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would never complain about being cast in Ty Segall‘s shadow. A musical partnership that stretches back to their days at Laguna Beach High, Mikal and Ty are living out the ambitions of every shred dog who has dreamt of touring with his best friends from SoCal to NYC and in between. All the while cuts of Mikal’s self-titled debut record, a “cleaned up” pop garage ballad, surge across the web as label prepares its release on September 20th. We talked with Mikal about adjusting to life in one’s mid-20s and the perfect pop song.

Saw the Black Lodge show at Hemlock a few weeks ago. Do you guys play house parties?

MC: I joined that band the day of that show. And they had only practiced a few times before I guess. Same with TOAD, who played after Black Lodge. We had just gotten back from tour the night before and that show was ridiculous and so fun. Black Lodge will play your house party.

Who are you taking on tour with you? How did you guys get together?

MC: I was living north of LA (in Val Verde, by that Magic Mountain theme park) for school, so it’s friends from down there. I borrowed two members from the awesome band Pangea (Danny on guitar and Eric on drums), then my former roommate Cory plays another guitar (who plays as the band WHITE, also awesome) and my buddy Chad plays bass, who plays in a lot of great bands too. They’re awesome and I’m really happy to play with them! The lineup might change since I moved to San Francisco but I don’t have anyone yet. We’ll see!

What are the major differences between the self-titled debut and your earlier work in Moonhearts/Reverse Shark Attack?

MC: I think it’s a lot poppier… and much cleaner. The songs are very different, not as “weird” as or “punk” as . The subject matter is also a lot more personal on this record. A lot more acoustic guitar too, haha, and a lot more vocal harmonies. This stuff is what I hear in my head all the time but wouldn’t really fit stylistically with other bands I play in. But like both those other bands I tried to keep the songs simple and distill them down to the necessary elements as much as possible.

Your label has described the new record as “conceived and recorded as a sort of therapy to help cope with adjusting to life post-college.” What has been your hardest change?

MC: The time writing that record was really hard and strange. I had been in and out of schools at that point for about 7 years, and I didn’t know what was going to happen after that. It was not specifically “post-college” I’m adjusting to but that crazy time in your mid 20′s where nothing is stable. At that time the combination of frantically trying to fulfill graduation requirements, having a bad breakup with a girlfriend and the uncertainty of the near future was really insane. I drove up to San Francisco and recorded the record during my school’s spring break, getting back on Monday 2 hours before my first morning class. I felt like i was losing my mind, but at the same time really excited for the few plans I had. I went on a few back-to-back tours right after I graduated and haven’t been home since… I kind of accidentally wound up in San Francisco with a duffle bag and my bass, realizing mid-tour that I didn’t have time to go back home and get my stuff because of various August shows. I haven’t “adjusted”, but the past few months has completely changed my mindset and it’s all amazing. I’m extremely happy and I’m doing what I want to be doing (playing music) every day. Tired but happy.

Is it hard to stay creative when you’re grouped with hundreds of other “garage” acts (just in California) or is that more of a challenge to differentiate? Are genres more helpful or harmful to artists?

MC: It’s strange, our group of friends has been playing “surfy garage” music for a long time, way before this recent interest in it. So when it all the sudden got popular we were kind of confused but happy that people wanted to hear what we were doing. But honestly everything I do, and what my friends do, makes a conscious effort to not be pinned down by one genre. I never want to be “schtick-y” or whatever. We have the same influences as a lot of people but try to spin it in a different direction. Not sure if we’re successful in that but that’s the plan. I’m just really passionate about that era of music (60′s garage and pop bands) and want to use some of that voice to express my own ideas. I don’t know. In the end, genres only exist so people have a frame of reference to talk about music.

You’re leaving on tour soon and the new record drops September 20th. What are your goals next year?

BLASTED CANYONS are formed by Heather Fedewa (Wax Idols), Matt Jones (Master Slash Slave), and Adam Finken, and recently put out their debut s/t record via after forming over a year ago and playing a series of gigs with the likes of Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, and Fine Steps. For a band that lists “weed” as one of their influences, they are a trio that plays inspired, decidedly nonpassive music that lurches between hardcore and krautrock but, taken together, settles on a self-described “weird ass” amalgam that is one parts garage, one part punk, and three parts synth. Their sound has drawn references to the late Jay Reatard’s epic Tennessee outfit, Lost Sounds. We had a chance to sit with the band one evening and talk about sriracha and OKCupid.

