Know Your LA Bands: Radars to the Sky Interview

BeatCrave brings you band, Radars to the Sky, as part of our Know Your LA Bands series. Yet another band from Silverlake – and one with a married couple too, you may ask? Yes, there seems to be a trend going on in this little neighborhood of LA. Is it something in the water that gives these people the urge to pick up an instrument? Or is it not a trend but a healthy bond among the residents instead?

Radars to the Sky has been around the scene for a while playing all over LA, grabbing a residency at The Echo, and even continuing to put out new music after the lead vocalist and his wife had a baby. Their sound brings you the charm of indie rock with the the Pavement like guitar rhythms but also something quite impressive with the thoughtfulness of Morrissey. Their style may be classic but sticking to the basics and adding a few honest touches here and there is what’s given them a head start.

They return to the place so many LA bands call home TONIGHT at The Echo. At 10:00pm, Radars to the Sky will be sharing the stage with fellow local band, Rademacher. So if you’re in the area and decide to go out tonight, you’ll see the intertwined talent and camaraderie lead vocalist Andrew Spitser was talking about. However, to know what he’s talking about before you see it, you’ll have to check out BeatCrave’s interview with him, here, first.

I heard that you guys named the band after realizing that a lot of your song lyrics question meanings in life or existence in general. Is this the path your songwriting has always been?

I’m not sure if I would say that that’s always the path my songwriting has followed. If anything, I’ve been trying to explore some more individualized, human stories in my lyrics lately. I’ve written more directly and more honestly (on an emotional level) than ever before in some of our most recent songs. But especially at the time the band formed, a bunch of the songs I’d written explored, at least on some level, ideas of faith (or lack thereof) or science or the search for an understanding of who we are in the great scheme of things. A lot of those songs were written in the period of time after I’d just gone through a really rough breakup and an even rougher relationship that preceded it, then quit my job and moved back in with my parents to go back to school. So I think I wasn’t really prepared to deal with my immediate surroundings, and was thinking a lot about some bigger picture things to keep myself from looking around and going, “Wow, what a loser….”

Who contributes to the lyrics? Is it an individual, dual or collective contribution?

The band’s songwriting has become much more collaborative over the last year. Seamus, in particular, has been responsible for at least the seed of four or five songs that have made it into our set. But lyrics are still pretty much me (Andrew). Kate’s helped some with her parts, but for the most part I find lyric writing to be something that has to come from one person in order to have any sort of narrative and stylistic coherence. There are certain things that I always try to do in songs and, because of that, I think the lyrics to our songs have a common thread to them. That would probably be lost if anyone else chipped in. Plus, it’s not that hard to play music that someone else has written. But I find it much easier to sing really passionately when it’s something I’ve written – there’s just a much deeper connection to what I’m saying that way.

How is having a spouse in the band?

It’s funny, people seem to get a real kick out of that fact, possibly because there are a whole bunch of bands in the local scene that have spouses (Monolators, Castledoor, Parson Redheads, etc.). For us, it has two effects — for one, it’s something that we get to do together apart from raising a kid (we have a 15-month-old). I think lots of new parents get into a rut where they start to focus exclusively on their roles as parents and don’t have/make much time for themselves as a couple. For us, the band at the very least forces us to get away from that and have something else that we share once or twice a week. On the other hand, the band dynamic isn’t much different because we’re married – at practice we’re really just bandmates for the most part.

Has having a baby changed any creative aspects for the band?

Truthfully, it’s really just made it harder to find time to write new songs. If it weren’t for Seamus really contributing a lot and us working together in practice a little bit harder it would be hard for us to keep moving forward, since I rarely get the opportunity to just sit and play, which is always where my songwriting comes from. I rarely write a song unless I’ve been sitting playing old stuff or noodling for at least an hour, and those opportunities are few and far between these days. So it’s kind of forced a change in the dynamic of the band – I am definitely not the only source of ideas anymore, almost by necessity. And that’s been an extremely positive development, I think, since some of our strongest stuff has come from the more collaborative efforts.

A lot of bands have come out of Silverlake in the past years and are still doing pretty well. What is it about this area of LA that creates such honest musicians?

