Chris Boyd talks to up-and-coming LA rockers The Like
Fresh off the back of touring America with the now-beardless Kings of Leon and having played a number of shows in dear old Blighty, LA rockers The Like are poised to get you jumping all over the place with their pop-punk stylings – Z Berg on the far left belts out lead vocals and guitar, Tennessee Thomas thumps the drums really hard and thrashes her hair round a lot and Charlotte Froom strums the bass. Having checked out their Barfly show, both itm? reviewers were impressed with their punchy, confident performance, despite the crowd comprising said slightly-tipsy scribes and five or six shifty-looking old men. Charlotte took time off from bass duty to answer these carefully-considered questions below.
You have features in NME, The Observer and Dazed and Confused coming up over the next six weeks. How did you feel the first time you saw yourselves written about in the press? Are you getting used to it yet or is it still all a bit of a whirl?
It’s really crazy seeing yourself in magazines because it never seems real. The craziest is when you don’t know you’re in one or you forget and you’re flipping through some magazine and you see yourself. I think it will never stop feeling surreal.
What sort of obstacles (if any) has the band encountered so far due to your age and gender?
The biggest obstacles at first were playing shows on school nights because we were still in high school. Then there was getting around, because we were 15 when we started and couldn’t drive so we could only practice when our parents could take us.
What was life like on tour with Kings Of Leon? It wasnít you who convinced them to ditch those long, flowing beards, was it?
Oh no, their beards were long gone by the time we got to them. Kings Of Leon are amazing. They’re so good live and they’re all southern gentlemen. Their mother taught them well.
By now youíll have played your set at London Barfly. How does London compare with LA in terms of smoke and noise? And how did you think you got over with the crowd?
Well you can’t smoke inside anywhere in LA so it’s definitely smokier everywhere in the UK. The amount of noise is about the same. The show seemed to go over well. We’re starting to get a few core fans and it’s really great when you can actually see your fan base grow one person at a time!
It seems that everyone in the UK is part of a noisy guitar band at the moment. What do you bring to the table to make us sit up and notice?
I think that our band doesn’t really sound like anything else that’s going on at the moment. There are some noisy guitars but there’s some other stuff, too. And we are all girls, and I guess some people are shocked by that.
Youíre fans of Elastica, Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. Are there any current British acts whose music you enjoy?
We’re really into Babyshambles right now. I have a t-shirt that has a picture of Pete Doherty smoking crack on it. We also like Kasabian.
Who came up with the synchronised swimming idea for the ëWhat I Say And What I Meaní video? Was it from the director entirely or did the band also have input?
The director, Mike Myerberg, is a good friend of all of ours. We’d heard that he wanted to direct music videos so we bugged him to write treatments for it until he finally did, and he brought us 7 the night before we had to decide who to use. All the ideas were amazing, but the synchronized swimming one fit best with the song. It was his first video; I think he did a pretty good job.
Iíve never plucked up the courage to tell my girlfriend that, at the age of 27, I am a professional wrestling fan. Do you think I should confess or should I live with my secret shame?
Umm…… That’s a hard one. Live with your secret shame, that’s pretty embarrassing.
What are your earliest musical memories?
I remember listening to music and dancing when I was about 1.
What lessons have you learned from touring and recording?
Make sure to take care of yourself and eat your vegetables…
The Like, crafty things that they are, have a regular fanzine they run themselves. The latest version is on a PDF, so download it from here and see what you think. Feel free to link to it anywhere you think you can use it. It nice to have something a bit different…
More: www.ilikethelike.com
- Grey Daturas / Tacoma Narrows Bridge / Calacas - 19 April 2009
- Loving The Like - 2 June 2006