The Black apples have been getting a lot of buzz lately- I’ve heard their name brought up in several Silverlake venues, before SXSW, and when I saw them on the lineup for the Silverlake Jubilee I knew I needed to catch their set!  Especially after listening to “winter is new” for the majority of my week.

Their western modeled retro rock has a very soothing jammable vibe- the perfect soundtrack to have in the background 24/7 that gives the listener more than a little reason to get lost in thought, and transit, if you’re listening to it in the car.

Pre Sunset Jubilee the guys invited me over to their place and we got to hang out and talk about their music, and the upcoming weekend fest a little!

Lauren Novik:  Alright first and foremost- where’d you get the name from?

The Black Apples:  It’s kinda funny because George Harrison’s playing right now.  I was in a George Harrison tribute band called The Apple Scruffs and we just enjoyed apples- I don’t know.

LN:  alright, just kind of flowed together.

 

LN:  Main musical influences?

TBA:  The Beatles, Motown, Beach Boys

 

LN:  Silverlake Jubilee is kicking off tomorrow!  Who are you guys amped to see live (aside from yourselves!)

TBA:  Dante vs. Zombies- they play right before us.  Who else is playing!?

LN:  Bunch of great bands- twilight sleep!

TBA:  Yeah I like that guy!  Origami Vinyl knows how to pick ‘em!

 

LN:  Now you guys played the Jubilee last year too- any advice to the newbies, myself included!)

TBA:  Have a safe way to get home- cause there’s a beer garden, and great food trucks- you’re going to want to stay the whole time!

 

LN:  Craziest show/tour story to date?

TBA:  Well we went down and played in Tijuana…

LN:  Anything that starts with that has got to be good.

TBA:  We actually never even played the show!  We ended up going down to Tijuana and this guy that booked it was like let’s go down and see a little bit of the town first and were all like yeah!  So we go out and, it’s Tijuana- so we get back and we decided to do just one big jam session with both the bands instead of just like a regular band set.  We just all ended up banging on a bunch of things- that was pretty much the craziest.

LN:  Nice!  When you said Tijuana I’m not going to lie- I was expecting some sort of tequila debacle!

TBA:  Oh yeah!  The details may be a little…

LN:  Rated R?

TBA:  Well definitely R rated- but also may be a little hazy.  We ended up driving home at like 5 in the morning.  Well- I didn’t drive, but you know.

LN:  Hope you guys designated someone the driver!

TBA:  No we didn’t, we had this guy called “Iron Driver”- he’ll know who he is if he reads this!

 

LN:  Fave venue to play in L.A.?

TBA:  The Echo FOR SURE!

 

LN:  Fave L.A. summer fest?

TBA:  The Jubilee!

 

LN:  Any pre-show vices or rituals?

TBA:  Alcohol!  No- the last show we played we all just kind of sat in the dressing room and started jamming- I’d like to make that a new ritual!

LN:  Sounds like a damn good one to me!

The Black Apples – Diggin Dirt by INDIGENOUSPromotions

If you happened to miss these guys at the Silverlake Jubilee you’ve got to check them out (particularly “winter is new, which I apparently can’t seem to stop listening to!)  You can check The Black Apples out here and when you see their playing somewhere in your vicinity grab your essentials and get to stepping- you’ve got to see them live!