lets just say we are still learning. All of us met with some great people who spoiled us at dinner and things went very well. Rule of thumb that I learned: you can't experiment with oysters without immediately chasing it with vodka. We exited the restaurant and proceeded to immediately receive not one, but two tickets from the NYPD. In our swirled state of mind, Kelcey and I thought it was more than ok to drink open beers outside on the streets. When Doughnut Joe asked me what was in the bag I told him it was Welches Grape Soda. With about 5 hours of sleep and 40hours of straight driving we were ready for our first show. These are not normal things for us.

The Bowery Ballroom is a wonderful venue. I stood on stage wondering how the hell they own this much real estate in one of the most expensive places to live in the world. The building was quite massive and must of been very old. Its experience and wisdom was shown quite brightly through its beautiful sounding walls and reverberations. I think all of us were very pleased with the set and the surroundings. Thank you to everyone in that room that took a chance on our little band. A great night all around.

Andy
Local Natives

Sun Hands 7"

2009-05-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

In the recent past, Chess Club was composed only of those whom are way too bored in the van on week three of touring, or to loaner nerds in high school who are now our bosses. In the case that we might still be living in our Mother's embryo fluid, here is the update that was whisper telephoned to my ear: Chess Club is now cool. This is why we are releasing our first 7" single with them in the UK. This is a very limited vinyl(I think 500 to be precise) pressing of Sun Hands w/Cards and Quarters taking home on the B side. I'd like to fit in the word "special" somewhere in this post.

HERE is the link to pre-order one. Release date is 6/7/09

Local Natives
Andy

New Grizzly Bear Music Video

2009-05-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I've already been a li'l Grizz Beared out lately. We have had the amazing Veckatimest on regular rotation for a month now. Yet the new video for Two Weeks has relieved my exhaustion. Looks like month two will be a must. The below along w/the Knife video are both incredible.

Two Weeks

Spaceland this Monday

2009-05-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

Playing w/Gangi on the last night of their residency along with Warpaint and Alexandra Hope. FREE FREE FREE

Local Natives

here we are..

2009-05-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

here we are holding fish...

here we are holding meat...

here we are holding breasts

here we are holding our souls...

Thank You.

Andy
Local Natives

Second Half of Tour

2009-05-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Local Natives Can Tongue...

Tour thus far

2009-04-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if its the fact that we recently came off the soaked in feeling of playing three shows a day at SXSW or perhaps that I'm sick and have got the slobber of a bloodhound running out of my nostrils, but thus far the tour has been somewhat of a blur for me. That's not say that everyone else(minus me) hasn't been up to their usual mayhem.

Lake Forest- Started things off right with The Union Line and Voxhaul Broadcast whom we had already toured with recently. It was great running into a lot of familiar faces at that show and catching up. Nate from Aushua and I hung out most of night and discussed the ups and downs of band sets and vodka sodas.

Santa Barbara- The next night was in Santa Barbara at The Biko House. The best way to describe the Biko is a local art college commune that had an art bomb go off inside. Really great feelings all around at this place. We literally played in a decorated garage with about 100 kids crammed inside. I remember sweat, a lot of sweat. Being the self booking whizzes we are(in a satirical sense) our first day off was day two of tour in Santa Barbara. We were staying up late and wondering from house party to house party looking for some new people to meet and a place we could crash. Matt, I, Sadie and Tulani some how spelled out JOOJ with our bodies in a haze and that become the theme of the night. "You don't know what JOOJ is?...J, O, O, J come on man!" I have no idea what we were talking about but it made complete sense at the time.

Monterey- I surprisingly have never been to Monterey. I used to travel a lot at my now prior job(had to quit bc of the band) and never had visited this beautiful northern town. Upon arriving we were quickly snatched up in all the best ways by our new booking agent. We proceeded to the local Herb Witch doctor and she filled our belly's with Kombucha and my head with yellow horse pills. Her heart is the size of a bowling ball and there's enough positive energy coming off of her to attract the population of the next town over. We were lucky enough that Kelcey's girlfriend's parents lived about 45min north and proceeded to get spoiled with a large house to fall asleep at.

San Francisco- We parted ways with our touring friends for SF and were put on a bill with Bird Monster at Cafe du Nord. We were playing early and had to meet a girl named Jen to take some interview photos before our set. We rushed around the city flicking pics in the streets and in dog parks. Curious to see what comes out of those. Despite playing an early set there were a surprisingly good amount of people who showed up to the venue in time. It felt good to see that we were starting to make some new friends in San Francisco. The band was able to stay at our buddies Michelle and Dan's house. I must of fell asleep right in the middle of the party bc when I awoke I was surrounded by like 15 people at 3am. Forgot to mention that we had to be in Portland the next day by 5pm which meant we had to leave the house at 6am.

Andy
Local Natives

World News Split

2009-04-20T11:49:00.001-07:00

Wondering around 4th and Main Downtown L.A. We met some friends along the way.

Local Natives

Preview of upcoming project

2009-04-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

A preview of things to come.......sort of.....

Andy
Local Natives

Last night in the depths of Borhello

2009-04-09T10:10:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh, so I just started crying like a 6 year old who just lost his favorite lego(ya know the pirate ship little treasure chest that you can actually put gold coins into?......yeah I had the ship) when I saw that I personally haven't done a post since SXSW. I have been out and about a lot since then and gotta get back into doing posts about stuff other than Local Natives. Until then however, you are just gonna have to bite down and bear it.

Last night we had a grand ol'time playing at The Bordello in Downtown LA. Its nestled right in between a Japanese Church and a bum's rusted shopping cart. It's an easy place to find if you have been living on the streets for the past year and know the Warehouse district of S. Alameda in Downtown like the back of your hand. In other words, there were quite a few people last night who came to me frustrated bc they couldn't find it. Luckily I had been to some shows here before and our practice rehearsal spot is just blocks away. Despite my smart butt comments above I actually really like how this venue is a little off the beaten path. Downtown harbors a lot of great venues/warehouses that serve as a perfect alternative when its time to venture out of the Echo Park/Silver Lake area.

