Coffee time with Inara George and Mia Doi Todd

It's easy to compare Inara George and Mia Doi Todd, two L.A. natives with voices that have stilled many a noisy club. Both create intimate compositions, but Todd's are woodsy and meditative, while George's sparkle with wit.

Now in their early 30s, they met briefly in their teens and have crossed paths over the years playing at hallmark venues of the East Side, including Tangier and Spaceland. Both seem informed by L.A. identities -- Todd relates to raga-listening Laurel Canyon folk while George seems ready to audition for a '40s Hollywood musical, or a mod love story with the Bird and the Bee, her band with Greg Kurstin.

On a sweltering afternoon, they met for a chat at Intelligentsia Coffee in Silver Lake, where they touched upon Todd's recent album, "Gea," and George's brand-new collaboration with Van Dyke Parks, "An Invitation." Naturally the conversation turned to other matters, like the demands of touring, and balancing solo and personal lives. Here is an edited excerpt of the conversation:

Inara George: So you put this record out yourself. How’s that been going?

Mia Doi Todd: It’s pretty good. It’s a lot of responsibility and things don’t get done like if there were 10 people working on it. But it’s at my pace.

IG: And have you been doing shows?

MDT: I toured in March with Jose Gonzales. We did a 30-city tour.

IG: And it was just you and a guitar?

MDT: And a percussionist. And I play harmonium with my foot. Sometimes I play tin whistle. Or sometimes I just sing and play guitar or congas and some other hand percussion. My next show in L.A. is Aug. 22 at the Echoplex. And I’m singing one song on Sunday with Beachwood Sparks at Sunset Junction.

[David Orlando, the drummer for War Paint, walks up and stops to chat for a moment.]

MDT: This neighborhood, you can’t go out without bumping into a musician.

IG: It’s true.... So you have some orchestrations on your album?

MDT: Yes, from Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, a young, really talented composer. You should really meet him. He grew up in Topanga.

IG: He did? Oh wait, I know him. I knew Miguel’s older brother. And then there’s Joaquin, who had a crush on me all through elementary school. They’re all brothers.

MDT: Miguel is mostly a viola player. He went to USC and does beautiful orchestration. He worked on that new Erykah Badu record. But you’ve been working with Van Dyke Parks. How did that work?

IG: Well, he did the orchestration. And then we got together a chamber orchestra. The whole thing is me with this chamber orchestra. There’s no drums or anything. It’s sort of like my own private musical. I saw a review for it the other day and they said that they really liked it but that after awhile, you might get something like an ice cream headache, which I can understand. The orchestration is dense.

MDT: So we were on a similar little moment. Mine has a more jazzy but sparse kind of feel.

IG: So you were on a label and it wasn’t a great thing, right? I remember when you were putting out your own records in the beginning.

MDT: Yeah, it’s gone full circle back to that… but it’s good for me right now. Are you going to tour?

IG: It’s difficult because the music is very complicated and you have to get really good players to play it so we have to do it very union. So one show costs as much as $15,000 to put on. We have a show in the fall with the orchestra, in November in Holland. And Van Dyke is coming. I think it’ll be fun. I’m very excited. But it’s going to be hard to do all the shows that we want to do.

MDT: So the songs that you recorded with Van Dyke Parks. How did you give them to him?

IG: They were done. Van Dyke is very traditional about orchestration. Although he uses modern technology [now], he used to write it up back in the day before we did it on computers. So, I would send him a song and I didn’t realize he actually used that song to orchestrate to. I would finish the song, record it on Garage Band, send it to him and some of them have a click [track]. So I’d send these songs to him, not realizing he’d actually use those recordings but he did and there’s like no time in them. It’s me, my speeding up or slowing down. These songs aren't what we used in the end but it’s amazing, you realize that any time can be notated. It really blew my mind.

MDT: I think I see Autumn [de Wilde] over there.

IG: I have a photo shoot tomorrow with Autumn for the Bird and the Bee. We just made a new record. Hopefully it’ll come out in the new year. Are you writing new songs?

MDT: I just started on a new project with Jimmy Tamborello, who did the Postal Service… so he gave me an album worth of tracks and I just have to do vocals and harmony for the first time. Not so much words. It’s more like electronic, weird dance vocals. We’ve worked on stuff over the years together. So you just finished a new Bird and the Bee? Is it different than the first one?

IG: Maybe a little more driving, a little more edgier. More of a sense of humor. I mean, I think the first one has a sense of humor but some people don’t. It’s like our version of pop music. We have a tour scheduled for it in September on the East Coast. We’ll do more touring as it comes closer. We don’t like touring that much. Do you like to tour?

MDT: I like to play music. I like that part!

IG: Yeah, I like to play but I don’t like to be away from home. Do you have a boyfriend?

MDT: I have a boyfriend.

IG: So yeah, sometimes just being away is hard. Does your boyfriend ever come on the road with you?

MDT: This weekend I’m playing San Francisco and he’s going to drive up with me but for the six-week tour, I didn’t really have time. What about you?

IG: I got married in February.

MDT: Oh my goodness, congratulations!

IG: We’ve been together a long time. He’s Jake Kasdan. Do you know Jake? He grew up in L.A. too.

MDT: No, but you and I have known each other since high school. We are both L.A. girls. Do you think you can hear that in your music?

IG: Yeah, definitely. I think so but I’m not sure how....

MDT: So, did you go on a honeymoon?

