Sons of Hippies

Described as psych-space rockers, and more memorably as: ‘The Bangles on acid’, Sons of Hippies explore retro musical influences with colorful imagery and gothic moods. Their imposing wall of sound is interwoven with ominous poetic lyrics with frequently impenetrable meanings.

The band’s name is slightly misleading as female vocalist Katherine Kelly is the focal point. Much like her lyrics and co-song writer Jonas Canales’s musical input, the name is more about a feeling than anything literal. The album title juxtaposes the contrasting elements of danger and paradise and uses the same sort of literary device that lies at the heart of most of her lyrics.

The music is a mélange of psychedelic rock and surf pop, while their videos extend their imagery into the realms of the garish. It’s music with a compulsive poppy undertow in which brooding moods are intertwined with swooping phrases, majestic drones and subtly mixed vocals. The words are an integral part of the music as much as signifier of meaning.

For a band that started out as a Florida based duo, Sons Of Hippies have taken a big step forward as a powerful trio with an album that that was recorded in their native Florida, mixed 3000 miles away in Seattle and finally mastered in Abbey Road, in London.

Perhaps a less obvious but significant influence is Jesus & The Mary Chain, who someone once said sounded as if they were recorded underwater. Sons of Hippies rely on a similar layered and mixed back sound which is probably just as important as the songs themselves.

At times they strive for the same musical impact as Arcade Fire but without the emotional pull, as ‘Griffons At The Gates Of Heaven’ has more of a suggestive feel. The lyrics are an integral part of harmony drenched sounds that spark the listener’s imagination rather than leads them to a meaningful source.

‘Mirrorball’ is the perfect example of this conceit. The music sounds deep, brooding and intense. It has a vocal collage embedded with a Patti Smith style rap and ethereal bv’s as part of a layered sound that climaxes in a single penetrating synth line.

This is the kind of album that invites the listener to immerse themselves in the moment, rather than analyze it. Importantly it has the musical impact and memorable turns of phrase to draw us in. Sons of Hippies update psychedelic pop and transform it into something both palatable and memorable.

They incorporate guest musician Billy Sherwood’s brooding mellotron into a soaring vocal duet on ‘Spaceship Ride’, while ‘Man Or Moon’ mixes catchy pop rock with a guitar driven space rock crescendo. The middle part of the songs has a beautiful poetic couplet which is curiously missing from the CD booklet’s inlay, but it fits the uplifting music perfectly: ‘Everybody’s reeling, everybody’s choking everybody’s waiting, for the man to jump form moon on to the shoulders of impending doom’

The music shifts from an Amon Duul11, Kraut rock feel on ‘Forward’ to the pop sensibility of ‘Magnets’, complete with the catchy ‘I want to be in love’ refrain that carries the song to its close. Katherine Kelly engaging vocal matches her lyrical intensity: ‘When you said that there was no other way, we would be inseparable from the moment we met – you bet I believed it’.

She’s like a quirky Bjork on the guitar avalanche of ‘Man Or Moon’, an exclamatory Lene Lovitch on ‘Minute x Minute’ and indulges in a Patti Smith rap on ‘Animal Battle’. But in keeping with the album as a whole, she changes again, sounding like Kate Bush on the breathy ‘Magnets’ and the over deliberate phrasing of the very catchy ‘Cautionary Tales’. The latter could well provide the band with real commercial success.

The trio rarely stay in one mood long enough to be pigeon holed, so while ‘Dark Daisies’ is a ponderous drone led psychedelic piece with state of consciousness lyrics, it’s followed by the poppy 3 minute single ‘Rose’ and the equally radio friendly ‘Man Or Moon’.

The bass heavy ‘Blood In The Water’ is the kind of big production number that probably justified the three geographical locations involved in the album’s making. For ‘Griffons A the Gates of Heaven sounds much bigger and denser than you would expect from a basic trio line-up.

