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From left – Andy Action, Matt Frazier, Kelcey Ayer, Taylor Rice, Ryan Hahn |
hen I hear about five 20-something rock musicians making music out of their garage, most of them living out of the same house in Orange and trying to make it big, thought-provoking, harmony-driven and above all, democratic, just aren’t words that come to mind in my rush to pigeonhole them as young and wild. Even as I sit and talk with a couple of them – guitarist and one of Local Natives’ three lead singers Taylor Rice and drummer Matt Frazier – one hot September afternoon at a small cafe in the Orange Circle, I wonder if our readers might not be able to appreciate the band because they’re “too edgy” or “too college-aged.”
Then I decide none of that really matters. Cheesy as it may sound, it really is about the music. And because of their music, I was able to see what Local Natives is really all about: The five members of the rock-indie band want to make music that’s different and personal, and want to make it together.
“We really love each other as brothers,” Rice says.
They’d really have to. Rice, 23, Frazier, 23, guitarist/lead singer Ryan Hahn, 22, and pianist/lead singer Kelcey Ayer, 22, all rent out a duplex in Orange. Only bass player Andy Action, 25, lives outside the OC house in Silver Lake. Even after living together and playing music together, they’ll often hang out together simply because they’re friends.
Though the group as it is now has been together for about 2 1/2 years, other versions of the band have existed since Rice, Hahn and Ayer were in high school and were known as Cavil at Rest. Early on, they were more formulaic: one lead singer, straight-forward indie rock.
To mark their evolution, they changed their name this summer to more effectively capture how they see themselves as a band with a sound Rice describes as “a breed of indie rock that’s very vocally-driven.” “Local Natives” refers to the organic and raw quality of the music that the group sees emerging from the strong vocals and bass- and drum-driven rhythms. There is a certain tribal element to their songs.
While you couldn’t tell by listening, none of the band members is formally trained singer. That hasn’t stopped them from belting out some very catchy three-part harmonies in ways you don’t often hear rock groups doing these days. Don’t get me wrong, their music maintains that rock edge and energy, but there’s also an intelligence and method behind the rock, a calculated effort that reveals the group’s musical maturity.
The band does its homework, being influenced by anything from Motown to The Beach Boys, Radiohead and indie group Broken Social Scene. The wide range of influences stems from the group’s amazing ability to work together democratically – as in, they vote on all major decisions (including but not limited to songwriting, poster artwork and album covers) by show of hands. Time-consuming, but also very collaborative.
“[Our music] sounds like it’s a product of five minds,” Rice says. “Song writing takes a long time. Everyone’s really opinionated. We do a vote. Nobody has a final say in the band.”
Keep an ear out for their first album, which they plan to release by the end of the year. See them live Oct. 18 at 10 p.m. at La Cave, 1695 Irvine Ave., Costa Mesa, (949) 646-7944; lacaverestaurant.com. For more information, myspace.com/localnatives
