By Jackie Lam
Hey kids! The RSFL team is gearing up for our fourth installment of free weekly shows at LaBrie’s, and so should you. This Tuesday features sets by The Sweet Hurt, Obi Best, and our November residency band, The Californian. Be sure to come on by, enjoy a drink or two at the bar, and listen to some solid local talent. In addition to posting a few free downloads of this week’s showcase, we’ve asked the band to provide a bit of back story about the track:
Wendy of The Sweet Hurt on “Hugs:”
I had just gotten a Casiotone keyboard and was inspired by the jazz organ sound. I messed around with that patch and came up with the chorus of "Hugs" pretty quickly, but couldn't figure out what to do for the rest of the song. A few days later I went back on tour. A month later, I got back and asked my fellow tour mate, Jake Blanton, to help me finish the song. Jake is a Beach Boys specialist and I wanted to channel the feel of "Darlin’." I went over to Sargent Studios and we finished the music. Then Josh Adams, who was living here, laid down some drums, who added in a great Todd Rundgren-feel at the bridge. Jake freakishly played the bass part in one take. He and Josh went out to get snacks, because I'm always hungry, and I stayed in to finish the lyrics. Later that night, our friend Priscilla Ahn happened to drop by and we got her to sing background vocals and amazing layers in the bridge. Sargent has a bunch of vintage gear, so it was the perfect place to capture old sounds. The song title is a reference to the filler words, Singing Songs for Hugs I used for the last line of the chorus. Try it, it's fun.
Free download: The Sweet Hurt - “Hugs”
John from The Californian on “Spin Round:”
I have some pretty stubborn ideas about songs’ meanings and how and why they should be discussed. Some of my very close friends find my secretive process pretty freaking obnoxious. People have varied opinions about the meaning of entertainment and what purpose it serves. This topic could take all day, but I do like to believe that one of its main purposes is to give the gift of creativity. You, as a human being, have the ability to hear my song and come up with an idea for what you "think" it's about. In that instant, you have created your own version of what this song is. You've essentially written your own short story in your head. Giving you that opportunity is literally why I do what I do. Why would I spoil it by telling you you're wrong? Or worse by telling you what you're supposed to think before you even hear the song?
The song “Spin Round” has been fascinating in this respect. I have been approached with more ideas for what this song is about than any other on our EP. I am not going to reveal what any of those ideas were, nor am I going to reveal the "real" meaning of the song. But I will say this: No one has been "right" or even come close to what I was working from when I wrote the song originally. More importantly, there has been a particularly misunderstood lyric. Spin Round Three More Times in the chorus has been misquoted, tweeted, etc. as Spin Round Three Four Times. This has happened so much that the band even asked in rehearsal, "Which is it? More or four"? to which I responded, "Which do you think it is?" I was then told that due to uncertainty a few members of the band have been sort of switching back and forth between the two lyrics at shows. This, to me, seemed like the perfect solution. The lyrics Spin Round Three Four Times " has meant so much to some people that they have texted me messages about it and posted it on various websites and sing it along with us at shows. If that doesn't make the lyric "correct" I don't know what does. This song and its meaning haven't been mine ever since you heard it for the first time. It's yours now. You tell me what it's about.
Free download: The Californian - “Spin Round”
Alex of Obi Best on “It’s Because of People Like You:”
"It's Because of People Like You" is based on the true-life story of me getting a nasty note on my car. My car was a bit of a jalopy then, with both side view mirrors broken and dangling from their cords and windows that no longer went up. I parked it one night in a nice residential area of Los Feliz. To be fair to the note-leaver, I was parked a bit far from the curb, but other than that it was a perfectly harmless parking job. The note was a gold mine with words underlined and capitalized in gorgeously irrelevant ways--by far my best collaboration yet (and hopefully his). It said something like:
Learn to Properly park AND Lock your car.
It didn't say "it's because of people like you," but it was strongly implied. He left it inside of my car actually to show how foolish I was for leaving my windows down and car unlocked. I think it was the randomness of his punctuation and phrasing that inspired the rhythm of the melody; the words are broken up in ways that emphasize the wrong parts of the word--accents on the wrong syllables. I wrote the music while watching a strange movie from the ‘70s called Don't Look Now. I used to rent movies (VHS!) from the library and mute them and play along. I had already written the music first and then received the note and it all came together. Thank you, movies from the ‘70s and cranky citizens of LA!
Free download: Obi Best - “It’s Because of People Like You”
Comments