I think it best to describe the Bordello as the house that a Vampire sold to a Haunted House Company that then sold to the Devil himself. This has nothing to do with with great sound, or nice bartenders or good feelings all around. Simply based on the decor alone which is pretty great and unexpected. While playing one of our nicer upbeat harmony songs I glanced over my shoulder to find a demon baby with wings and a crown hanging off the wall probably trying to cast an evil spell on me?

We played with new friends The Flying Tourbillion Orchestra whom now has a new lead girl which I thought mixed very well with the group. We also played with old friends The Union Line and Eastern Conferance Champions.....love em all. Thanks so much to Web In Front for sponsoring the show!

Andy
Local Natives

So what happened at SXSW?

2009-03-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

I think quite often we find ourselves forgetting just how far it is to drive from Los Angeles to Austin. For some reason my brain still convinces itself that Texas is somewhat close to the West Coast. Yet here we(Local Natives) sit in our van going on hour sixteen of driving back from SXSW in Austin with no sign of the LA broken ugly skyline in sight. Eight initial shows scheduled, with one added last minute which brings it up to nine total spanned over four days in anywhere from a Bike Shop to a Living Room. It’s safe to say that SXSW built us up and broke us down in more ways than one.

Day 1:
We had never played at SXSW before and were eager to dive into the depths of over 1000 bands playing in God knows how many different venues, bars and bathrooms around town. Our first show placed us right in the heart of 6th st. at noon on Wednesday. I can remember loading in and getting that weird calming feeling you get right before the bar drops to your waist and the ride starts. It was the morning after Saint Patrick’s Day and the smell of bratwursts, beer and b.o. hadn’t quite made their way out just yet. We were the opening band on the Spaceland Productions/Myspace Showcase at Maggie Mae’s. I think I still had eye crustys by the time we started playing. People started to fill the streets and too many people were already chugging free energy drinks by the time we finished our warm up set.

Our next set was scheduled at 1:30pm at Rusty Spurs for a Swing House productions showcase which meant by the time we finished at Maggie Mae’s we had about thirty minutes to pack up, pack out and load back in time for the second show. Given our track record I don’t think anyone of us thought it would happen. We made it down the street to Rusty Spurs in like two minutes and with plenty of time to grab a beer and chat with some new friends whom had seen us at the last bar. We played a slightly shorter set but nonetheless a much better one. We were up and running by this point and it felt good. As a reward for our efforts, the bearded cook out back handed me two grilled veggie dogs and a giant smile. This was the first time I had gotten to meet face to face with some of UK people I had been emailing back and fourth with. I would find myself accidentally mimicking their accents after 5 min of conversation…gotta work on that.

We relaxed for a whopping 20min or so and then packed it up and headed over to our first meeting of the day. I was parched, sweaty and needed nourishment and its safe to say we found it. Nestled in the back corner of some bar I can’t remember the name of, was an outdoor shaded patio oasis. 10 of us sat circled around a large black table with margaritas in hand. I think I am beginning to like SXSW.

There is a three-beer rule, which I try to stick by when holding a busy day schedule. One beer you’re fine, two beers make you sleepy and three beers you better just keep drinking. I think we all had two beers, which meant we spent the next hour back in our van catching a much needed midday nap.

Our third show of the day was part of the I Heart Austin benefit at a bar called One 2 One. A very eclectic mix of bands for this one and we were closing out the night at midnight. All I can say is what a difference the nighttime makes. What we all thought would be one of our roughest shows of the week turned out to be one of best sounding according to feedback from friends. The power of booze perhaps? Or maybe the power of a decent sound guy? A very fun set and after chatting it up with numerous new friends til 3am, it was time for some much needed sleep.

Day 2:

If you had to rate all our shows in order of importance the two today were at the top. That being said I wanted to start the day off right. The thought of a hot steamy shower made my toes wriggle in joy. I soon found out the joy of renting a house ten minutes outside of downtown Austin. The toilet was backed up, the hot water was turned off and there was no front desk or room service in sight. We all hosed ourselves off in the sink and scooted our way to day #2 at the festival. We caught an early lunch meeting and then flew over for some coffee off Congress St. for another meeting. By the time we had finished up it was I think around 3pm and our first show was at 5pm at the San Jose Hotel. (Damnit it’s only been two days sine we left and I can already find myself forgetting details and mixing things up…oh well). I think this was the time of the day where we were able to make it over and check out a band called Other Lives(check them out) as well as meet with some friends. Crap or was that day 1?

We arrived at the outdoor stage right on time and were greeted by some of the nicest people in Austin who were running the show. Things were running slightly behind which were welcoming words as that meant we had a little time to relax. The weather and settings were perfect for a beer and gourmet muffin which one of our newest friends had hand delivered. I caught up with a couple of booking agents in the back and then was off to set up for the show. A friend of one of the managers we were talking with was nice enough to lend us a sound guy for both of the shows. Tyler- thank you so much for the sound help! I had no idea how much a good set of ears behind the soundboard can do for you. It was our first outdoor show and quite a pleasant one. For some reason I distinctly remember playing one of our slower tracks called Cubism Dream during the set and literally cracking up to myself bc during such a slow and beautiful song a tiny maybe three year old girl was dancing up a storm right in the front without a care in the world.

The next show was our “Official Showcase” at the Central Presbyterian Church that we had heard nothing but rave reviews about. We just so happened to be playing on the same night as a little band named Grizzly Bear which all of us are big fans of. We packed up and loaded into the venue early to try and see if we could catch their set around 830pm I think. Eric who ran the venue was so nice and lead us up to the sound booth where we could enjoy the entire Grizzly Bear set comfortably. I remember feeling peaceful and humbled while watching. A high point for sure. We didn’t go on until 1am and things were running behind already so it was off to Wendy’s for some heart attack food and then I literally passed out in the van with our violin player Amanda until about 1130pm. Groggy and out of it we both stumbled back to the church in time for Elvis Perkins who was playing right before us. I don’t think any of us had any idea how energetic his set was? There seemed to be some sound problems but all around a great set and I found out he has an excellent sense of humor after meeting back stage.

