Interview: Know Your LA Bands with Shiloe

BeatCrave brings you band, Shiloe, as part of our Know Your LA Bands series. This three-piece band continues to venture off into another world apart from the happy pop rock artists in the biz. There’s nothing wrong with being peppy, but it’s nice to have a band take listeners up to a higher level of intelligence through their cerebral lyrics. Brooding, post-punk, shoe-gaze may all describe Shiloe, but Ken, Melissa, and Dan pull together a dark sound with gritty indie rock tunes that will have you succumb to delightful derangement for a few minutes. Kids, forget the drugs. This band will give you the same thing for free.

The band has only released EPs instead of full-lengths (which is such a tease), but the five or six tracks are definitely worth having in your collection. Their latest EP, …And Now The Screaming Starts is available on iTunes and Amoeba. See their MySpace for many other ways to get your hands on it. Don’t have the five bucks right this minute? That’s all right. Shiloe’s next show is FREE and it’s a SXSW party! So if you’re in the area during the festival, you MUST see this band. Otherwise, you’d just be wasting all this good fortune. The show is part of the Post-Punk.com Showcase and held at Spider House in Austin, TX. After that, they’ll be doing a live acoustic set on isgoodmusic.com back in California.

Until all these bad ass events come your way, check out our exclusive interview with Ken and Melissa below!

Most bands that are into horror movies and dark music are often lumped into the metal category. However, you guys bring a new sound to accompany that feeling. What is it about the darkness that you like so much as a band?

Ken: I never understood that connection! When the credits roll at the end of some horror movies and a big metal song kicks in, it just bums me out. I saw The Nightmare Before Christmas when I was a kid and that really affected me. I’m much more into the Tim Burton/Danny Elfman kind of darkness.
Melissa: I went through a serious goth phase in high school, from like 10th grade until senior year. I was all about Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Disintegration-era Cure… Basically, metal offended my romantic macabre sensibilities. Haha! But seriously, I think it’s because we’re more into creepy atmosphere than the kind of horror that hits you over the head with gore. I hate the Saw movies. I’m all about ghosts and haunted houses.

Your releases come in the form of EPs – It’s such a tease! Is there an advantage to releasing your music 4 -5 songs at a time?

K: It makes it easier for people to buy, since by the end of a night of drinking people usually end up with around $5 left in their pocket.
M: I think it’s also easier to create shorter releases when you’re basically doing everything yourself. We work with a great producer/engineer, Chris Haynes, but Ken is heavily involved in the production and recording as well. It can be a lot to take on when you’re also busy writing songs and playing shows, in addition to having a day job. That being said, I think we might do an album soon. Finally!

You guys have some fans across the ocean. Is there a difference in how international fans take your music in?

M: Our fans from other countries definitely seem to be more enthusiastic than your typical L.A. club goer. We get some really nice messages from people. It’s amazing when you think about the fact that kids in places we’ve never even been to have heard our music.

Congrats on joining the New and Used Records family! How did you guys choose these guys when there are more independent labels being born everyday?

K: I started talking to Will from N&U about a year ago over the Internet and I liked his ideas. He’s really excited about working with the few bands he has, which means a lot at our level. We’ve known bands that have signed with a label and then were just ignored, making them regret they even signed. Nowadays a band can release their music on their own without a label, so there’s no reason to work with one unless they can bring something good to the table.

LA gets on ripped on for so many things – even the music scene. What are your reasons for defending the LA music scene?

K: I think people who rip on it just don’t know it. Since it’s a big city, there isn’t even one music scene in L.A. There are scenes for indie rock, noise, punk, death metal, hair metal, country, and more. We meet different bands all the time and end up finding out that they’re part of some scene we’ve never even heard of. That’s what I love about it here; you can just wander around finding new bands all the time. There are definitely the stereotypical fake people out there, but none of the bands we know are like that.
M: L.A. has an enviable music scene, and it really pisses me off when people rip on it. I agree with Ken – I think people who do that don’t have much experience in actually going to clubs and talking to bands. We’ve been playing for almost four years now and almost everyone we’ve met has been incredibly kind. Also, there is so much versatility and so many different types of venues. There are all ages venues that double as art galleries, clubs with awesome sound and a real stage, bowling alley. If you go to CIA in North Hollywood, you can even play amidst oddities like dead clowns and mummified fairies. Where else can you do that?!

How did the band come together?

K: Melissa and I were in a band together with some friends, and when that fizzled out we decided to start our own project. We were going to be a four piece, but we never found another guitar player who fit (oddly enough, guitar players who like horror movies and dark music tend to want to play metal guitar).

You’ve been compared to so many great bands such as Sonic Youth. How do you let your influences guide your songwriting without sounding like a copycat?

K: We listen to a lot of different music so I think it all works in there and hopefully we don’t end up sounding like a copy of some other band.
M: I think it also helps that Ken and I listen to different things and then come together to finish the songs. He writes the music and I do a lot of the lyrics, which adds some variety, since it’s not just one person doing all of the work.

What do you think of this proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger? How does it affect indie bands?

K: Didn’t Pearl Jam try to warn everyone about this in the 90s? I can’t even afford to go to shows at bigger venues anymore thanks to the “service charges.” My hope for indie bands is that people will start flocking to all the clubs like Spaceland who don’t have “service charges.”
M: It’s seriously horrifying. It’s basically making music a commodity to the most extreme extent possible. I don’t like the idea of one company having that much power over all these venues. I don’t like the fact that every big stadium/arena in the country has a corporate sponsor and is named after said sponsor. And I really don’t like the fact that Ticketmaster charges such incredibly high fees on top of the ticket prices! I know it’s kept me away from some shows that I really wanted to see, and it sucks.

What part of LA are you all currently from?

K: Born in Van Nuys, and living in Palms. Stop by and say hi, we can sneak over into Culver City and get some kick ass Argentinean food.
M: Our drummers are both Valley boys.

Quick-Fire Round:
Is it ever a bad thing when a band is “too loud?”

K: What? I didn’t hear you.

What is your favorite food?

K: Sushi. Wish it were cheaper.
M: Mine is sushi as well. If you want a life-changing experience, visit Sushi Zo on National. Last time we went there, I literally cried from happiness.

We all know you guys love Halloween, but what is your second most favorite holiday?

K: Dia Day Los Muertos.
M: I was going to say 4th of July (things go boom!) or Thanksgiving (foooood!), but I’m going to steal Ken’s answer instead.

What was the last thing that made you say, “Oops!”

K: I answered half these questions and then accidentally quit my browser.
M: In an “oops” type situation, I usually indulge in a little colorful profanity, so I don’t know when the last time I actually said, “Oops!” was… Hmm.

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

K: The first record I ever got was Cowboy Mickey – Pardners. It sparked the flame.
M: Elvira was my childhood idol.

Photography by Scott Schultz