By Cameron Crowell, Ciara Dolan // Staff Writers
Originally published on the old KLC Tumblr blog: February 10, 2015
KLC’s The Umbrella [editors note: the old KLC blog name] got to know punk spellcasters L.A. Witch a little better when they cam through Portland to talk about their upcoming album, DIY culture, and even Wizards of Waverly Place:
The Umbrella: Let’s get your names first. What are your names and what do you play?
Irita: My name’s Irita and I play bass.
Ellie: My name’s Ellie and I play drums.
Sade: And I’m Sade and I play guitar and sing.
The Umbrella: So the question on all our minds is, are you witches?
I: Yes.
The Umbrella: More Wizards of Waverly Place or Macbeth style?
I: Macbeth.
S: Macbeth.
E: What’s Wizards of Waverly Place?
The Umbrella: A Disney Channel show.
E: Oh I thought it was, it sounds like something I remember from when I was babysitting.
The Umbrella: What do you like to do while you’re in Portland?
E: We realized that we had a friend - well we actually kind of just met him – I used to play shows with him when we were like seventeen, and my roommate was like “I know a guy that lives up there” and then he said we could stay with him and then we realized that we kind of knew each other.
The Umbrella: So this is your first tour, how’s that going?
E: It’s our first ‘US’ tour.
S: We did a Mexico tour.
E: But it was only one week, and we feel like this is our first real tour because we really had to plan everything out.
I: We’re on our own this time.
E: When we went to Mexico our friends kind of took care of all of that.
I: They’re in an awesome band called Has A Shadow from Mexico City.
The Umbrella: Rad! So what’s the plan for this tour?
I: We’re driving to Vancouver tomorrow, which is the first time I think for all of us, in Canada. Then we’re coming down to Seattle and back to California.
The Umbrella: What has your relationship with Burger Records been like?
I: Burger has been really awesome. We played the Burgerama pre-party last year, and we played at Burger a-Go-Go, the all-female fest that they put on. It was really cool to be invited to play and to be a part of that.
S: Most of our friends who are in bands are on Burger or Lolipop.
The Umbrella: So, what music are you bumping on the road?
S: If Pandora’s not working, which it often doesn’t, then it’s kind of just on shuffle on my iPhone and it’s various things. It could be Shirley Ross, or The Charmels, it could be Echo and the Bunnymen or Wipers.
The Umbrella: What influences do you have musically?
S: There’s a lot: Gun Club, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Wipers, Space Moon Three, The Cure, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground.
I: You know, all that stuff. We kind of listen to everything.
The Umbrella: Can you describe your sound in one sentence?
I, S, E (in unison): Reverb-soaked punked-out rock.
I: LA Canvas wrote that about us so it kind of stuck.
The Umbrella: Okay, now it’s twenty years in the future: VH1 is doing a Behind the Music for your band, who breaks up the band?
I: Oh, well we’ve gone through a lot of drummers.
S: Yeah… That’s hard to say.
I: It would be a mutual decision.
The Umbrella: Favorite tour fast food?
I: In-N-Out for sure. Do you guys have In-N-Out?
The Umbrella: No! You should go to Burgerville though, it’s really good.
I: What’s Burgerville?
The Umbrella: Just really good burgers. So, kale, spinach, or chard?
S: Spinach!
I: Kale! I do like chard, though. It depends on what it’s in.
E: What is chard? I don’t think I’ve had chard.
The Umbrella: Do you listen to college radio? If so, what’s your favorite station?
E: I think KXLU.
I: KXLU in LA is a big station. You can get it pretty much everywhere which is cool.
The Umbrella: We love KXLU too! What do you think is the best part about college radio?
I: I think it’s cool that they play all kinds of music, like from local bands who I don’t think
would ever get airplay on commercial stations. I think it’s a really important thing, and an opportunity for people to go and play in studio and to learn about new kinds of music.
The Umbrella: What was your favorite release of last year?
I: Corners, their album Maxed Out on Distractions is really cool. They’re really rad, and live they’re amazing.
The Umbrella: Do you surf?
S: I wish!
I: No, but my roommate does. Sade skates!
S: Yeah, I go to the park like once a week and eat shit. It’s fun.
The Umbrella: What is the most magical thing about your band?
S: For me, it’s the reverb.
The Umbrella: Who’s your least favorite Beatle?
I: Oh that’s mean! I like them all. My favorite’s John, obviously. But I also like Ringo, I have a soft spot for Ringo for some reason. “He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles,” (English accent attempt) or whatever.
S: I don’t know about my least favorite, but I think my favorite is George.
E: Yeah my favorite’s George too.
S: I think he’s a Pisces.
I: I think Paul is my least favorite. Sorry Paul.
The Umbrella: But he’s playing with Kanye!
~ laughs~
The Umbrella: Who’s your favorite character from The Simpsons?
S: Bart! Or Homer. Bart or Homer.
E: Shary Bobbins.
I: Shary Bobbins!
~ laughs ~
The Umbrella: So what are your plans for the year?
S: Definitely some releases, another EP.
I: We’re releasing a 7” soon.
S: Followed by an album, and we’re playing Austin Psych Fest.
The Umbrella: Is it going to be self-released again?
S: Maybe, we’re trying to see if someone will release it but we’ll see.
I: We’re not sure yet. I mean we do everything else ourselves.
E: We even make our own buttons!
I: We sat in the car today making buttons. I’m sure her arms are sore.
E: They’re very sore.
The Umbrella: That’s rad that you guys do that!
I: Yeah, we actually make our own CDs too. We spray painted them and printed out stickers.
The Umbrella: Keep the DIY alive!
~ laughs ~
The Umbrella: So, what is your opinion on Satanic cats?
I: They’re really cute.
The Umbrella: We like your album art!
I: Yeah, it’s a really cool painting! It was done by an LA-based artist who actually moved to San Francisco.
The Umbrella: Well thank you, this was awesome!
This post is part of The KLC blog Archive. The previous & now defunct KLC blog, formally known as The Umbrella, can be found here.