You could argue that it’s an album that aims to nail Katherine Kelly’s cinematic vision and feel, but either way, ‘Griffons At The Gates Of Heaven’ looks a good bet to make a significant splash. ****
- Get Ready To Rock UK

Post-psychedelia's modern mouthpiece trip the light fantastic.

Let's get something straight. I've got no time for that neo-psychedelic rock wave which keeps coming. Except that this third album from Tampa Bay trip Sons of Hippies is pretty darn good. Mastered at Abby Road, you can hear its long journey from Kyuss via The Queens of the Stone Age, passing contemporaries like the Blonde Redheads and Silversun Pick Ups along the way It has that experimental esge but the sound is rawer and more electric. Finding a balance between Katherine Kelly's off-kilter voice, David Daly's hypnotic bass and complex percussion from Jonas Canales, the songs meander between playful and moody, with first single 'Spaceship Ride' and 'Minute x Minute' clear highlights. Psychedelia just got motherfucking sexy. - Vive le Rock

By Mike Wilkerson

MW: Please introduce yourself?
KK: I’m Katherine from Sons of Hippies. It is a pleasure to meet you, please drink this Kool-aid.
MW: How did the name Sons Of Hippies come about?
KK: Jonas and I were at a music festival in Tennessee talking about all kinds of things: music, faux finishing, how to barter a pack mule for a milk sheep. When it came up that his father once made a living as a young man wandering through the Andes selling his art and jewelry. Incidentally my mother went to art school in Mexico and dropped out to drive a VW bus to Woodstock. True stories. So we drew conclusions from there.
MW: How long has Sons Of Hippies been around?
KK: Jonas and I started the band in 2008 as a two-piece and its current incarnation with David Daly on bass and synth has been since December of 2011.
MW: How would you describe the sound of Sons Of Hippies?
KK: We’re a rock band, there’s really no doubt about that, and there are space and psych influences throughout. Gene, our dealer, likes to tell people we’re The Bangles on acid.
MW: How did Sons Of Hippies get involved with Tom Klimchuck of Pro-Pain?
KK: I met Tom a long time ago in 2007 when I was in a different band. The drummer of that band contacted Tom to record a demo for us and I had an instant connection with him. He’s a wise and super balanced person.
MW: What has Tom Klimchuck done for Sons Of Hippies?
He has recorded all of the material to date that we have released independently and through Cleopatra. He also mixed and mastered everything but our current release on Cleo (Griffons at the Gates of Heaven). In addition to that he’s been a constant mentor and guide to us musically and personally.
MW: Please tell me about the following?
KK: Warriors of the Light – Our first release. It’s my favorite album. The songs are so pure and innocent and free of expectation. There’s a track on this album of rare birds in the Amazon freaking out and having a good time called “Ornithologicus Orgicus” – “Birds F*cking”.
Invisible Personalities – This EP was never officially released because we did not have Tom available (he was on tour) to record it and attempted to do it ourselves. The result was a poor-quality representation of our material. Not horrible by any means but sub-par and we decided against releasing it. Our second single from Griffons, “Rose,” first appeared on this album in a completely different incarnation.
A-Morph – Our most polished and over-produced album. We wrote this album with the hope of scoring a hit on the radio. That was the mind set we were in at the time and it resulted in a collection of slightly forced material that was way too pop oriented.
Fade To White – The last EP we released before signing with Cleo. It’s a space rock concept album comprised of five songs that plays for roughly 18 minutes with no track breaks. There’s a lot of synth intro/outro and Kaos pad doom apocalypse shit. The B-side on our “Spaceship Ride” 7? – Mirrorball – originally appeared on this album as a song called, “Somnambulist.” which means sleep walker. The song is about turning into a vampire. Folks at the label thought it was too hard to pronounce and suggested we change it to Mirrorball, a lyric throughout the song.
MW: Tell me about the new Sons Of Hippies release Griffons at the Gates of Heaven?
KK: We’re very proud of this album and see it as a culmination of everything we’ve produced the last five years. We recorded it in a big house in the woods in Florida and shipped it to Seattle where we went and met it and Jack Endino to mix it. Billy Sherwood from Yes plays moog and mellotron on it. It was mastered at Abby Road Studios in London.
MW: Tell me about getting signed to Cleopatra Records?
KK: It came out of nowhere and was the best thing that has ever happened to us. They’re an incredibly supportive team who encourage us to be as weird as we want. And they know how to party.
MW: What is the first video from Griffons at the Gates of Heaven?
KK: It’s called ”Spaceship Ride.”
MW: What are your plans for a tour?
KK: We just did 30 days in the mid to East US. It was awesome and ten of the dates we supported UK prog legends, Nektar. We’ll be touring the US pretty much the rest of 2013 and maybe overseas next year.
MW: If you could go on tour with any band who would it be?
KK: The Flaming Lips, Band of Skulls, Metric, Silversun Pickups, or Pixies.
MW: Will Sons Of Hippies be doing any festivals this year?
KK: We’ll know for sure soon but Pop Montreal, CBGB, CMJ, and Noisepop are all possibilities.
MW: What would you like to say in closing?
KK: If you’re lost, turn around. - Blastzone Online

