THE UNION LINE AND LOCAL NATIVES UNITE
On tour, anyway. The Union Line just announced they’ll be traveling with their buddies Local Natives in the fall. (That’s after ex-Fullerton residents Local Natives jet-set around the world for festival performances.) The tour kicks off at the Henry Fonda in LA on Sept. 17. From a June 18 Heard Mentality blog post.
ALL’S WELL WITH THE STEELWELLS
What’s up with The Steelwells these days? The pressure’s on the band who have been dubbed “the hardest-working band in Orange County” (by their publicist, hah). Aside from holding their last residency night at Costa Mesa’s Detroit Bar on Monday, they’ll perform at the Beauty Bar in San Diego this month. They’ve been playing around with their sets—at a recent show at Detroit, people dressed as animals and wrapped the band in construction tape. It helps, of course, to know “people dig what you are doing,” singer Joey Winter says, but “most of us think what we’ve done in the past isn’t the best we can do, and we can always do better.” From a June 18 post by Brandon Ferguson.
CUNT SPARRER: An HOMAGE TO COCK SPARRER, NATCH
Singer/guitarist Jennie Cotterill, 27, and singer/keyboardist Sara Lyons, 24, are a female duo from Long Beach. The hella-abrasive name is actually a loving homage to punk icons Cock Sparrer, and the goal is to rework Cock Sparrer’s distorted fury by tweaking their songs into cute, lo-fi versions sung in squeaky voices.
Lyons, a big Cock Sparrer fan, says she’s not that nervous about performing with big names. Instead, she’s concerned about other punk bands’ fans. “We’re not claiming to be big punks. . . . In this scene, that’s hard for some people to wrap their heads around. But once they see where we’re coming from and singing these songs with love . . .” From a June 16 post by Ferguson.
THRICE DRUMMER’S NEW COLUMN
Riley Breckenridge’s new column in Heard Mentality launched this week. Called “Riley’s 3hree Things,” it will cover everything from music to his favorite spots in Orange County to random triumvirates of things he’s thinking about. This week, the Thrice drummer talked about his favorite three releases for the early half of 2010: Local Natives’ Gorilla Manor (“It’s a highly infectious record, rich in soaring melodies, buttery harmonies and energetic percussion”); The Black Keys’ Brothers (“At 15 tracks and nearly an hour long, it avoids being downtrodden with filler or repetition and manages to stay captivating and fresh, even after multiple listens”);and Deftones’ Diamond Eyes (“It’s a brutally heavy record that builds on the aggression of their early releases; expands on the dynamics, melody and atmospheric sections that made White Pony their masterwork; and proves that even after 22 years, the Deftones are as good as ever.”). As a caveat, he said, “Note that I chose to use the word ‘favorite’ rather than ‘best’ because I don’t consider myself one who knows what’s best for anyone else’s ears, by any means.” From a June 15 post by Riley Breckenridge.
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