We knew we had some people coming to see this show and I was keeping my fingers crossed that by the time we went on they would still be awake. At right around 1:40am we started our 45min full set and never looked back. If you know me at all then you know I am always the first one who will say we could have done something better, worked a harmony a little more, slowed down a song or two, but this time……this time everything just felt good. This heavenly chamber, this black tunnel of sound where I honestly wanted to just keep playing and playing. Hands down our best show….take me back there please.

DAY 3:

We got to sleep in! We celebrated our successful show from the night before with microbrews and happy cigarettes. A mellow but much deserved night of rest and relaxation.

Our first show of the day was at 4pm at what I found out was a shot bar on 6th st. named Cheers. Now when I think of Cheers I think of that old TV show with the fat mailman and that pleasant piano song. The reality of Cheers on 6th was punk ass doormen and rude bartenders. You know it’s going to be a quality venue when they offer you $1 you call it shots served in plastic beaker tubes. The show took place on the upstairs patio where our good friend Kevin Bronson from Buzz Bands LA greeted us. He had put us on the show earlier in the month. Thank you Kevin! Surprisingly we found ourselves playing to a packed patio by the time we entered the second song. I kept asking myself as I played, “Where the fuck did all these people come from?” either way in the midst of our set the monitors literally shut off. Early into the second song and suddenly I couldn’t hear anybody’s voices. Not a huge deal when you are doing 3 and 4 part harmonies. I looked over at the sound guy and he literally just shrugged. The kind of shrug that says “I am a stupid hippo man who doesn’t know what’s going on. My giant hippo hooves can’t seem to turn the dials at all? Whoopsies” Reality was that I think the amp blew a fuse so we proceeded to do the best we could given the circumstances. After all this was SXSW and we were lucky enough to have even gotten this far without sound issues. We finished up and I think for the most part people enjoyed themselves. I know I did. Oh yeah, I almost forgot as I was talking with some people at the bottom bar and some dude accidentally dropped his cocktail glass form the top patio on to my head! The tonic water added some much needed volume to my sweaty hair.

Earlier in the year we had passed through TX and met a great bunch of lads in a band called The Eastern Sea. They had offered us a show with them at a bike shop a little off the beaten path and it sounded like loads of fun. As we pulled up to a street packed with more fixed gears than a LA swap meet, I remember seeing out of the corner of my eye a band doing a photo shoot across the street.

They had two kegs tapped out back and a small but very tall boxed room where we could set up. I’m smiling to myself right now thinking of how we managed to cram all of our bodies and equipment into that corner. Taylor is known to get a little energetic during our sets but I think he only accidentally hit me once, which is good. What a fun show. Everyone seemed to be there just to have some fun and hear some new music. They were very receptive to our sound and just good people all around. There was a lad in the back corner that I swear I knew from somewhere but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I greeted him after the show and came to find out that he wasn’t only in the UK band named Wild Beasts (which we are all fans of) but also was in the band I saw taking photos across the street earlier. Just one of the weird times where things come together in odd ways. We were originally billed with them at The San Jose hotel show and were all very much looking forward to checking out their set. Last minute things changed and I was bummed when I didn’t see their name on the bill. Whatever the case, here they were and they seemed to really be into our set. I think we will be seeing them again soon. I have to apologize to the Union Line for leaving the bike shop early during their set. They are great friends of ours and we all just felt a little guilty about leaving early but we had to meet with someone right after.

DAY 4:

I pride my eyes open with a wrench, chugged down some coffee and were off to meet with our new lawyer at The Rio. We talked, we ate, we talked, Kelcey spit up a little bit and we talked some more. It was safe to say that everyone gave our lawyer and new friend two giant thumbs up if we indeed had giant thumbs.

I had been in contact with a guy from the UK for a few weeks now and he offered us a last minute show at The Wave on 6th. We had a few hours to waste before we had to be there so we split the band and tried to get around to actually see some music. Myself, Amanda and Matt headed over to Latitude to try and catch Wild Beasts while Kelcey and Taylor drove over to Daytrotter to try and cram in a hello. It was Ryan’s Birthday so I think he was at the local strip club doing coke off of girls asses…..actually he had some family in town and wanted to grab a bite to eat with them. Mission Accomplished: We caught up with Wild Beasts at their show and were really blown away by them live. Kelcey and Taylor did get a chance to say hello to the Daytrotter family as well.

The band reconvened at The Wave in time to find the place completely empty…….until we heard music coming from upstairs at which point we proclaimed ourselves retarded and headed up to the patio. I don’t necessarily believe in Dejavu but good god damn another rooftop patio, another packed show and another day of monitors not working. The stage itself was on a riser, which served better as a trampoline then anything else. We bounced around on stage and had a grand ol’ party. I kept screaming to the other guys that the bouncing was causing the amp’s reverb to make noise, but I don’t think anyone heard me. I had some great conversations with some great people and eight shows into it meant only one more to go.

Being completely honest, the thought of cramming into another small room at some random guys house party for our last show was not sounding too appetizing right after the crammed show at The Wave. We were fortunate enough to catch an incredibly satisfying dinner at PF Changes with some new friends we met that work at a PR company. With new fuel in the stomach and after a quick look into the house we were playing at in just a few hours I am happy to say I was exactly where I wanted to be. I can’t tell you how it good it felt to be away from the 6th St. madness. To simply be in a small house just a few miles away. People were grilling outside, there was a full bar set up and we could actually hear ourselves talking to each other. My tensions broke loose as I looked up to see Ben Kweller and his steel guitar playing waltz up the house looking for “Local Natives?”. I guess he lives in the area and had heard some good things about us? He was an all around great guy that we got to know. We played til we couldn’t see straight that night and my ears were ringing in a great way. We had come to SXSW and I think we did a.o.k.