On Sons of Hippies' new EP, Fade to White, the Sarasota band explores abstract themes of love, drugs and the cosmos against their seething brand of psyche-electro rock. Singer/guitarist Katherine Kelly purrs the first few verses of opening track "Dark Daisies" before her voice rises in an echoing cry -- "We get highhhhhhhhhh!!!!" — and unleashes the song's fuzzed-out riffs and thundering rhythmic foundation. Kelly's femme-sneering soprano cuts through Fade to White's hazy electro-rockin' distortion with mesmeric melodic clarity, her acid-dropping streams-of-consciousness carried on the muscular drumming of Jonas Canales, who also incorporates futuristic sounds and textures on synth. On the whole, the five-track EP manages to feel like an intense, full-length ride despite clocking in at just under 20 minutes. (Critics' rating: 4 out of 5 stars) - Leilani Polk, Creative Loafing Tampa

On Sons of Hippies' new EP, Fade to White, the Sarasota band explores abstract themes of love, drugs and the cosmos against their seething brand of psyche-electro rock. Singer/guitarist Katherine Kelly purrs the first few verses of opening track "Dark Daisies" before her voice rises in an echoing cry -- "We get highhhhhhhhhh!!!!" — and unleashes the song's fuzzed-out riffs and thundering rhythmic foundation. Kelly's femme-sneering soprano cuts through Fade to White's hazy electro-rockin' distortion with mesmeric melodic clarity, her acid-dropping streams-of-consciousness carried on the muscular drumming of Jonas Canales, who also incorporates futuristic sounds and textures on synth. On the whole, the five-track EP manages to feel like an intense, full-length ride despite clocking in at just under 20 minutes. (Critics' rating: 4 out of 5 stars) - Creative Loafing Tampa

A little over a year ago, drummer/vocalist Jonas Canales and guitarist/singer Katherine Kelly of Tampa-area Sons of Hippies had just completed their first album, Warriors of the Light, a debut that earned all kinds of praise from critics around the Bay (including me). Warriors of the Light was a courageous album, a product of young artists baring their souls, daring to display nakedness and idealism to a world unaccustomed to the exhibit. Even that album cover – and SoH freely acknowledges the importance of cover art to the appreciation of rock – demonstrated their two-headed nature as if it wasn’t clear enough on record: the two principals faced in opposite directions, fused together at the back of their heads, unable to connect with each other – at least not visually. The music on Warriors was endearingly bi-polar as well, the seams between Kelly’s contributions and those of Canales left largely unmasked.