There’s a great Lester Bangs quote where he says that “the first mistake of art is to assume it’s serious.”
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HF: I was going to sum up everything by saying that this band started as a joke. And that’s how it will stay. It continues to be a joke. I mean, we love it, it’s fun, a lot of people like it but we recorded a song today, while I was eating lunch, because I had too much Sriracha. It’s called “Mouth on Fire”. It’s about eating too much Sriracha. That’s what our songs are about. It’s about nothing. Matt’s the only one who writes…

MJ: Good lyrics?

HF: Good lyrics, I guess.

MJ: You guys are making me blush. To be honest, to be able to let go, and not to have complete control over something, is I think what makes this band so good. Cause we’re all kind of like – I mean it sounds stupid to be like, this is more of a “band” band – everyone kind of writes songs, we really try to keep it loose.

HF: Yeah it’s more of a Communist band, cause we all play everything, we’re all responsible for all the gear, we all have to write songs.

AF: It’s the perfect democracy. If somebody says I don’t like this song, and somebody else says I don’t like this song, we don’t do it.

How did you guys initially meet?

HF: Well, our friend Max was doing an artist installation at the MoMa, and I was working for him and for the opening he wanted bands to play. I was just kicked out of Bare Wires, didn’t have a band anymore, actually – no – we met on John’s stoop, and then we met at the Knockout, but we met a couple times. I was working with Jen, [Matt’s] ex-girlfriend. We became friends, and then Jen suggested we start a band together.

AF: I met Matt, 4^th of July, two years ago. A month later, ironically at the Knockout, he approached me and told me to come check out this new thing he was doing with Heather. I had never met Heather, and I saw their set at Amnesia and we ended up getting together and playing a show the next night at a house party. I had one four-hour practice, five songs [before that].

How did you first show go [at their friend's artist's reception at the MoMa]?

MJ: MoMa shut it down. They told us we couldn’t have a reception in here and that we definitely couldn’t have music in here. Then one of our friends pulled it together, and she said she knew someone at Matador bar, the bull-themed bar. Arrow bar? Whatever it’s called. So anyway we moved it over there, and 30 minutes later we were shredding and by 9 o’clock it was done. That was actually really fun.

Do you feel like there’s a need for something like The Smell? A DIY, all-ages venue in San Francisco?

MJ: That’s an interesting question.

HF: Yeah. We are missing something like that here. I have a legitimate teenage fan base that’s bummed they can never see me play. There are some certain warehouses, but they sound like shit and are always organized poorly. I think it’s because a lot of people are just too busy. Or too stoned.

Adam, you are the only classically-trained musician in the band?

AF: (laughs) I took a bunch of theory classes at community college. I don’t really apply too much of it. Just little knowledge of keyboards.

HF: He knows how to transpose key signatures on keyboard, which has been a big help.

Do you guys intend to keep the same set-up where each member rotates and plays a different instrument?
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AF: Yeah. We all have our weaknesses with each instrument. And we definitely don’t write songs to play to our strengths. Whatever we think will be the best combination for this particular song.

HF: We basically forced [Adam] to learn how to play drums.

AF: Basically I just model myself after Fedewa (laughs). I try to rip her off on the drums. On the record, I play drums on one song: “Lasers versus Lizards.”

The new record’s out — is there going to be a digital format besides what’s been released with the Castle Face flexidisc? How has it been working with John Dwyer’s Castle Face Records?

MJ: Well to start out we just wanted to put out the record first. We made CDs for promo but I just think making CDs is dumb. Maybe when we repress it we’ll do digital download cards, people really like those. I didn’t really anticipate quite so much interest right off the bat – which is great. That’s where we want to be.

AF: We just like keeping it simple and working with people we are more or less close to. Matt and Heather are pretty close to John.