The shows were finished, our voices shot and it was apparent to us all it was time to let loose. We didn’t let Kelcey yell the whole week to save his voice (which if you knew him you know he is a crazy screaming son of a bitch) and upon loading up the van I witnessed him chug a cocktail in two seconds and let out a scream that would make a full-grown Chimpanzee jealous. Suddenly I realized none of us were driving home and here I stood staring at a 16 person passenger van sitting in the middle of the street blocking traffic….we had to leave and we had to leave now. I quickly found a willing acquaintance of a friend of ours who didn’t want to take a cab home and was willing to drive us back into downtown. Long story short that “acquaintance” ended up bailing and now gets moved back into the category of “weird guy who ditched us”. Lindsay was there to save the day. I think the thought of driving around our large van scared the crap out of her but she pushed through and next thing I knew we found ourselves back at a hotel room in downtown. In a hazy blur of bar hopping and show stopping we ran into our friends in The Little Ones, our friend Kat from KROQ locals only and somehow Ben Kweller managed to find us again. I had a delicious veggie sandwich at 230am and Taylor ending up dancing in the streets. SXSW was now over.

I think back just days later and I know I am forgetting tons of details, events, people etc….but I don’t want to retype anymore. We had so much fun the entire time and thank you so much to everyone who managed to make it out to one of our shows. I was blown away at how much music was out there and feel very lucky that people would take time out to see our set. Done and done.

Andy
Local Natives

Local Natives and Richard Swift

2009-03-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

If you know Southern California at all then you know there isn't a lot of quality all ages venues. Enter Yost Theater. In the mist of the Arts District in Santa Ana, CA in between two year old trendy lofts and the largest Ritmo in a twenty mile radius, lies the gigantic YOST Theater. Once a quality picture flick showroom that was run into the ground, this vintage gem has resurfaced as what seems to shaping up as quite the place for a live all ages venue. We were invited to play there last night with a very talented artist Richard Swift. The mans got true soul and the bass player can hit a falsetto harmony that would make Mariah Carey slip back into another bacon and frosting eating binge.

After load in I found myself enjoying the quite pleasant pairing of a Sierra Nevada mixed with making last minute ep's to sell at the show. I think we finished about 26 hand made Local Natives eps in all. We put a few new tracks from the up coming album along with our cover of Warning Sign by the Talking Heads. Our friends at Daytrotter were nice enough to give us two of the recent tracks we did with them in IL to slap on there as well. I think we sold em all and might not have eat $5 you call its at Subway now for the duration of SXSW. A truly successful night for Local Natives.

ps. Everyone in the Richard Swift band were some of the nicest guys we had met in awhile. I think Taylor literally peed his pants when he found out the drummer had toured with Sufjan Stevens for the past few years.

Andy
Local Natives

Southbysouthwest

2009-03-08T22:47:00.000-07:00

I have been to Austin many a time and I have been down 6th St. many a time. Yet somehow I don't think I'm prepared for what is about to happen come March 18th. We are all very much looking forward to our shows at SXSW. If you are out and about in the area come by and say hello.

ps. We also noticed that we are playing on the same night at the same official showcase as Grizzly Bear on the 19th and I shit my pants on the spot. Its weird. I seriously am gitty about seeing them at a small venue and I'm assuming they'll be playing a lot of the new stuff.

Andy
Local Natives

Karaoke is the best way to say goodbye

2009-02-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

Q: What do a diverse range of artists such as Van Morrison, Louis Armstrong, N’ Sync, and Michael Jackson have in common? A: We sang their songs drunkenly last night at a karaoke bar. We traveled down to Orange County for a final farewell party for Chip and Melana, two old friends who are getting hitched and moving to Colorado. The entire crew from Orange came out for a night of debauchery and off-key shenanigans; Aushua boys, guys and gals who work the starbucks in the Orange circle, etc. The night was nostalgic, it was touching, it was epic, and it seemed a lot better in my memory than this video makes it out to be. 2.5 minutes of highlights if you can endure the pain. See you on tour in Colorado Chip!

Karaoke Bar from Local Natives on Vimeo.

Taylor
Local Natives

Local Natives Februrary Residency Diary

2009-02-08T00:51:00.000-08:00

Web In Front was nice enough to host a Februrary Residency Diary up on their site. So if you hungry for some updates or just bored off your ass and wondering what we are up to each Monday then check it out. I'll be directing all updates from Outtasight to Web In Front.

See you at Silverlake Lounge.

Andy
Local Natives

I won $60 bux in Vegas

2009-02-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

Let it be known that the cafeteria buffet food at The Mirage is not only necessary, but also part of a balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We played a place called The Beatles Revolution Lounge in Las Vegas and we're joined by many of our CA friends for a night mayhem. I remember winning $60 at Black Jack, eating the free food at The Mirage Hotel six times, jumping on hotel room beds and dancing to the tune of slot machine bells and the flick of a prostitute business card being force fed to me every two feet on the strip.

Andy
Local Natives

Let it be known that the cafeteria buffet food at The Mirage is not only necessary, but also part of a balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We played a place called The Beatles Revolution Lounge in Las Vegas and we're joined by many of our CA friends for a night mayhem. I remember winning $60 at Black Jack, eating the free food at The Mirage Hotel six times, jumping on hotel room beds and dancing to the tune of slot machine bells and the flick of a prostitute business card being force fed me every two feet on the strip.

Andy
Local Natives

Home Sweet used to be Home

2009-01-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

I was born and raised in Golden, CO. The fact that we got to stay at my families house while playing in Denver was everything a boy could hope for. We were fortunate to be a part of "Denver Joes" January Residency at Benders Tavern. We played the big room and he played the bar room. I can see why this 60year old drunken cowboy draws so well with such classics as "Get Your Faggot Boyfriend Out of My Bar". Lets just say Denver Joe was a decent guitar player and I think that was about all he was good at......he did give us a joint at the end of the night so that too I guess.

I finally found myself getting to sleep in. Our second day off of the entire tour was spent here and it was worth the wait. Good food, good friends and a great family. If you are ever in Downtown Denver go to Sputniks and sample the sweet potatoe fries. I think we ordered 5 orders total that night.

Andy
Local Natives

Traveling Dancers in Lincoln

2009-01-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

We played at Box Awesome in Lincoln, NB. Perhaps the worst name of a venue that we visited but it was shaped liked a box and there were some pretty awesome people, so screw it.

