By Andrew Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
For an up-and-coming band, the hometown inevitably gives the
group an extra semblance of identity. But when Washington-based
Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard sang, “Is it the city
of angels or demons?” on last year’s “The Photo
Album,” he’s made clear one simple truth: in general,
indie rockers hate L.A.
Maybe it’s the no-holds-barred hostility of L.A. streets,
or the few-shades-too-positive sun beams ““ whatever it is,
the city seems to rub roughly against our frail friends’
jangled nerves. But The Jealous Sound and Sunday’s Best, two
young groups laying claim to Los Angeles as their hometown,
aren’t afraid to show their roots, nor are they unwilling to
admit their sense of kinship with one another. Campus Events is
bringing both groups to the Cooperage tonight.
“There are not too many bands like us here,” The
Jealous Sound’s Pedro Benito said. “There’s
Sunday’s Best and then there’s us.”
The L.A. indie-rock scene probably isn’t quite so
desolate, but Benito is no stranger to the city. After growing up
in San Diego, he attended school at Loyola Marymount University,
where he began his involvement with the college station 88.9 KXLU.
There he worked with Sunday’s Best singer and guitarist
Edward Reyes, who started out at the station as a classical music
DJ.
“I wanted to get out of San Diego music entirely,”
Benito said. “I loved the bands down there but I wanted to
try and do something a little bit more pop-oriented.”
During his stay at KXLU Benito co-founded Sunday’s Best
with Reyes. Soon after, he left the group over creative
differences, joining with former Knapsack leader Blair Shehan to
create The Jealous Sound. After leaking a few initial demos that
showcased a fusion of dynamic guitar sounds and subdued rhythms,
the band already managed to get a mention in Spin magazine.
It sounds like a picturesque start to a successful career, but
after the 2000 release of a five-song EP that met with positive
reviews, things slowed down to a crawl. The band played various
live shows with groups like Death Cab for Cutie and the
Weakerthans, but only now have they started working on their first
full-length.
“The gap was huge,” Benito said. “A lot of
people expected a lot of things from the band, and I think that
slowly but surely they’re getting what they’re
expecting. I just don’t want to be one of those bands that
comes out as this (well-hyped band) but puts out a record
that’s bullshit or is just exactly what the EP was. We just
have to make a strong presence with this album and let people know
that we’re not just a lot of hype.”
Similarly, Sunday’s Best had its share of anxieties as
well ““ after a quick start that included sold-out shows
opening for At the Drive-In on its first tour, Benito’s
departure forced Reyes to handle more of the songwriting duties of
the band, which had only released a handful of material to begin
with. Thus all of the songs started out with Reyes in
singer-songwriter mode, leading to a dramatic change away from an
intense, angst-ridden tone to a more traditional rock
‘n’ roll sound.
“I don’t think it was a conscious decision,”
Reyes said. “When Pedro left, I had to start writing more,
and I just learned to be a little more hands-on with the
songwriting, and that eventually led to a change in tone. It was a
really natural thing.”
But “The Californian,” released today, does more
than show the band in its reinvented form; it provides the listener
with a first hand account of a California that isn’t all
beaches and surfing.
“The album really is about telling the tale of my
experience,” Reyes said. “I was born and raised in
L.A., but I think that when people come here for the first time,
it’s mainly a place where you can try to make your mark.
It’s easy to get swept up, though. L.A. is more a place where
you can make your mark and/or burn out.”
Consistent with his claim, Reyes’ love-hate relationship
with the city is reflected in his ambivalent vocal quality ““
too resigned to call positive, too composed and serene to qualify
as mope-rock. In attitude and in musical style, both bands exhibit
a world of emotions.
Perhaps because of this, the groups don’t sound alike at
all, making the kinship that arose from their days at KXLU and
Loyola Marymount unite the two in a strangely affecting way. Not to
forget of course, what Reyes and Benito are both quick to point
out: they’re still great friends.
“I think it’s gonna be fun,” Benito said,
referring to their first show playing on the same bill as
Sunday’s Best. “They’re a great band. But
hopefully I can out-riff them with the Jimmy Page black magic
I’ve been working on.”
MUSIC: The Jealous Sound, Sunday’s Best and The Rum Diary
will play tonight at the Cooperage. The show is free and starts at
7 p.m.