Roosterhead

?Beat Blvd. is taking a little break this week. We're going to simultaneously figure out what new Christmas songs we haven't heard yet and squeeze in one more opportunity to hear the good stuff (and avoid the treacle...the endless, endless treacle).

In a way, though, that searching out of prime quality describes our work this year with Beat Blvd. We began at the suggestion of our fearless music editor Lilledeshan Bose as a way to focus more attention on our thriving local scene. The sheer number of bands, musicians and DJ's out there these days is both overwhelming and exciting. In a time when so many say that the music business is dying a slow death, what's been clearly missed is how much music itself seems to have gained strength all around.

Orange County's own contributions to what's out there--with the help, as ever, of kindred spirits in Long Beach and the Inland Empire (and even L.A.) -- can't be measured in full just by one column; we know that there's even more out there. As always, we encourage your contributions when you have something out, whether it's a digital release, a tape, a single, a vinyl release--even a CD (which they do still make, after all). We can't name just one favorite, but groups like I Hate You Just Kidding, Roosterhead, Cerebellion, Northern Labour Party, Colorfield Bridge, Ugly Girls and Bullets for Breakfast are among the many that we've loved.

Big thanks to all the bands and performers who've been in touch and have offered up kind words--we're just calling things as we hear them! We look forward to hearing what's next from you and many others in the new year! - Beat Blvd, Heard Mentality Blog

Some bands just ride vans; Huntington Beach psych rock duo Roosterhead recently painted their Astro van all sorts of fluorescent colors (to match their instruments). Then they gave it its own webpage, www.roosterheadmusic.com/van.

It's in keeping with their odd aesthetic; as we said in a story last year, "their humorous, atonal punk fury collides with glow-in-the-dark paint and quirky, handmade instruments...the band are ... spreading their sonic cock-a-doodle clusterfuck to audiences countywide."

"The idea is that if people see the van somewhere, they can go to the webpage and let us know where they saw it, and then we can send them free song downloads, photos, and other cool stuff just for getting involved," Luke Johnson, half of Roosterhead, said.

Johnson adds, "We've already gotten a lot of great reactions from people when we've cruised around in it the last couple days...it has a way of putting smiles on everyone's faces. And they wonder if we plan on selling ice cream in it, too, haha."

People can see the flourescent van 9 p.m. tonight at Roosterhead's Cinco de Mayo show at the Blue Cafe (217 Pine Ave., (562) 436-3600) in Long Beach. The band will also take it to their summer shows at the OC Fair and San Diego County Fair, and all through OC and LA during their summer busking tour. - Heard Mentality Blog

The Lab in this case being the studio setup that Huntington Beach's favorite Midwest transplants recorded this at--but they really should do a show at the Lab in Costa Mesa one day, it'd be a blast. In any event, Roosterhead recorded this free half-hour effort in front of a crowd of fans as a live-in-studio effort in the vein of The Beach Boys Party!, and if they had thrown in a cover of "Barbara Ann" it would have only been appropriate. (Though drummer Luke Johnson's brief story about how a previous live album attempt inadvertantly ended up like the end of the Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" adds another angle.) With only two songs reappearing from previous releases -- their most recent single "Yo (What's Up)" and their debut EP's "Cosmic Shipwreck" -- Live from the Lab is a handy way for the duo to showcase what could be coming next from them formally while otherwise just kicking up some noise for the heck of it. The partway-to-80s-hip-hop moves of "Yo (What's Up)" turn out to be a bit of signpost, given the beats and back-and-forths on "Vertigo Williams" and other songs, but it's not the only thing at work -- not when "Cosmic Shipwreck" gets a full on extended jam workout of an ending.

The giddy freneticism that was evident from the start, whether in the stage show or the studio recordings, is far from absent as, with "Graffiti Finger" kicking along at a quick, enjoyably ridiculous clip while still including space for a couple of slower jams along the way, while "The Funambulist" tells the story of a tightrope walker meeting the ground in the wrong way -- admittedly, is there a right one? About the only thing to criticize is the sometimes curious mix but then again, isn't that the point of most live recordings? Better that than endless overdubs. - OC Weekly

Skope: How did you react when you knew you are now A2W selected on Skope?

Luke: I thought it was really cool that Skope was featuring a new band like us.

Skope: What are you currently promoting the most via an album, tour, single etc?

Shawn: We recently released a new single, “Yo (What’s Up?).” It’s a fun, offbeat punk/hip-hop hybrid that’s a perfect introduction to all things Roosterhead. You can listen to it for free on our website, www.roosterheadmusic.com.

Skope: How important is the support of your friends & family to your music?

