The Weather Underground cultivates its own revolution
For all its immediacy and convenience, the Internet-based music universe sucks all serendipity out of discovering new music, and maybe even undermines the process of a listener finding his own subtext.
It also lays bare a band's aspirations -- which, in the case of L.A. quartet the Weather Underground, are pretty high. There on the band's MySpace page, without irony, are the likes of Kerouac, Dylan, Camus, Ginsberg and Basquiat.
"It's a way to engage people -- those are really important influences for us," singer-guitarist Harley Prechtel-Cortez says. "I can see how it can be daunting . . . but maybe somebody who likes our band might wonder, 'Who is Guillaume Apollinaire?' We're trying to do something we're not hearing much these days; we're just not into the dumbing-down of things."
The band's name comes from an Oscar-nominated documentary film on the 1960s-70s radical group the Weathermen. Likewise, the rock foursome's two self-released EPs, "When I Was a Soldier" and "Psalms & Shanties," are far from piffle. "Neal Cassady" nods to the Beat Generation figure; "When I Was a Soldier" displays Prechtel-Cortez's deft touch at framing vignettes in song.
Musically, the taut rock laid out by the songwriter's cousin, guitarist Shoichi Bagley, bassist Ryan Kirkpatrick and drummer Diego Guerrero recalls a post-punk Kings of Leon, or the Walkmen soaked in Southern Comfort. "That Southern thing, it's in us. I don't know why, but it's in us," says Prechtel-Cortez, who grew up in Inglewood and New York City (his cousin is from Hawthorne).
||| Live: The Weather Underground, along with El Ten Eleven, E>K>U>K, Rademacher, Marvelous Toy and Yes Means No, plays a benefit for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation on Sunday at Safari Sam's. The proceedings start early; doors at 5. Also, the Weather Underground plays next Thursday at Spaceland as part of the Airborne Toxic Event's residency.
||| Download the Weather Underground's "Neal Cassady."
| Bookmark it: |
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c630a53ef00e54fbf1c218833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Weather Underground cultivates its own revolution:
its just a matter of time until these boys take over l.a.
great music!!! i cant stop listening!
congrats boys!
cheers!
Posted by: gabe | January 04, 2008 at 11:35 AM
These guys have been my favorite live act in town for the year. Going on tour with 'em was a blast.
Congrats, fellas
~cashew
Posted by: cashew | January 04, 2008 at 03:01 PM
very good band that played underground a couple of years back. i still have the badge harley gave me.
hope to see them again soon.
Posted by: supercrass | January 04, 2008 at 03:03 PM
Oh wow!! I've seen them 3 times in the past and they always put on the greatest , most touching live shows! I'm so happy to see a real quality band in Los Angeles getting such well deserved buzz! Looking forward to seeing them as much as possible before they blow up!
Posted by: Winston | January 04, 2008 at 06:08 PM
Thanks for this Kevin! I just saw them last night and I was transfixed, even in a dry, non-responsive, empty room due to the rain probably.
Love your blog as well by the way. Thanks for turning me on.
Posted by: Gupta | January 07, 2008 at 12:22 PM