As we get our professional, social, cultural, and musical bearings here in LA, we’d be remiss not to use this space to mention the coming 10th annual FYF music festival—formerly awesomely known as the not-so-easy-to-market Fuck Yeah Fest—Los Angeles’ massive, eclectic coming together of musical artists + comedians.
Though the many big, fairly well-known bands like My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, and MGMT are stealing most of the headlines these days, we’re most keen on the chance to see some of the smaller acts gracing the various stages of FYF.
One such band that we’re especially excited about is Lemuria, a trio that plays edgy pop music pulling from the best aspects of the early 90’s East Coast indie rock scene while deftly sidestepping outright musical derivation. Their most recent album, The Distance is So Big, is honestly phenomenal from start-to-finish, drawing listeners in with power-pop-style energy, hooky melodies, thoughtful lyrics, and dueling vocals from guitarist/vocalist Sheena Ozzella + drummer/vocalist Alex Kerns. Bassist Max Gregor rounds out the sound of the band and crucially provides to the bands driving rhythms and tattoo + beard aggregate, which can be handy with shows in the south/Brooklyn.
We caught up with the band this week as they made their way across the United States, taking a few minutes to talk with us before a show in Phoenix.
Listen in as we talk about the band’s influences, how having three members in three different cities impacts the band, and conspiracy theories about reptilian humanoids. Oh yeah, and check out how I classily start the interview off sounding like Biff Tannen—”So dat’s like a mythical continent or sumthin’?”
After you give the interview a listen, be sure to check out the excellent “Brilliant Dancer” + “Chihuly”, both also below.
Lemuria’s third album, The Distance is So Big, is available on CD + vinyl and via iTunes. If you’re in the LA area, you can catch them at FYF Saturday at 230PM on the Miranda Stage.
And yes—all four stages are, in fact, named after the Sex and the City gals. FYF organizers enjoy reaching back to their 8th grade years for tongue-in-cheek cultural references.