There’s a real palbable sense of excitement around the scene here these days. I think that’s a function of three things — one, there’s just a lot of great music being made by a lot of very good bands here. You can go to a show somewhere on the eastside four or five nights a week and hear a band that writes really great songs. And I think that maybe that’s something that feeds itself – good music inspires others to make good music, which in turn inspires others to do so. Two, there’s a tremendous amount of support among bands in Silverlake right now – shows are often populated with large numbers of members of other bands that know, have played with, and are friends with the bands that are playing. Finally, and I don’t this can be overstated, there is an infrastructure in place to create a “scene,” for lack of a better term. The influence that local blogs, photographers, and the DJs that play local music have had has been tremendous. When you play a show here it doesn’t feel like you’re doing so in a vacuum – there’s a context, a broader narrative that’s being constructed, and, again, that makes it so much easier to create music when there are others helping create interest and operating as conduits to the people that you’re trying to reach. Without people like Joe at Radio Free Silverlake, for example, paying attention to us when we started, I don’t know that our band would have made it much past the practice space.

How does your music sound like that Flaubert quote you posted on your MySpace?

I love that quote, though in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit somewhat embarrassingly that I’ve never made it all the way through Madame Bovary. In any event, I don’t know that we sound like that quote per se, but i think the sentiment nails us exactly right — I recognize full well that nobody in our band is the most accurate singer nor the most technically skilled musician, nor maybe even the most dynamic natural performer. We don’t have really expensive gear, and we sometimes have technical difficulties. We’re just tapping these crude rhythms on our cracked kettles the best we can. But I think that what people have reacted to in our music, perhaps, is the honesty of it and the sincere attempt to do something beautiful despite those failings – the attempt itself to “make music that will melt the stars,” as he says, is, I think, its own kind of beauty.

You’ve played all over LA and also had residencies. Where have you gotten the best reception from music fans so far?

One of our immediate goals is to start branching out — we’d like to get down to San Diego, we’re going to play in Long Beach later this year, we’re planning a trip up north. But home base for us has been right here in Silverlake. The residency nights at The Echo, in particular, were really special; it really felt like we belonged here.

Has the LA music scene improved in the last 5 years? If so, how? If not, what could be changed for the better?

Again, I can’t really speak authoritatively on that. I had bands for a bunch of years, but they never went anywhere; we never really cracked into any scene. But I do get the sense that this is a unique moment, not only here in L.A., but in general, to have so many really good bands playing together, supporting each other, and feeding off of and helping with each other’s successes. I get the distinct feeling that is the exception rather than the rule.

Who are the local bands you are currently digging?

There’s a bit of a canon of bands that are mentioned in the same breath quite frequently, and we’re really honored to be mentioned in the same breath as them. No real need to repeat all those names here. But a few local bands that aren’t maybe mentioned as often that I’d say are underrated, that I have a lot of respect for are Death to Anders (though they’ve been getting more of the attention they deserve lately), The Transmissions, The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra, The Hectors, The Weather Underground, You Me and Iowa, In Waves, Archways, Maxwell Demon just to name a few. It will be really fun to watch new bands emerge over the next year or two.

Many musicians have to split their time between their art and “daytime” jobs. How do you deal with this?

It’s not a real sacrifice — the truth of the matter is that we all waste a tremendous amount of time if we’re not careful. I’ve just tried to cut the sitting on the couch and the TV watching and the nonproductive time out of my life as much as possible. I’ve found that, for the most part, I can juggle the job, the family, and the band if I do that. Although I haven’t opened mail or paid bills in a couple of months, so maybe not that well! Honestly, the playing, both practice and shows, just feels like what I’d be doing no matter what, even if I didn’t have a band – I’d be playing music with whatever free time I could muster. But the managing of the band does get a bit much; one of our most immediate goals is to find someone who believes in us who can take on some of the managing and booking functions that we’ve been doing ourselves this whole time.

Quick Fire Round:
What was the last book you read?

Blue Bug, Red Road by Gaines Post (my father-in-law). Really fascinating combination road book/ memoir/ history lesson as he drives an old 60’s Bug across the country from LA to Wisconsin for a 50th high school reunion. He is one of the smartest, most inspiring men I’ve ever met, and a damn good writer.

What movie would you say is a “must-see” for everyone?

Episodes IV, V, and VI, and maybe III.

What’s a good news source in LA?

Web in Front and Classical Geek Theatre for music; and you still can’t beat the Weekly for pretty comprehensive coverage of current events, politics, music, art, and culture.

What’s the best cure for a hangover?

My daughter’s smile when I come in to get her in the morning.

What’s something that you always find funny, no matter what?

Pulp Fiction quotes (Kate seems not to share this opinion for some reason….)

Tell us something about yourself we probably don’t already know.

I got food poisoning from bad sushi last night and had to cancel practice halfway through cause I was, umm, trapped in the restroom, and felt like I was going to pass out from abdominal pain and dehydration. Then I wanted Del Taco on the way home. Hey, you asked.

Photography courtesy of Enci and Sean P. Costello