I found out two things while playing in Lincoln. Tony from Voxhaul Broadcast wants to set up a "Pube Trim" barber shop(chair pictured above) and that traveling dancers from Canada who perform in the Broadway version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels make more money in 6 months then I did all year.

Andy
Local Natives

The Punk Bass tone in Omaha

2009-01-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

It was cold, the town was empty and it was Omaha. Bright Eyes was crying in the corner and 311 dropped in to say “Chill!”. Yet somehow the bar we played was filled with free shots of whiskey and bunch of nice music people.

Francesca was an angel sent down to us to not only literally punch us in the stomachs but to house us all as well. Her house also contained quite the duo of a hanging witch demon from hell flying toward a two month old Xmas tree.

Andy
Local Natives

Local Natives at Daytrotter

2009-01-27T17:53:00.000-08:00

We have all been fans of Daytrotter and I think it's safe to say that after our visit to Rock Island(Daytrotter) we are now friends. Us, The Union Line and Voxhaul Broadcast were all lucky enough to record a 4 song session and play a show that night at Daytrotter. Mike the sound man trudged through three bands, twelve songs and ten hours straight without so much a raised eyebrow or a sigh of frustration. I admire this mans skill and patience.

Local Natives recorded four songs total. World News and Cards and Quarters were both done with more of an "acoustic" feel to them and from the clips we heard they were sounding like butter on a baby butt biscuit. After talking with Sean, there are tentative plans to release the songs in March....but no guarantees.

Thank you to Sean, Phil, Mike and the rest of the Daytrotter family. We truly had a great time and I’m sure we’ll see you soon.

Andy
Local Natives

Charlie Brown in Chi Town

2009-01-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

So let me explain what happened in Chicago. We had pizza and then we had a horrible set. These things happen...they shouldn't....but somehow a bad set can creep up on you like a bad basket of garlic cheese hot wings. Tempos were a little quick and mic stands were crippled, but somehow we made it. We will be back Chicago... we will be back and when we come we are bringing the fires of hell with us! In a good way though:)

Andy
Local Natives

We didn't get ripped off in Detroit!

2009-01-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

In Detroit it was cold.....really f*cking cold! The town seemed to have fallen to sleep by 930pm and we had no where stay. One of the bartenders was nice enough to offer her humble abode to us. That was of course until her raging bull Mother tore through the bar biting off ears and stomping people with her hoov hands. Oh and her husband was quoting as saying "How much more of this California fairy music are you gonna play!?" Maybe next time Detroit. For now I'll take my chances in the Metro Lodge down the street.

Andy
Local Natives

In Detroit it was cold.....really f*cking cold! The town seemed to have fallen to sleep by 930pm and we had no where stay. One of the bartenders was nice enough to offer her humble abode to us. That was of course until her raging bull Mother tore through the bar biting off ears and stomping people with her hoov hands. Oh and her husband was quoting as saying "How much more of this California fairy music are you gonna play!?" Maybe next time Detroit. For now I'll take my chances in the Metro Lodge down the street.

Andy
Local Natives

Where the hell is that violin from?

2009-01-17T08:58:00.001-08:00

Sometimes in our mad pursuit to get you(the people) the best, most up to date news on what we(Local Natives) have been up to, we have failed to let you in on a little four string wonder who is a part of Local Natives. Enter Amanda Violin.

Amanda Violin is a radical tubular girl with a dump truck of talent to play violin tucked under her chin. She's a babelicious babe who's smile and stage presence can make a grown man cry....and that's a good thing. If any of you have gotten a chance to listen to our new album then its obvious to hear that her playing is just as much a part of our sound as anyone else in the band.

Among her busy schedule, Amanda was able to come out and join us in NY and I think she's making her way to Vegas as well. Back at home she is a regular part of our set so if you're craving those beautiful strings and you missed em this tour, then get on git to LA to catch a home town show!

Amanda if your reading this(as I'm freezing my ass off in Chicago)thank you for everything and I'll see you at the craps table. I'll be the one up to my neck in hundred dollar bills and surrounded by the "Can Can" girls from the Flamingo:)

Andy
Local Natives

DC is Arlington. Arlington is DC

2009-01-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

Two places, two separate good nights and yet somehow in my head I keep feeling like DC is Arlington and Arlington is DC.

Arlington faced us with our biggest challenge thus far this winter tour: If we could finish the keg of Raven Berry Ale then we could drink anything we wanted for the remainder of the night. Done and done! Maybe thats why I left my laptop there and had to wake up early and drive all the way back to venue to grab my laptop and have a cup of coffee with the lads who worked there. Thank you to Julia.

The rumors about DC were true. Beautiful on the outside and crawling with the smartest bum population in America on the inside. (Young homeless man)"for seventy cents you can own your own cd of me Mr. International which includes 70min of unrehearsed rap and hip hop straight from DC! Support local artists....come on man.....can I just bum a cigarette then?" Thanks again to CJ for helping us out.

Andy
Local Natives

Locals Natives took to the NYC streets!

2009-01-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Twas my not my first time in NYC but twas my first time playing in the big city. We had two full days and two full nights. One in the Lower East Side and the other in Brooklyn. For being known as such a "Stubborn Bitch" of a city, we were actually welcomed with big fuzzy warm open arms.

Our first afternoon was spent lallygagging on the "undeveloped" 7th floor of a radio station building in downtown NYC. Three hours of waiting for Voxhaul Broadcast to finish up a radio interview turned out to be an on the spot rehearsal. The open, unused room served perfect for 100% natural re verb. Fast forward to about 10pm at Pianos. Despite the ugly Pianos thumb print back drop, the sound, crowd and general feeling was great. The rest of night was recalled in late night pizza street fights, red go-go dancers and watches with lighters built inside them.

I can now see why the few friends I do have in NYC all live in Brooklyn. Brooklyn served me the best slice of "NY" pizza I have ever had and I am chicago style guy so that's saying a lot. Local Natives had a slightly earlier show in the backroom of Public Assembly which didn't seem to hurt surprisingly. Oh and if you are ever at Public Assembly watch out for the giant never ending pit at the front entrance. Rumor has it that giant rabid slugs live at the bottom.
The night concluded at a bar down the street called The Levee. We hung out with Bon Iver and a killer game of Jenga.