Their latest album, A-morph, is a conceptual work about transformation of the kind that comes reconciling seemingly disparate lyrical and musical elements – primarily the abstract vs. the pointedly political (a duality that lies at the core of the group’s aesthetic sound), but also between private lives vs. the public world of a rock band as well as the balance between the twin pursuits (not always mutually exclusive) of art and commerce, is a rich and rewarding album. Much the White Stripes (another duo), SoH has always been a band defined by – and perhaps striving to transcend – dichotomies of various sorts: male and female, black and white, peace and anger. And even in their music, much like forebears Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Pixies, even Zeppelin, contrasting sections of loud and soft, ethereal and overpowering often play themselves out. Rather than subverting contradictions, SoH embraces them; it bravely sticks out the battle. The word “brave” is fitting; on recordings, Kelly’s singing always sounds larger than life, towering way above her diminutive frame. The recent work is much more fluid and comfortable, and the MicroKorg riffs are largely absent, as SoH manipulates contrasting lyrical and musical elements without self-consciousness seeping through, as though Kelly and Canales are no longer afraid out of sheer politeness to shape each other’s contributions, which can often happen in a band with more than one songwriter.

Nothing’s tentative on A-morph. Paranoia and murder run rampant on the album’s first half. Bullets fly, as do short, punchy riffs, and sections sound frantically pasted together into prog-rock songs. In “Jab Away”, sides are chosen right off the bat; it’s Washington bad-boys and “secret sons” pulling rabbits out of hats pitted against “Andalusians” who can only “shake their heads” in disbelief. Kelly sings, “It’s a really bad time to be faithless/ It’s a really bad time to be faceless and alone,” and in “No. 16” Canales sing-shouts, “Money for sale! Come and get it, people!” The three-minute song-length barrier isn’t broken until “We Will Live Again” whose chorus (“I’m sorry that I pulled this world for so long”) pulls away from the self-deception characterizing much of A-morph’s first half. “Man or Moon” – along with “Maybe Today” and “Ladyhawk” a strong candidate for radio-friendly single-hood – best illustrates Kelly’s uncanny knack for pairing abstraction and political urgency, further driven home by the urgency of her vocals and Canales’ pounding. It recalls how she urged us to “See Bright Red” in last year’s “Spaceship Ride,” a miniature, filigreed fist pumping into the air. Here, Kelly pronounces, “Heat in the summer/bright in the stream of eternal things/ are you ready to get in the ring?” “Man” and “moon,” “real” and “reaction”: these dichotomies seem perfectly in keeping with SoH’s aesthetic of cohesive two-headedness.

Perhaps the album’s only weak moment, “Dunes” is a waltz that poses a riddle and interjects more conversational language (“Now here’s a riddle to figure out: which way is forward, which way is down? … Honey, it ain’t about the money…”). “Dunes” comes off as an interlude, a passage into the second half of A-morph, which is formidable and thematic. “Maybe Today” is tripping your ass off at a huge outdoor festival (“The colors are changing, I can feel the love running through my veins/ a free ride into your heart – what a big surprise/ when you catalogued every light and firefly”). Here, Kelly’s nuanced voice – she’s capable of making the word “catalogue” sound perfectly erotic – is at its most unabashedly romantic and physical. “Ladyhawk” is a call to arms for robotic, “weekend sorcerers,” “life-like, with motors inside,” complete with an epic, arena-worthy chorus (“Do you see us cut like a talon, fly like a falcon, bite like a snake?”). Wetter, somewhat drowsy musical textures (accomplished in production through the greater use of reverb and echo) in the album’s second half are musically analogous to the greater confidence and strength of the lyric - Michael Hamad, Creative Loafing