Shawn: We count on friends and family to give us an outside perspective on our music since sometimes it’s tough for us as artists to back up and appreciate it objectively. We’ve also been lucky enough to meet an array of talented local musicians who we can count on to challenge us, inspire us, and basically give us a home, musically.

Luke: My dad is a country musician; he taught me guitar and bass growing up and made sure that music was a big part of our household. My mom gave me all her Moody Blues and Kinks records to listen to when I was a kid, and I’m still grateful for that. They both give me lots of feedback about our music. My wife writes sci-fi movies and understands our creative drive, and is also Roosterhead’s public relations manager, so she gives us so many good ideas.

Skope: How does your music reflect your personality & your real life?

Luke: Our music is sort of like looking at our lives through a nkaleidoscope: there are some true stories in there, but we try to reveal them in interesting ways. What’s more important to us, though, is what people get out of our music—we’re all about self-expression, originality and fearlessness, so we hope that message comes through. We want our music to inspire people to be as weird as they want to be.

Skope: Do you work day jobs and if so how do you balance?

Shawn: Luke works as a failure analysis metallurgist and at the moment I’m working at a cubicle sorting mail. We live together in an old house built in the 1950's—dubbed Studio Las Dakotas after our home state of South Dakota—which gives us a lot of flexibility with our schedules. It’s also easier to balance things as a two-person band.

Skope: What is coming up for you & where you at online?

Luke: We’re trying to play more unusual shows this spring (like a big outdoor music-and-fried-chicken show with a few other chicken-themed bands), and we’ll also be playing a “busking tour” around OC and LA this summer. In the meantime, we plan to start looking for label support so we can do even bigger things. You can also expect to see many more odd-looking instruments popping up at our shows in the next few months. Join our mailing list at www.roosterheadmusic.com, but also check out www.facebook.com/roosterheadmusic to stay informed about all the cool stuff we’ll be up to soon! - Skope Magazine

..The next band up was called "Roosterhead". Quite the surprise to see a two piece band on stage: just a guitarist and drummer. Comparable to the two previous bands which each had 6 and 7 members. they started almost right away with eye catching instruments and equipment all covered in U.V. paint and well even the members had uv paint on them.

The lead guitarist was dorned with goat horns and a brightly colored guitar that broke the silence in the bar with a punk song that you would hear in the 80's and early 90's, like sex pistols, ramones, exploited, total choas. As the set went on, their sound would twist like double helix spinning your mind around itself and recollect just to be twisted again. At times I would say that "Roosterhead" sounded more like "Butthole Surfers", and even like "Nine Inch Nails" the "Downward Spiral" album.

Spite the lack of members their music filled the room and intrigued the audience. To help fill in the gaps of audio the guitarist would use his pedals to replay previously rcoreded audio clips of distortion or guitar riffs and pick up the bass guitar which would then make them sound like a full peice band.

By the end of their set, I felt as if I had been sent on a adventure of our imagination to find the wildest and deepest of deires and mystery.. - Big Smile Magazine

Since the band has moved out here to California they have decide to sever musical ties to South Dakota and create Roosterhead. At the battle of the bands I had a chance to speak to these gents for a brief amount of time outside of the noisy venue.

First I started off with “why a two piece band?” Shawn replied; “we tried finding other people to join and it just ended up the two of us, which seems to be working out very well.” Since them starting Roosterhead and living in So Cal they have managed to already have played 17 shows within 2010 and have many more on the way. While I was speaking with them I mentioned how they remind me of butt hole surfers and nine inch nails. Shawn replied with a light chuckle and “wow that’s awesome!” Which lead me to ask “what are you influences?” Both Shawn and Luke started to list multiple bands. “The Beatles, Tom Waits, the Beastie Boys, the Minutemen, Sonic Youth, the Flaming lips, Cake, old punk, and lots of 80’s”.

I asked what type of bands do you mostly play with considering that its hard to find bands that match your style exactly. Shawn replied, “Mostly punk, we really enjoy playing with them.” I asked have you tried booking with bands that do sound like you; they replied “yea but we do just fine playing with punk bands.” At this point they had to finish loading their gear into the car

I had a blast talking with these guys very humble and knowledgeable of what style they want and sound they want to generate which is the key to success in some sort in the music industry. I would recommend if you ever get a chance to talk to them you wont be disappointed and if even get a chance to see them live do it. - Big Smile Magazine

Roosterhead made their local splash last year via shows and their debut EP, so it's good to see the Huntington Beach duo kick start the new year with a stand-alone single, available this week via iTunes and Amazon. "Yo (What's Up?)" is a perfect title for a song from Shawn Her Many Horses and Luke Johnson. They've become as well-known for their day-glo-driven live shows as their music, so having a phrase that seems tailor-made for an MTV show from 1988 couldn't be more appropriate.

