by Joe Fielder
You may have heard of this local act called The Happy Hollows... For our money, they're the best band playing regularly in Los Angeles right now.
Their debut album Spells (review = here) hit stores and itunes today -- giving you plenty of time to bone up on the new material before their Monday night residency at Spaceland in November.
We chatted briefly with them over IM recently. The conversation follows...
happyhollows: Hi Joe! This is Charlie. Both Sarah and I are here! How are you?
RFSL: I'm doing well. How are you both tonight?
happyhollows: We're doing really well. Just listening to some T. Rex! Sarah is playing guitar.
RFSL: Glad to hear it. Congratulations on the album release.
happyhollows: Oh, thanks! We're really really excited to finally be putting out an album!
RFSL: How long has it been since you started work on it?
happyhollows: Well, it has been almost two years, off and on. We started two summers ago and recorded twelve songs, but we're only using two songs from those initial recordings.
RFSL: ORLY? "Monster Room" is one.
happyhollows: Then we've recorded in batches of five or six songs a few times since then.
RFSL: " Tambourine?"
happyhollows: Yes, "Monster Room" made the cut. It's sort of like our "sixth man" in basketball games. "Tambourine" was recorded during that first summer too. So, actually, now that I think of it we are using three from that summer so long ago.
RFSL: Did you record everything over that whole time with Dave Newton? Or different producers?
happyhollows: Everything has been done with Dave Newton. He is such a nice person and we feel very comfortable with him so it was a no brainer. He is just so much fun and goes above and beyond in helping us and putting in extra hours in the studio and mixing....and with advice! He is sort of like our guru.
RFSL: What's the story behind the long term?
happyhollows: Well, there are about nine stories which would take me at least eleven nights in a dark bar with lots of whiskey to tell you. But Sarah is going to give you a little run down....
happyhollows: Montage of thoughts...but basically it has just involved both personal decisions not to release all the songs coupled with dealing with a bunch of labels. The last of which put us in the studio to record MORE...and then decided not to put them out in the end. We have recorded like three albums in the past two years....
RFSL: So there's extensive secret catalog that you guys have been cultivating.
happyhollows: Yes, but it is all stages of mixing. But there are lots more songs. But we think Spells is a pretty coherent representation of our music.
RFSL: How do you feel like you've grown as a band over the course of recording this album?
RFSL: I ask because your album has older material ("Death to Vivek Kamp" and "Tambourine" that were before your first EP, right?) all the way to the songs recorded a few months back.
happyhollows: Well, that's a tough question. But, we've learned how work in a studio setting and to appreciate all the possibilities that exist when you have soooo many tracks. But, there's a lot of older and newer material on the album. I just think we write many different types of songs and for this album we sort of tried to pick the ones that are as coherent as possible. The songs that flow and fit together.
happyhollows: And I think the general theme is to try and make catchy music with a twist or an edge. Some that is listenable and that sort of makes you think.
RFSL: I've always said that you guys nail the perfect blend of accessible and experimental.
happyhollows: Thanks, Joe!!
RFSL: How long have you been together now?
happyhollows: Almost four years now!
RFSL: What's been the highlight?
happyhollows: I think recording all the songs has been incredibly fun. We love going to the studio. For live shows, obviously any time we play with Silversun Pickups is a thrill. Also, playing in New York was great!
RFSL: What's next for you guys?
happyhollows: Well, we're doing a lot of things. We're working on the theme song to a TV show based on Dungeons & Dragons. But we can't say anyhting else about that. We're going to the East Coast in October for CMJ and some other shows. And we'll be playing more on the West Coast in early October and in November.
RFSL: "It's Tiamat the dragon!"
happyhollows: I used to watch the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon when I was like 3 years old...but I don't have too much experience with the rpg..I think Classical Geek Theatre is the expert there.
RFSL: Cool. One last question: What's next for Sarah and The Sad Solids?
happyhollows: Sarah has an album's worth of material to record. It is all ready and demoed, we just need some time (and money!!) and we will get it done. I think we will try and do that in January 2010. She has a lot of great songs that she has been working on for a couple of years.
Photo by Simon Cardoza.
Great interview. Great band. Great new CD!
Posted by: twitter.com/usernamedon | October 06, 2009 at 08:00 PM
i love them!
Posted by: Ann | October 07, 2009 at 12:42 AM