Hippie Offspring: Katherine Kelly, lead vocals, guitars, and keyboards; and Jonas Canales, percussion, synthesizers, and vocals. The Sarasota band's sound is a nice combination of '70s authenticity, '80s weirdness and modern-day eclecticism. Earthy beats bring you down to earth, while soaring guitars and synths take you elsewhere. Kelly mesmerizes crowds with that certain smoky, slightly spooky sexiness of Patti Smith and other female singers who can pull off strength and mystery without excess.
Bonding moments: "Attending Bonnaroo '08 together, dressing up in each other's clothes and drinking each other under the table," Kelly said.
What's (not) in a name: "Jonas' first language is Portuguese," Kelly said. "His second is Spanish. In both of these languages, there is not a direct word for 'children'; one simply uses the plural form of the word 'son,' keeping the masculine-gendered noun. From the very beginning, Jonas would call us 'sons of hippies' instead of 'children of hippies' because of this language issue. I always found it endearing. The name hasn't brought incorrect assumptions about the sound yet, primarily because most people comprehend that the name is suggestive of a state of mind rather than a musical style."
Good and bad: Kelly loves moody artists like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Kate Bush. "I've also gotten comparisons to Grace Slick and Kristen Hersh" of Throwing Muses. Who doesn't she like? "I am annoyed by any singer, male or female, without integrity, vision, and heart."
Hear them: Sunday at 5pm and the Skipper's Smokehouse 28th anniversary celebration. - Tampa Bay Times

Mention the name Sons of Hippies around the Tampa Bay music scene, and you’ll get some positive reactions. Almost invariably someone will say, “Great band, horrible name.”

Funny enough, Sons of Hippies — which features singer-guitarist Katherine Kelly, drummer Jonas Canales and bassist Michael Mok — doesn’t sound like hippies at all.

That’s not to say the name isn’t apt. There’s something spry and rebellious about the trio from Sarasota. They might not be skipping through daisies, but they delight in tripping up expectations. Their sound is rock but experimental; psychedelic but modern; electric but raw; sexy but innocent.

The band formed two years ago after Kelly left the short-but-sweet-lived Nous Rapport. Canales was in a band called Third Society and had like-minded ideas about forming a new band. They would create their own spectral, otherworldly style using effects and electric guitar, taking some of the best elements of classic rock and experimental and fusing them together.

Kelly and Canales hit it off as a duo. They were invited to play WMNF-88.5 tribute shows, appear on a Bay Area Arts and Music Organization compilation (Tales of Lust and Longing) and record a critically acclaimed CD, Warriors of the Light. They’re also slated to play this year’s Tropical Heatwave festival in May.

“Sons of Hippies started as a collaboration,” she said. “Its members strive to influence each other to be better, do more, play more instruments. We’re a trio, and there’s a lot of ground to cover for only three people. There’s no room for spotlights.”

Kelly may not be one to diva it up, but she’s a fierce frontwoman in her own right, emoting with an off-kilter style that recalls Patti Smith, Grace Slick, Siouxsie Sioux and Kristen Hersh. She moves winsomely like a marionette to each note while grinding out riffs with androgynous rock machismo.

Another star of the show shines among SoH’s massive array of gadgets and gizmos. Canales blends in sounds with synths while Kelly drenches her guitar in reverb, wah-wah and delay. It’s a lot to handle on stage, but Kelly says she’s getting the hang of it, along with overcoming her own stage fright — almost.

“At first I thought it was the amount of work I have to do live with these songs that made me nervous — singing, switching pedals, running loops, playing guitar and keys at the same time, etc. But now, nearly two years later, I’ve grown accustomed to the regimen, and I still can’t open my eyes before a crowd for long periods of time. The meaningfulness of this band is a bit overwhelming for me, but I’ve found that dancing and feeling the space around me helps a bit. And there’s nothing that kills nervousness better than the energy of a crowd that knows you and your songs and sings them back to you.” - Tampa Bay Times Ultimate Band Guide 2010

BEST NOUS VENTURE
Earlier this year, former Nous Rapport frontwoman Kelly joined forces with percussionist Jonas Canales for a break from the crunchy, alt-garage aesthetic. The results are psychedelic bluster-in-progress, a mash-up of atmospheric guitar and synth: Check out the shoegazey, new-wave pop dream of "Suntan." Kelly's wry lyrical prowess and half-spoken, half-sung vocals remain front and center, but the Sons mark an organic throwback of an altogether different rock breed. - Creative Loafing Best of the Suncoast 2008

...Bookending the show was Sarasota band Sons of Hippies with a set full of percussive, psychedelic rock from their 2009 album, Warriors of the Light. Frontwoman Katherine Kelly tripled her duties with vocals, guitar and keys, occasionally hunched over and wielding her instrument in a sort of possessed square dance. It was precisely that kind of reckless abandon that egged the crowd on for 45 minutes. Drummer/vocalist Jonas Canales and bassist Mike Mok fed off Kelly’s confidence and provided just enough gusto to support her abstract words.