A little more surprising is the song itself--but then the title makes even more sense in context, in that it's almost their take on first-generation "these Beastie Boys dudes are kinda cool" rock-&-roll responses to hip-hop. Almost, but not exactly--there's a definite swagger in the verses and the chunky stutter of the main riff and rhythm, with Shawn and Luke trading lines as they go. However, the breezy sing-along of the chorus is perfectly SoCal casual in a way that begs to be heard at a beach-volleyball tournament.

There's even a slowed-down classic rock stomp of a coda--not quite "Layla," say, but enough of a "wait, I didn't expect that" move that does exactly what any good performance should do: make you wonder what will be coming next. - Beat Blvd, Heard Mentality Blog

Orange County's own slice of South Dakota transplanted to the shores of Huntington Beach has been having fun with its neon day-glo ways on stage for a while, so it's nice to see that color aesthetic carrying over to the cover art of Burst Your Bubble, the duo's self-released debut EP. (In an OC Weekly interview, Roosterhead say they try to match their day-glo aesthetic to their intense songs.)
Shawn Her Many Horses and Luke Johnson are credited with so many instruments it's a wonder they don't employ each other as percussion but for all the happy over-the-top qualities in evidence there's a straight-up power-pop hook at the heart of everything. It makes the out of nowhere moments like the surf guitar breaks on "Smile!" and the rapid-fire overlapping vocals on "Graffiti Finger" all that more enjoyable. Lyrically songs like "Eat Your Bubblegum" and "Village of Idiots" call to mind Costa Mesa's late lamented Supernova, looking at pop culture with a gleeful snark but with their own individual flair--not to mention great lines like "IQ lower than a bottomless pit." - Beat Blvd, Heard Mentality Blog

Sorry, OC and LA, but real experimental musicians come from South Dakota. Just ask the guys in Roosterhead. Spontaneously emigrating from the Midwest to Huntington Beach last year, drummer Luke Johnson and guitarist Shawn Her Many Horses (a last name bestowed by his native Lakota Indian tribe) gig steadily, their two-man show finding a following at such places as Que Sera in Long Beach and the Doll Hut in Anaheim. Onstage, their humorous, atonal punk fury collides with glow-in-the-dark paint and quirky, handmade instruments. On the heels of the spring release of their Burst Your Bubble EP, the band are dedicating the summer to spreading their sonic cock-a-doodle clusterfuck to audiences countywide. Next stop: the OC Fair.

OC Weekly: What led you guys to leave South Dakota and start a band in Orange County?

Luke Johnson: I was getting out of college, and I had an aunt who lived out here for a while. I said I’d come and see if I could find a job and my own place to live and set something up for the band. [Shawn] was still going to school in South Dakota at the time.

Shawn Her Many Horses: I moved here about a year later. We found this cool [apartment] between a car dealership and a strip mall, so we can make all the noise we want.

Your songs have a mix of humor and serious musicianship. Is that inspired by the music you listen to?

Her Many Horses: We’re big fans of bands like Cake and the Flaming Lips, where [the music is] fun but it has some different musicianship to it. The hardest thing to avoid is the traditional “verse-chorus-verse-chorus” because that just doesn’t work for us, playing with two people.

Luke, you have a pretty sweet-looking ’N Sync headset microphone for vocals. Where did you find that?

Her Many Horses: It’s actually a Back Street Boys mic.

Johnson: [My parents] got me that mic for Christmas the year I moved out here. Before that, I had a mic on a stand, and I was always knocking it around with my hand. I needed something that would be closer to my face. Now I’ve painted it all crazy and hang glow sticks off it.

You also have glow-in-the-dark amps, clothes and instruments onstage. Did that look just happen randomly?

Johnson: It was sort of a reflection of our sound, really, because we try to make our songs really intense. And you never see that. Typically, you go to a show, and it’s just guys up there in their flannel.

You have a lot of multi-instrumental parts on your recordings. Are you able to pull that off live?

Johnson: We can’t get away with it as much. I have one song on which I play bass and drums. What I found actually works is when I use a vocal-effects processor. If I actually drum on my microphone, I can get all these crazy sounds. Combined with beat boxing and drumming, I can get all these weird sounds.

Her Many Horses: We do what we can, but we only have four arms.

Johnson: You have four arms? [Laughs.]

What kind of set will you put together for your gig at the OC Fair?

Her Many Horses: We don’t usually do covers, so for the OC Fair, we’re covering some different songs.

Johnson: Some of our influences and some of our contemporaries and also some of the newer music out there. But we kind of tore the songs apart and put them back together.

Do you think the fair crowd is ready for you guys?

Her Many Horses: We’ll see. They’re gettin’ us.

Johnson: I think people will be surprised. Hopefully, they still have smiles on their faces. - OC Weekly