MJ: To be honest, to me it was ideal that Castle Face would put it out. All of their stuff has been air-tight so far. And I’ve worked with John on — basically from the beginning with Castle Face on pressing their records, taking on a bit more. John and [Brian Lee Hughes] are both pretty good friends of mine. So it’s pretty natural that it happened that way.

HF: You know we all work at ?

That was my next question.

HF: He [Matt] really works there.

MJ: I’ve worked there for 6 years and then I got these guys jobs. We send stuff to distributors, basically we work with labels. We’re a manufacturing broker. With the exception of flexidiscs, which we manufacture ourselves. That’s what they do and that’s what I’m in charge of now.

AF: Like that flexidisc book. It’s our book.

HF: We worked on that forever.

AF: If I ever saw anybody mistreat one I’d be like “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

Comparisons have been made to you and Lost Sounds, Jay Reatard’s former synth-punk group. Is there any special kinship you guys feel there?

HF: I got Matt into Lost Sounds. I was really close with Jay and he was a huge influence on me in many different ways. I met him through friends over the years but we really got close when I was on tour with Bare Wires, and we were in Memphis for four days and Jay was there and he kind of took me hostage and we dated for awhile but mostly we were just friends. He was a genius. So I’ve listened to the Lost Sounds for a long time – it was never my intention to sound like the Lost Sounds but when somebody takes punk, garage, pop, and weird ass synths – that’s what you get. I don’t mind. That is an absolute honor to me, to be compared to Lost Sounds in any way.

Heather what does this project mean to you in relation to Wax Idols?

HF: They basically started the same time. Wax Idols, I had been doing that by myself for years. It was kind of like a secret, personal thing. But both bands came to fruition at the same time. But what’s different for me is that with this band, like we said, we all write songs — it’s a total democracy — whereas Wax Idols is like a regime, everything is up to me. I’m able to have tunnel vision with that, whereas with this I can relax and have fun. But I have fun with Wax Idols too, I do. Its just easy for me to do both because they are so different. And I’m a multi-instrumentalist – so when it comes to playing live, I am able to play drums, synth and guitar. Honestly, [Matt and Adam] would have to call it quits. There might be a period of time in the future where we can’t be as proactive because I’m gone with Wax Idols, but I would never be like, I won’t tour with you guys because Wax Idols is it.

AF: Somehow we ended up as best friends.

HF: I would say more like a dysfunctional family.

AF: We look out for each other. We always end up ganging up on one or the other.

MJ: It’s usually me.

Where do you want to take Blasted Canyons?

HF: Japan.

MJ: Yeah Japan would be sick. I think Japan and Europe would be awesome.

HF: We just want to travel. Finken and I haven’t got to do shit. Matt’s been able to tour [with Jonesin'].

MJ: I think Europe would be possible, I think Japan would be possible. It would be cool.

HF: We’re working on an EP too. It will probably be out in the Spring.

A lot has been made about the current generation of artists that call San Francisco home. What bands are you listening to right now?

HF: is the best band in the world. They are based in Australia but I would tour with them for the rest of my life if I could. They are my favorite band on the planet right now, so good.

AF: There’s a lot of good bands up here right now. I fucking love , they are rad, and rules. And the cool thing about all of these bands is that everyone gets along. Everybody has to be kind of homies, there’s drama here and there, but it seems that everybody gets along pretty well.

MJ: I agree. You know what, four or five years ago, there was nothing. There were the wackest bands playing around here.

AF: I was on OKCupid for a couple weeks, and some chick from New Zealand added me, and her whole profile listed every Bay Area band. And so I was like “hey…check out our band.”(laughs) “We PLAYED with Thee Oh Sees!”

Anything else?

MJ: Come to our show in Oakland. And we didn’t even mention the fucking . Hello? Amazing fucking band.

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is the opening band on a stacked bill that includes Mike Donovan (Sic Alps), Royal Baths (who are moving to New York and will be playing their final show in San Francisco for awhile on August 6th at the Verdi Club), and Thee Oh Sees, at the Uptown in Oakland July 28th. Tickets (21+). They play the following week at Engine Works (17th & Capp) with TMRS and Twin Steps, presented by LEAF (also 21+). Facebook event .