The energy reached a fever pitch when the trio debuted two new songs from their next album, due out in August, kicking up the rhythm and incorporating Mok on background vocals, and generally amping up the intensity to great dynamic effect. Sons of Hippies provided a rousing end to an evening of diverse music that, overall, would make any local music fan proud. - Matthew Spencer, Creative Loafing - Tampa Bay

I've always been a big fan of evocative, poetic singer/guitarist Katherine Kelly, and I've always cringed when anybody mentioned the name of her band-ish collaboration with Multi-instrumentalist Jonas Canales - for me, it conjures the sort of stereotypical drum circle cliches that would hamper the duo's chances for exposure to the hip, smart crowd they deserve... Kelly and Canales run Patti Smith and Kate Bush-isms through the prism of post-modern styles to arrive at something equal parts shoegaze, broken New Wave, experimental pop and catchy modern rock. This is what art-rock should be like, bold and chance-taking without sacrificing catchiness or emotional heft. Songs like "Spaceship Ride" and "Whatever We Spend" are raw and boisterous, but also immaculately layered exercises in sound manipulation. No drum circles here - Warriors of the Light is a thoroughly contemporary, and thoroughly satisfying, slice of original electric music. - Colin Kincaid, Music Critic, REAX Magazine

3/10/2009
HOW THEY GOT STARTED:
KK: It’s coming on a year, actually, in April, and he was really into like, “Let’s jam,” you know, “I get this vibe from you, we should really get together,” and I didn’t have time at all, and I was trying to promote my band [Nous Rapport], and all of a sudden when my band collapsed I had this sort-of small catalogue of solo material that I was really digging, and I was like, “I guess this is what I’m going to do now.” So I contacted him… I was in Boston at the time… the day I was thinking about it I thought, “I guess I’ll write to this guy Jonas,” and I checked my Myspace and there was this huge letter that he had written to me the same day, and it was so cool… so I thought, “this is a sign.” We started playing at my mom’s house for maybe a month-and-a-half? We played my material.

JC: Prior to that, though, there was an interesting point that I was recording with Third Society and at the first day we were recording, at the end of the day, I was looking for something to do and she was playing at Pastimes, her solo project. I went to see her and I just dug it so much, I was like “Dude, it’s amazing,” because for some reason when you played for Nous Rapport your vocals were like “ding” [high-pitched sound] and I’m like, “Dude, I dig that, I need those vocals,” you know what I’m saying? And that’s why I was always offering, “let’s jam.” I went to see her with her solo project and I was like, “that’s it, I dig it.” So then I sent the letter, and I went to see her again, right, at St. Pete? [Yeah] So I went to see two of her shows and I’m like “Dude,” I was creating so many drum beats for the songs already, so then we decided, “Let’s do it.”

KK: So then we got together doing my material… It was always a little funny putting drums to my stuff with the exception of maybe a few songs, probably because they’re totally just folk songs, you know? They maybe were able to be developed? He went out and bought a MicroKorg synthesizer, and the first day we wrote “Suntan,” which was the first song I’d ever written with someone else, and it was like, “What?” All of a sudden it was a band, and it was so cool because from then on it was like... The last solo song I wrote was “Cautionary Tale,’ which is the bonus track [on Warriors of the Light], and that’s why we included it because it’s sort of like the missing link.

JC: That’s the very first song, you know what I mean? This album is actually… it shows… it’s the story of our evolution up to this point because the songs are all in order, like they’ll go …

KK: There’s like two halves, there’s two eras… “Suntan,” “Get Down,” “Given,” and “Don’t Forget,” the ones we had on our initial demo, and then the other four are newer.

