Living Things Kick Start Their Satellite Residency!

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Living Things stormed Silverlake last night to kickstart their four week long residency with a bang, and mission accomplished.  In fact, I’m anxiously awaiting their next Monday night mayhem sesh- and I’ve made catching one of their SXSW sets a mandatory obligation!

Pre-set insanity aside, Yves Berlin Living Things’ bassist extraordinaire took the time to chat about upcoming events, releases, and an unexpected goth surf rock musical matrimony.  I say took the time but he was stuck in traffic for fifty-five hours in L.A. anyways- so mostly I was a road rage alleviant!

LN:  So you guys are kicking off your four week residency at Satellite tonight!

YB:  Yes!

LN:  When I talked to you a couple months ago I know that you were in the studio recording- plan on playing all new stuff tonight?

YB:  No- no we’re not really playing any new stuff tonight- but we did release a mixtape today!

LN:  I definitely got that memo- it is AWESOME- very cool vibe.  Plan on playing that stuff at SXSW?

YB:  Yeah- we literally finished the mixtape last night at like two in the morning.  We recorded it in Jamaica and we came home and did some overnotes at our studio in Laurel Canyon- which is where we mixed it also.

LN:  Keepin things close to home.

YB:  Yeah we started on it a few days ago and we just got caught up mixing and kind of ran out of time.  So we’ll be playing the Living Things’ standards tonight- and then next week we’ll be playing a fair share of the mixtape.  We were trying to play it- we started rehearsing last night at like three in the morning and we we’re just like f*ck it- we can’t think anymore!

LN:  Well it was past most people’s bedtimes.  Have to say I’m pretty addicted to “post-mortem bliss!”  And I have to ask you- what’s up with the title of the mixtape?!

YB:  Haha, It’s Malocchio and it’s Italian- it’s the word that means “to ward off the evil eye.”

LN:  Well it definitely has a totally different feel & sound from “Habeas Corpus!”

YB:  Yes…that was the point!  This is just the mixtape though- not the record.  That will come out in July!  But as we were recording the new record we totally went off on this tangent of psychadelic, ambient, reggae kind of feel- and we just kept coming back to it.  So over Christmas we were trying to figure out what to do with these songs!

LN:  Merry Christmas to us indeed.

YB:  So we all wanted to take a vacation so we headed to Jamaica and did some recording and we just said we’ll see what comes of it!  So we got to cut most of it there and then we came back home and did the rest at our studio in L.A.- until last night!

 

LN:  Any ideas for a single yet for the upcoming July release?

YB:  Yeah, we actually have everything recorded already- not quite sure what the next single will be just yet, but the next record definitely has more of a mixtape feel.

LN:  That’s great, it has such a great style & sound- something I haven’t heard for a while actually!

YB:  The last two records we were sort of into Neil Young meets Bob Marley meets Sun Ra meets ambient freak out!  So that’s what we’ve been in to- so we’ve kind of been pushing away some of the more distorted rock sounds- I don’t know why.  It just kind of didn’t come together.

LN:  Change is always welcome.

YB:  Yeah!  We felt like this was a new decade, a new era for the band and this would be a great way to kick it off- with a completely different sounding mixtape!

LN:  AND- you guys are giving it away for FREE!  How does it get any better?!

YB:  Yeah, AND we decided to give it away for free!  Yeah we definitely wanted to do something different than a normal EP- so we wanted to do something with a couple more songs than an EP would have, and do something where all the songs kind of flow together.

 

LN:  So what’s YOUR fave track off the mixtape Yves?

YB:  My fave track would probably be “pollen path,” the first song.

LN:  Well you guys did a great job- every track kind of bleeds into the next!

YB:  This is all kind of new- I mean we literally finished making it less than 24 hours ago!  So it’s hot off the press- I don’t even think I’ve completely digested what we’ve done!  So I’m going to have to listen to it a few more times to even understand wtf we just did!   The time just felt right to release something fresh- AND, today’s date are my three lucky numbers three, seven, and eleven!

LN:  How convenient!

 

LN:  Let’s talk SXSW since it’s pretty much all I can think about…showcases?

YB:  Saturday night we’re playing our official show at Rusty Spurs, playing a party on Thursday afternoon, and then a house party after hours thing on Friday at some warehouse.

LN:  Definitely making it out to some of those!

 

LN:  So back to the residency kick-off tonight, any pre-show vices or rituals?

YB:  We all drink a bottle of wine- so all four of us have completely finished off the red wine stock.  Francis Ford Coppola Pinot Noir is the drug of choice!

 

LN:  Closing remarks?

YB:  Download the mixtape, come see us at Satellite!

LN:  Yeah, better download it now so you can sing along!  See you next Monday!

 

Needless to say the four dudes serenaded Silverlake by interrupting the eerie peace with a little grunge rock sesh- with hits like Mercedes Marxist that is no stranger to my CD player on most Mondays!  To stay updated on the dudes’ upcoming release head HERE! And…because we all need to update our itunes with some severely needed new songs be sure to download Malocchio while you don’t have to make a monetary investment for the listening privilege.  Get hooked up care/of Living Things HERE!!!