Interview with Big Black Delta: How chatting with a friend landed him a dream Debbie Gibson collaboration

Interview with Big Black Delta: How chatting with a friend landed him a dream Debbie Gibson collaboration
Mark E. Ortega
Grimygoods.com
May 4, 2016

Jonathan Bates was sitting with a friend at a bar discussing his solo project Big Black Delta. Bates wasn’t even sure he wanted to continue the project, but his friend asked him if he could work with anyone, who would he choose?

“I just said Debbie Gibson, because I love her music,” Bates relayed via phone in a chat with Grimy Goods. “When I first came to the United States, that was one of the first American acts I heard, and just by chance, she was down [to collaborate].”

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Interview with La Sera: Discussing their new record and the role Ryan Adams played in producing it

Interview with La Sera: Discussing their new record and the role Ryan Adams played in producing it
Mark E. Ortega
Grimygoods.com
April 4, 2016

If you read anything about indie pop darlings La Sera‘s new record Music For Listening to Music To, you undoubtedly will see the name Ryan Adams somewhere in the first paragraph (like I did just now), maybe even the sub-headline. While Adams worked his magic on the production side of things, newly-married Katy Goodman and Todd Wisenbaker put the songs for the album together and had them ready to go, before showing up at Adams’ PaxAm Studios to record between Coachella dates last year.

I spoke with both members of La Sera (who play the Fonda Theatre on May 23 with Titus Andronicus) over the phone last week about the fourth La Sera record. First, it was Goodman on the phone. When asked how they came up with the cheeky name for the record, Goodman let me know it was Wisenbaker’s idea and she tried relaying the question to him in another room of their house.

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Hot New (To L.A.) Band Alert: The Soft White Sixties Bring Their Vintage Rock n’ Soul Sound to Los Angeles

Hot New (To L.A.) Band Alert: The Soft White Sixties Bring Their Vintage Rock n’ Soul Sound to Los Angeles
Mark E. Ortega
Grimygoods.com
March 29, 2016

For the second year in a row, rock n’ soul band The Soft White Sixties sold out a gig during San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival last month. Over the years, the four-piece had gained a big following in the Bay Area city that they made their home. But just a few months ago, they decided to pick up and move to Los Angeles for a fresh start.

“We were doing what we were doing in SF and it felt really good,” frontman Octavio Genera told Grimy Goods after playing one of many shows at this year’s SXSW. “But I’m very much in that psyche that when something becomes too comfortable, I get kind of nervous and have to shake it. And the band just said, yeah let’s do it. And it’s been nice for us to be able to do all that together.”

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Interview with POLIÇA: An in-depth discussion of their new politically charged album “United Crushers”

Interview with POLIÇA: An in-depth discussion of their new politically charged album “United Crushers”
Mark E. Ortega
Grimygoods.com
March 22, 2016

On Friday, March 25, Minneapolis synthpop band POLIÇA returns to Los Angeles for a date at the Fonda Theatre. They had a busy week during SXSW in Austin, playing upwards of a half-dozen shows during that stretch. Their new album United Crushers dropped a few weeks ago via Mom + Pop Records and it is a very brilliant and politically-charged record. We talked with singer Channy Leaneagh about the album and some of the messages behind it, check out what she had to say in our interview below!

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From Spain with love: an interview with HINDS -- playing the Echo on Oct. 16

From Spain with love: an interview with HINDS -- playing the Echo on Oct. 16
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 9, 2015

Spanish four-piece HINDS (fka Deers) first burst into America at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW), playing more than a dozen shows over the course of that week in Austin. I discovered the band while doing research for my first SXSW — their song “Bamboo” caught my attention immediately — and somehow didn’t manage to see them live that week. But they’ve long been on my conscience and have continued to release explosive high energy lo-fi garage rock jams, and with a gig coming up next week at the Echoplex on Friday, October 16, I got a chance to speak with Carlotta Cosials, one of the founding members of the band as well as one of the main vocalists and guitarists.