JC: So it represents chapters.

KK: It’s not in chronological order but it’s all there.

RECORDING THE ALBUM “WARRIORS OF THE LIGHT”:
KK: We recorded it in North Port with our friend Tom Klimchuck who is the guitarist in a band called Pro-Pain. They’re a hardcore band from New York. I met him through Nous Rapport. He’s just a kind, amazing, generous soul who basically said… he did our demo, hastily did our demo in maybe three days, and he went on tour with his band, and when he came back we were like, “We want you to do our album and we want to pay you this time,” and all that stuff, and we gave him peanuts [and bananas], and to his credit he didn’t care. We recorded the drum tracks in one weekend in December, the first week in December. He did most of them Saturday.

JC: No click track. We decided to keep it as natural as we can to preserve the energy and the artistic intention.

KK: Basically, Tom built Jonas a drum room. It was so cool. It’s his garage, but it’s very professional, his microphones are state of the art. We were his guinea pigs. Anyway, we took the drums out and little by little over the next two full months (two full months it took, ‘cause we’re so… we can’t do music full-time yet, so we just squoze it in…sometimes more [than a couple of nights a week], sometimes less]

JC: Lots of late nights, you know? Little sleep.

KK: So then I went back and I played guitar live to his tracks, but obviously we scrapped it all, and then I overdubbed my guitars. We ran the live send through three amps at one time that were all in one room being mic’ed: the rotating speaker, my Epiphone, and his Marshall JCM 800, which is why the sound is so full because there’s three amplifiers going. And he obviously automates them to hear different ones at each time. So we did that and he put the bass down, and little by little each track we completed, obviously then vocals and some really unique instruments.

JC: Just having somebody that has twenty-plus years of experience in music and has traveled the world many times, played in front of so many people and knows music, his knowledge… it’s amazing. His ears, they’re dead-on. He can hear… the guy’s amazing. So having that…

KK - Michael Hamad, Music Critic

Best Modern-Sounding Record
Sons of Hippies
"Up from the ashes of Sarasota’s Nous Rapport came Sons of Hippies, who have carved out a gaping niche in Tampa Bay by playing hot alt-rockin’ sets at Crowbar, New World Brewery, Skipper’s Smokehouse and even St. Pete’s Emerald Bar and Star Booty. They also put out this year’s most original release, Warriors of the Light, which culls from influences ranging from MGMT to Siouxsie and the Banshees to PJ Harvey and Radiohead." - Creative Loafing - Tampa

"Sons of Hippies turned heads, with drummer Jonas Canales locking into the swing of “I Want You” and the band going manic on “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” (a sublime and unexpected choice)." Eric Snider- music critic. - Eric Snider, Music Critic, St. Pete Times

...And speaking of trippy, up next were Sons of Hippies, Sarasota's answer to this decade's tradition of male-female alt-rock duos (the White Stripes, the Ting Tings, She & Him, Matt & Kim, Mates of State). Having released their debut album, Warriors of the Light, in July, Katherine Kelly and Jonas Canales recently added a bassist, Michael Mok, to help flesh out their live sound.

Live, they're like an amalgam of everyone from Radiohead to Metric to Ours to Broken Social Scene to Veruca Salt to Guided By Voices to the Psychedelic Furs to, yes, just a little of the White Stripes. It's spacey but it rocks.

At one point, Kelly asked the audience to scream as loud as they could during a certain part in the song. The band was recording the song for a single they plan to release, and Kelly later told me she plans to mix the live version with a studio version to create one song, not unlike how the Beatles used two very different recordings to create Strawberry Fields Forever. I screamed loudly, so maybe I'll be on the single. That would be fun.

They printed 100 copies of Warriors of the Light, and I bought one. No. 96. It was well worth my $8...
- Jay Cridlin, Music Editor, TBT Soundcheck