Andy
Local Natives

Forgot to eat in Philly

2009-01-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

We somehow turned the "oldest bar in Philadelphia" into a pretty fun spot to play. Thanks to the girls we met from Down Unda and to our new roommate James who lent his late night PBR drinking room to us all for the night. I've said it before and I'll say it again: There's nothing more comforting than to wake up in the middle of the night in a strangers house and find a large bearded man gazing into the 5am sky, sipping beer after beer, while listening to "on tape" murder mysteries. I think I got -25min of sleep that night. The bartender had more fun posing for the below photo than he did at any other point in the night.

ps. James, if you are reading this, all joking aside we are thankful for the place to stay and the hospitality despite not being able to look at PBR ever the same:) Thank You.

Andy
Local Natives

Pittsburgh rhymes with Garfield

2009-01-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

Garfield Artworks is a rad little venue/gallery that features all original artwork done by the popular comic cat Garfield. After our set I caught up with Garfield and he let me in on why he had left the spotlight for a chance to pursue art...
- Garfield, everyone's been wondering why you suddenly quit the comic biz and decided to pursue art in Pittsburgh?
-"Meow"
-Well put. I noticed many of your pieces featured this evening smelled like cat pee. Were these actual pieces of art or did you just pee in the corner and near the entrance?
-"Meeeoww"
- I couldn't of put it better myself. I really think you are quite ahead of the game in the world of the feline art scene. Did you enjoy the Local Native's set tonight?
-"Me..............ow"
-Thanks for the time Garfield enjoy the rest of you night.

All around a great show and great place to play. I think there might be a chance that Garfield really didn't do all the artwork featured and I might have just tried to interview an alley cat that I saw outside. That fu*cking feline lied to me.

Andy
Local Natives

I love the beer in Cincinati

2009-01-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

If you have ever wondered "Where can I find a legit burrito in Cincinnati? I don't want anymore of this watery salsa or avocado paste bull shit! I want the good stuff that I can find in California." Enter The Comet. The Comet not only is a great little venue/bar but also has some tasty local beers along with homemade burritos which pretty much sealed the deal.

Somehow I had a giant brain fart and forgot to give a giant thank you to Rocky, Ryan and Nigel for the pasta and playtime in Nashville. Thank You!

Andy
Local Natives

Where's the music in Nashville?

2009-01-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

Nashville was a bust. The darkest and coldest place on tour yet. Phil from Voxhaul Broadcast did however let us all know how much fun he had and how happy he was in the bathroom of the venue....whatever that means:) ...and in case you are wondering the graffiti pic was taken inside the venue and it reads..."Muscle Brain". I wish I would of thought of that band name.

Andy
Local Natives

Elvis is a Bitchin God!

2009-01-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

Gooooooood Ol'Mephis. All I can say is that we had our first encounter with the "South" in Memphis. Actual quote from our show at Buccaneers... (Local) "What boy?! You didn't like my story or what?" (Randy our merch guy) "I liked your story, I just thought it would end with you killing a guy?" (Local) "Well guess what, you are in luck because the night is still young!"

Thank you to Lydia for letting us use your shower and apartment. I'm sorry we didn't have time to check out Sun Studios.

Andy
Local Natives

Local Natives in Houston

2009-01-05T14:57:00.001-08:00

Its only about a week into tour and I already forgot about Houston! New friends were found in a great little band called Eastern Sea, old friends/girlfriends were here to keep us warm and fuzzy and the owner of the bar let us in on a little homemade Houston Secret.....green cabbage ham and potato soup. Oh and in case you can't read the bathroom stall scribble that for some reason I thought was funny it says " Jesus Shaves, No He Waxes, Wax that ass! and taxes!"

Hattiesburg does not stand for Burg from Hell

2009-01-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

Set the Scene:

Seventeen guys, two vans and one stolen giant red crayfish from Burger King hobbles into at the time "Unknown" Hattiesburg MS. My first impression was that one, the city was run by giant painted swans and two, that our party of seventeen was double the population.

It took us awhile to find the Thirsty Hippo. Within 15min of entering the venue I must say we were all pleasantly surprised. I can see why artists such as Dr. Dog and Feist have frequented this place. Provided for three out of town up and coming LA bands was a great feeling venue, a three bedroom apartment for us to crash in, free beer, great homemade pizza and a beautiful outdoor patio for smoking. The place filled out nicely with very nice people and the "Unknown" show turned out to be one of the best thus far.

Andy
Local Natives

New Orleans....a classier version of Las Vegas

2009-01-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

There's truly something "magical" about New Orleans. The city takes all the best parts of Las Vegas(or vice versa) and combines it with real culture and art. I have to admit that I did not see any breasts flying rampantly nor did I black out on Hurricane and Hand Grenade sugar cocktails,but I think that is a good thing. We quickly ran into some locals and were welcomed in properly. Where else in the US can you find free jambalaya with $2 you call its?

It was truly a pleasure running into to you, Andrea, Nicole, Jeremy and Naomi. Thank you for your hospitality and say goodbye to The Chicken for me.

Andy
Local Natives

Voxhaul Broadcast....Wishing Well in Austin

2009-01-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love Austin. It's like Gotham City but without all the crime and crazy ass clowns and a Batman who needs a Ricola really bad. Check out the video of Voxhaul Broadcast at the bottom.

Andy
Local Natives

Local Natives New Year in Houston

2009-01-01T11:18:00.001-08:00

Last nights Local Natives New years included:

Puke on my luggage, bloody noses, chicken fried steak dipped in ranch, drama at midnight, pringles a plenty, new friends, old friends, a 30min percussion jam, porno hotel rooms, unlocked bathroom stalls, daytrotter dreams,20min boys and girls room swaps and one hell of a new year!

We play in Houston again tonight. I have tons of video but I gotta downsize em first. I'll try to have them up today or tomorrow.

Andy
Local Natives

El Paso yo Asso!

2008-12-30T20:23:00.000-08:00

Phoenix and El Paso.....please note Taco Cabana looks better coming out then it does going in and that's not a good thing.