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Interview with Wolf Alice, the UK's latest and greatest fast-rising rock band

Interview with Wolf Alice, the UK's latest and greatest fast-rising rock band
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 7, 2015

It was only 9 months ago that we saw rising UK rockers Wolf Alice making their LA debut at School Night at Bardot. Their headlining set was one of the more anticipated of the weekly free with RSVP series as patrons packed into the small frat-house-like venue despite some anti-LA weather.

“I remember it like yesterday,” drummer Joel Amey told Grimy Goods in a phone interview earlier this week.

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Interview with Clean Bandit, who open for Duran Duran at Hollywood Bowl

Interview with Clean Bandit, who open for Duran Duran at Hollywood Bowl
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
October 1, 2015

UK outfit Clean Bandit opens for Duran Duran on Thursday, October 1 at the Hollywood Bowl, just less than a week after the two appeared Saturday on the Life is Beautiful Festival bill in downtown Las Vegas. Their unique blend of classical and dance music is great to hear, particularly in a live setting. We caught up with Grace Chatto (cello, vocals) and Jack Patterson early Saturday before their set, which was one of the best dance parties of the weekend.

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Interview with Catfish & the Bottlemen: On their way to stadium rockers

Interview with Catfish & the Bottlemen: On their way to stadium rockers
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 28, 2015

There’s this sense in indie rock with a lot of bands that they’re not out to conquer the world, that they’re too cool to outright say they desire to play to the biggest crowds out there.

With UK outfit Catfish & the Bottlemen, they’ve been vocal about their desire to play massive stadiums and blow up to becoming the biggest band the UK has seen since Oasis headlined at Knebworth House to the tune of 150,000 people in 1996.

This band is on the fast track given they sound a bit like if The Strokes were fronted by a British version of Brandon Flowers of The Killers. They’ve got a stadium sound, so who is anyone to call them cocky for dreaming they can fill stadiums in the next few years?

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An interview with Blackalicious' Chief Xcel: faith brings first new record in a decade

An interview with Blackalicious' Chief Xcel: faith brings first new record in a decade
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 25, 2015

“Never let life’s troubles block your flow. Have faith and keep where you’re trying to go, like a winding river in search of the ocean, you must keep your faith in motion.”

Those are the opening words from “Faith” off Imani Vol. 1 (off the label OGM) – which came out last week – the first Blackalicious album in a decade. The words are inspiring to listeners, but they also fit the hip-hop duo from Sacramento like a glove. Between Chief Xcel’s fire beats and Gift of Gab’s creative rhymes, this twosome has been an important pillar of California hip-hop for about two decades.

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Hot Band Alert: With Phases, 'there's just no ego anymore'

Hot Band Alert: With Phases, 'there's just no ego anymore'
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
September 21, 2015

Los Angeles indie pop band Phases — formerly known as Jjamz — is comprised of four people that have all been involved in music for most of their lives. Z Berg (The Like), Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley/Bright Eyes), Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet), and Michael Runion have enjoyed varying degrees of success but currently find themselves in their happiest situation if vocalist Z Berg is to be believed.

“Most of us were in our first bands when we were like — 15?” Berg said in a phone interview last week.

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An interview with Grace Potter: giving pop music its much needed 'kick in the ass' with new record

An interview with Grace Potter: giving pop music its much needed 'kick in the ass' with new record
Mark E. Ortega
GrimyGoods.com
August 12, 2015

When I caught up with Grace Potter via telephone last Friday, she was in Santa Fe, “the best location ever and the best mood ever, just really good vibes,” she said. Over the course of our interview, we talked about her Thursday and Friday shows at the Fonda Theatre, her upcoming album Midnight that drops on August 14, as well as how Los Angeles and California helped inform the more poppy-feel to the album compared to her previous records as Grace Potter & the Nocturnals.

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