IG: I was working right after [our wedding] so he came with me to Japan. I worked for a bit and then afterwards we went to Naoshima Island. Do you know Tadao Ando, the architect? We visited the museum, the Chichu museum, that's designed by him. In the building there’s only work from three artists. And then we went to Singapore and then the Philippines.

Different personas

IG: Music is fun but it’s more of a job now. It’s admittedly my profession.

MDT: Mine is maybe becoming less. I don’t know where it’s going. If you think about it that way, you start to think, ‘OK, I think I’m going to make a disco record.’ Just have fun with it.

IG: That’s what I like about the Bird and the Bee. We can play more. It’s really strange having two groups. I mean the solo and the group, it’s like having two separate personalities. I get more intricate with my own work.

MDT: There’s some protection in [having another band member]. Last tour, I brought a drummer with me for protection or fortification.... I’m not in a big rush to tour again but playing a few shows here and there, that’s nice.

IG: Bird and the Bee, we’ve kind of gotten it down. When we play with a band, it’s very fun but it takes a lot of work. As a duo, we have a tour manager, we fly in, he rents a car, we stay in a nice hotel, and then we go to the club and we rent all our gear. So everything we need is just delivered.

MDT: What do you need? He plays keyboards and you play guitar?

IG: I play bass. Although I’m tempted to bring my bass with me because they always end up giving me these huge basses.... I want to have just a little tiny baby guitar to take around. I think Van Dyke and I are going to do some touring around in Europe. I’m going to try to get one of those. Eleni Mandell plays one.

MDT: Those are great. And if you get an old one, that sounds good too.

IG: Your guitar always sounds so great, how do you get it to sound like that?

MDT: These days I use nylon strings.

IG: That sounds pretty good but does it make noise on the frets?

MDT: There’s less noise. My fingers are teeny-tiny. I’ve gotten into nylon and it’s softer. It’s quieter though. McCabe’s, they have some beautiful little guitars. I love guitars. I have a lot of them.

IG: How many do you have?

MDT: I have 10. Most of them are acoustic but I have a couple of electric guitars.

IG: I don’t like to play guitar because ... it’s much harder. I play electric but it’s a hollow body. But also, getting an acoustic to sound good to me, it’s very hard.

MDT: I’m still attached to the instrument itself making the sound. I’m not good with electronics, with pedals and knobs. How did you figure it all out?

IG: Well, whatever it is, it shouldn’t have a lot of buttons. It should have maybe four buttons. And the more buttons you have, generally the worse the sound.

MDT: What kind of bass do you use?

IG: MusicMaster. It’s what Tina Weymouth from the Talking Heads played. Do you write songs to the guitar or your harmonium or do you put that on later?

MDT: For this album, I developed this way where you bang out a chord or make a drone on the harmonium and then I play guitar over it.

IG: And then how do you work your foot?

MDT: I have a whole methodology. I cut out a slip pad from a carpet that’s just the size of the harmonium so it can’t get away from me, it’s anchored down… So, what’s going on with the Living Sisters? Are you recording?

IG: We’re actually recording. Becky [Stark, also of Lavendar Diamond] is on the road so we’re taking a break but we’ll be recording more in the fall.

MDT: Who are you recording with?

IG: Sheldon, do you know Sheldon [Gomberg]? He lives right around here. So he’s producing and recording it. We’ll have some other people play on it, but I don’t know what we’ll do with it.

MDT: And how do you write songs? Starting on the guitar?

IG: Yes, I wrote one song on piano for this. But I don’t really play piano. Do you?

MDT: No, not really.

IG: It’s so hard rhythmically, it feels like you’re playing the drums. I find it difficult. But that’s the only way I learn instruments, if I’m forced to do it, so if I write a song on it, I have to learn it.

MDT: I want to go to the Silver Lake Music School and take piano lessons.

IG: I did that! I took piano lessons there.

MDT: How was it?

IG: It’s great. The classes are great but the problem for me is that it’s hard to make my own style in there. And coordination-wise, it’s getting two hands to work together. It’s like rubbing your belly and your head at the same time.

MDT: It takes a different kind of coordination. But you play bass.

IG: I don’t play that well. I don’t get a great tone out of it. I play the part, I never veer from the part. I pull it off. I don’t get compliments but I pull it off.

MDT: But you’ve been doing it so…

IG: I get a lot of, ‘You have your own style.’

MDT: I’m not that accomplished on the guitar but I have my own style. I think that’s the case with a lot of women.

IG: I think that’s true.

MDT: I can listen to a recording and tell if it’s a man or a woman playing. Not all the time but usually.

IG: I think that guys playing lead guitar tend to attack their instruments differently. It’s this machismo thing. You want to throw it out there. But I think that girls tend to be steady. I don’t like to blow it out, that freaks me out. Do you, like, jam?

MDT: I do but it’s hard. I’m still not good but it’s fun. I feel like a real professional; I tried soloing and channeling Jimi Hendrix.

IG: I love that you did that! I have this theory that really great guitar players, men usually, were nerds in high school so they spent a lot of time by themselves. So they practiced guitars.

MDT: I like playing ragas, using that foundation to hold it down.... My solos are always simple solos.

IG: That’s great. I’d rather hear a simple one any day.

-- Margaret Wappler

Inara George performs at the Largo at the Coronet on Sept. 13; Mia Doi Todd plays Aug. 22 at the Echoplex and Sept. 25 at Tangier.

Photos: Mia Doi Todd (left) by Theo Jemison; Inara George (right) by Autumn de Wilde