Im Back!

2008-12-28T22:45:00.000-08:00

I went on vaca not only from the band but also from OuttaSight. I am however sitting in Scottsdale, AZ at the Rogue Bar writing instead of socializing. I dont know if that makes me a hard worker or a complete nerd?

We just embarked on our 4 1/2 week tour. A bus fell through and a new van emerged victorious. I never liked buses owned by people who don't like us......I'll rephrase that to I never liked buses owned by people who seem to not like people in general:). We did get our hands on a nice midnight blue van and now we are off and running. Our first night at The Gypsy Lounge was very nice. Tonight I'd give it a solid C. I personally could hear myself very well on stage which is great as long a you are playing a solid set. The band was steady with a few little cracks here and there. Tomorrow is El Paso.....I'll let you know. Look at them pics!

Andy
Local Natives

Tis the season

2008-12-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

Its Friday, its the end of the week! Time to go home and take a big long leak! I always used to sing that when I was a little kid. I have no idea why other than the fact that it refers to peeing.

I think tonight I'm going to head over to Spaceland to rock out and go dance crazy. I just messaged Joe over at RadiofreeSilverlake and requested he play "Airplanes" in his set tonight. We'll see?

So we released "We Come Back" our holiday tune about a week ago. Listening to it today got me in a thankful mood. One Gujogillion thanks yous to everyone who has been taking any interest in Local Natives over these past couple of short months!! We haven't even released the record yet! Weirdos:)

And since it is the season of giving and Im broke Ill give you some art as a gift:) Heres We Come Back(Holiday Song) MP3 for download:
http://www.thelocalnatives.com/WeComeBack.mp3

Andy
Local Natives

Monday Update

2008-12-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

Sunday aint joking around anymore.

Last night we got Airplanes played on KROQ Locals Only(thank you Kat and Union Line) and Camera Talk played on Indie 103.1 Check 1 2! If you guys follow my blog you know that I've been pushin for Check 1 2. Don't let anyone tell you that Garbage Pale Kids won't get you where you need to be in life:)

Saturday night was the Zero Film Festival in downtown LA. Sunday was Continental Room in Fullerton. Both very fun shows but someone stole my fucking purple cardigan at Continental Room! It was a really nice sweater and I'm pissed. Who steals purple cardigans? Whomever took it may they get stung by a thousand angry wasps and dipped into a pile of Elephant diahearea.

Tonight we got a free show at Silver Lake Lounge. We play at 945pm.

Andy
Local Natives

Local Natives at Zero Film Festival

2008-12-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

This is a big one people....We are happy to be playing the Zero Film Festival this Saturday. We've done parties before with our new found ZFF friends and I can guarantee a good time.

Andy
Local Natives

Turkey Day w/a Local Native

2008-11-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

"Little Nemo comic by Winsor McCay" he's good! Look at that giant turkey eating him.

The key points to make when celebrating Thanksgiving in Texas:

1. One bag of pre-made stuffing will not feed twelve people

2. Sliced deli turkey does not count as Thanksgiving Turkey

3. "Y'all" is not only fun to say but gets your point across faster and more efficiently

4. Skee-ball played with white plastic balls isn't nearly as fun as with the heavy brown ones

5. Mario Kart for Wii is fun

6. Nickelback and Three Doors Down are bigger than Starbucks.

Ill let the picture below describe last nights adventure. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Andy
Local Natives

Please play this song on the radio

2008-11-21T10:05:00.001-08:00

We wrote this song, it's not too short, not too long
It's got back-up vocals in just the right places (in just the right places)
It's got a few oohs and ahhs (oooh aaah)
And it takes a little pause
Just before I sing the F word

Please play this song on the radio

Almost every line is sung on time
Almost every verse ends in a rhyme
The only problem we had was writing enough words
(oooh aaah)
But that's okay, because the chorus is
Coming up again now

Please play this song on the radio
Please play this song on the radio

Please play this song on the radio
Please play this song on the radio
Please play this song on the radio
Please play this song on the radio
Please play this song on the radio (please play this song)
Please play this song on the radio (please play this song)

-Fat Mike

So yesterday I sent some of our new tunes off to Indie 103 check 1 2 to see if they might be interested in putting 1, 2 or 10 of our tunes up on their local show Check 1 2 hosted by Mark Shovel. Super curious to see what they think about Local Natives? We play shows a lot with many of the bands that are on the show and I think they just might like us. I took some time and spit a little Hammbone taste into the packaging of the disc using some arts and krafts know how, paired with some old Garbage Pale Kids cards and Local Natives artwork. I almost didn't want to send it out and keep it instead:) Included was a personal letter from me and a promo copy of our unreleased album. Pics below.

Now we play the waiting game. For those of you who don't know Check 1 2 airs every Sunday night 6pm-8pm. If your feelin like a fan PLEASE request 'Airplanes' 1 877 900 1031 or visit http://www.indie1031.fm/check_one.._two.php and on the right hand side is a link to request online. This really does help and Ill come and plant a juicy one on your cheek if you let me know you requested us. Wish us luck!

Andy
Local Natives

Chad Vangaalen

2008-11-19T15:07:00.001-08:00

So I just came across this.....amazing

Andy
Local Natives

The Reveal

2008-11-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

So I just got myself a delicious iced coffee from the nicest vendor in downtown LA. If you're ever in the Fashion District make sure and visit the vendor at 9th and Los Angeles St. in The Mart. Iced coffee for $1.50! and it doesn't taste like poop....always a bonus. As my eyes start to open and my hands start typing I must say it feels more like a Monday than a Wednesday. I have been out for the past few days on the road again(Local Natives) with some really great friends of ours in The Union Line. For some reason unknown I decided not to take that many pics of our shows and shenanigans this time around. The one featured above was taken by the one and only Saddie at The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz. Which by the way has an excellent Thanksgiving Crepe special going on. If your looking for a good gig and free food give Mark a call over there.

All in all our three day up the coast and back "micro-tour" was way too much fun. We played an average of two shows a day with an average of two hours of sleep a night in the form of hard wood floors and cruppled up sweater pillows.(Brit if your reading this thank you so much for letting us stay at your place the last night! We scooted out early and I didnt get to say thanks. Oh and by the way I think Tulani left here crepe out over night and I woke up to one of the worst smelling rotten garlic pussie green molded crepes ever smelled on the West Coast.)

Last night was our last show on the string at Silverlake Lounge with our school yard chums Voxhaul Broadcast. This was our "industry" show. In other words we had a few labels and what not come out to check out the show.(Paul-thank you for the Anchor Steam and Michael-Why did you leave early?) We played 7 shows in three days with not so much as a scratchy throat, a broken guitar string or a missing band member so it would only be fitting that the waterflow of technical difficulties would break the dam in one giant flood at our Silverlake Lounge show. Three broken amps and one broken voice later we emerged from an "interesting" set. I think my bass went from "too quiet" to "turn the fuck down" without me so much as looking at my volume knob. Its always hard to know when to admit and when to reveal about off kilter shows or human mistakes without being self depricating or too negative nancy, but we had fun as always and sometimes things go a direction you wouldn't expect. Somebody also donated a box of cookies to us at the end of the night which was really good!

Andy
Local Natives

Here comes the Industry

2008-11-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

I just remembered that I never posted our adventures in "The Industry" that happened last week at Nettwerk in LA. Through some good friends of ours we were asked to be part of a Marketing Music Industry event hosted by Terry Mcbride of Nettwerk Music(hes the gentlemen on the way too awesomely perfect flyer:). The idea behind the event was to take an up an coming band(us) and let a panel of "Industry" folks and room full of "Industry" friends assess our situation and make suggestions on how they could help us. The set up was....very....business. Instead of performing or listening to our music we were asked to put together a Power Point Presentation. Essentially a 15min business plan pitch given from an indie band. Being a recent college graduate we did our best and I must say it was pretty funny when we litterally met in our group the night before and rehearsed our secctions. University Marketing 101 eat your heart out!

For me it was a new, fun and weird expiereince. At the end of the day we are just a band that makes music. "Marketing tools" and "viral videos" and an "online precsence"... but to us its just a good cover song from an artist we love and admire, one of us filming one of many goofy-arse moments that one or all of us are involved in on the road or an overworked and overloved piece of artwork that I spent too many hours putting together and putting our name on. I met some really great and nice people that night and I told every single one them the same thing. Take this copy of our new album with you and listen to it because everything aside that is still what is most important to us as a band. I feel thankful that we have so many people and tools surrounding us and I hope that if you were there and you did grab a copy of Gorilla Manor(album) that you are enjoying it as much as we did making it.

Andy
Local Natives

Price is Right

2008-11-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

So we went on The Price is Right yesterday! Guess what fu*&king what!!? Our good friend Rachel got picked and made it to the Showcase Showdown. She didn't win but I don't think she really was in need of a new hot tub anyways:)

Word to the wise: If you do decide to partake in this show it is an ALL DAY event so bring your snack attack sack and plenty of patience.

ps. Drew is not as good as Bob. PLINKO!

Andy
Local Natives

Local Natives New art

2008-11-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

Monday Monday...La la...La la la la(is it even las?)

My weekend was good...not great, not bad but good. No complaints. In spite of nothing too crazy going on I figured Id give you a little inside scoop de poop on whats going on in the world of Local Natives.

NEw myspace up! So I have been working for awhile now on new artwork and general aesthetic for us and the first phase is now up and runinng. Matt described the style as "Crazy Creep Pop Art". I guess I can see that. The idea was to do something original while still keeping it "Local Natives" style. When you see artwork from us I wanted the listener/viewer to 1. Get at least a little idea of what our music would be like and 2. to entice thier eyes enough to make them want to look into us more.

The color sheme is borderline psychadelic. Lots of colors put together and washed out. Pastel reds and blues with grayscale backgrounds. Cut and pastey style artwork to keep it sloopy(which I love) with random objects and landscapes cut together to make just enough sense.

Matt designed the new tour poster which also plays into the new aesthetic. So well in fact that we used the Ostriches as our background. Tell me what you think?

In other news/gossip we are almost finished with a Talking Heads cover of 'Warning Sign'. Oooooooooooweiiiiiii it sounds good. We definetely made it our own and I can't wait to get it up. Due date most likely next week.

We are also working on a Christmas Song to be released in early Dec. This aint no "Jingle Bells" bullshit. This is the real deal. Its truly a beautiful song with lots of layers and something that will park your ass in front of a fire with a cup of rumnog and a smile.

Andy
Local Natives

Philadelphia isnt Sunny

2008-10-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

Willy Nilly Philly. Just got back yesterday from a business trip to Urban Outfitters which is located in Philadelphia. I have never been to this old city and after only one and a half days I would give it a......solid B.

From some reason unknown I wanted to give it an A+ before I even got there. I dont know why I wanted to like it so much and realistically it was more about the circumstances surrounding my timing of the trip that lowered it's score. The world series is in full swing there and unfortunately the night we went out was the only night a game was canceled. You pair this cancellation with sleet rain and tyrant winds and Philadelphia's nightlife turns into a graveyard filled with librarians. The city itself is truly beautiful and its history and architecture really does put LA to shame.

Weather and human life aside, I did encounter some great new friends and ended up having a blast with this group scampering from bar, to bar, to club to bar.

We ended up at last call in a bar where people go to commit suicide. The photo below was taken at 2am in a small depressing bar. Keep in mind my iphone does not have a flash. The entire bar was light as day lit with flourescent lights!!! However that Cat is pretty cool:)

Andy
Local Natives

Griffith Park

2008-10-30T12:37:00.001-07:00

Sometimes we skip over the obvious. We are constantly looking for the super unknown, the too legit and the "only if your invited." Sitting around on Sundays looking for a Sunday Funday when all along it was right under our noses. Griffith Park is huge and wonderful! Remember how much fun grass is? Thats right, green grass! Grab some cheese, some crackers, some wine and maybe a frisbee or three and get down here. My trusted iphone didn't know what to do with all the joy it was looking at and took this picture at the park.

Andy
Local Natives