Their self-titled debut album is available through . The holographic Flexidisc book produced by Castle Face featuring exclusive tracks from Blasted Canyons, Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, Thee Oh Sees, Bare Wires, and The Fresh and Onlys can be purchased from . Listen to “Death and a Half,” the fourth track off the new LP, below.

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Check out more on Blasted Canyons.

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After chugging through their set at San Francisco’s Verdi Club for the Milo Minute release show several weeks ago, a somewhat bleary-eyed Lillian Maring looked down from her drumset into the crowd and half-heartedly entreated the audience for a ride back to the East Bay. This was — lauded by The New Yorker, recruited by Kill Rock Stars, booked to open for the likes of Sonic Youth - coming home and willing to chum up to cruise across the Bay back home, a small but telling indicator of the band’s legendary DIY ethic. After an extensive European tour and months of recording and self-releasing the 7″ on their new label, , we found time to talk to Lillian, bassist Hannah Lew and guitarist Raven Mahon about pajama yuppies and stonercam.

Welcome back — any highlights from Europe?
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RM: We had a really good time. It was our first time to Europe (not considering three shows we played there last fall), so we kind of had an idea of what to expect, but I was really blown away by the hospitality. It’s amazing that Europe has this built-in infrastructure for providing touring bands with places to stay and home-cooked meals no matter what kind of band you are or what sort of show it is. We really lack that in the United States. Right after we got home we played a record release show for the 7″ we just put out and were really inspired by the Euro hospitality so we bought everyone burritos.

HL: We had dinner with Anna De Silva and her partner Shirley. It was amazing to meet her and talk “shop.” We got to play in some pretty amazing legalized squats in Europe. Many of the places we played had flats designated for the touring bands. There’s so little funding for the arts in the U.S. and in general touring as an American band you get used to traveling pretty roughly, so it was refreshing to tour in a hospitable place . I could have stayed longer!

You got along so well with touring buds/blind dates that you recorded a - are they any other bands you were introduced to out there that we should listen to?

RM: Yeah, definitely. There is another incarnation of Trash Kit and happening in London right now which is called . Also, Rachel, the drummer from Trash Kit has another project called . We played with a band in Vienna that we all really liked called . Two ladies — they were rad.

HL: We played with a great band called in Zurich as well. Also a band called in London. I really liked them!

Oaklanders Nectarine Pie just put out a video shot with a Super 8 with the help of label-head Rob Fales (read our interview with him here). When it comes to Grass Widow’s own videos, what’s the appeal of shooting with an older film camera? Is it purely aesthetic — or is there a subtext of conscious luddism, something you have talked about in past interviews?

HL: Shooting on Super 8 is the cheapest way to shoot with actual film. You can’t just turn on the camcorder and hit stonercam. Each cartridge is 3 minutes long and when you shoot you really have to plan. I have shot with Super 8 for a long time and I actually think in the color scheme of the film stock at this point. When they discontinued Kodachrome I thought I would just stop making films, but then Kodak made a new Ektachrome film stock with nice colors so I’m back in the saddle.
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This might be totally incriminating…but a big reason I initially got into shooting with Super 8 was because Kodak had this old deal with Cala Foods (a local grocery store that is now out of business) where you could drop rolls of Super 8 to get processed along with the 35mm still pictures in a slot in the grocery store. It cost $3.00 to process a roll there-which is really cheap!

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Not too long ago Oakland-based released Transmalinnia. The inaugural LP dropped after three years of rising anticipation by the psych supernaturals’ listeners (worshipers?), spurred by their self-released EP and a bunch of trippy light-bending shows. They made news at this year’s Austin Psych Fest () by . The quintet clearly has an affinity with power. They answered some questions about egoless music and alien dance parties ahead of their show at Great American Music Hall this Saturday with local droners and .

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Most bands walk onto a stage with little more than some cigarettes and their instruments — and there are the Lumerians, who show up with cabinets, projectors, multiple keyboards and cloaks. You go out of your way to create an other-worldly environ for your audience. What can a Lumerians-initiate expect at one of your shows?
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LM: An immersive, ecstatic experience. We aim to excite as many senses as we legally can. We like to be perceived as a single entity. If you leave feeling like you’ve participated an event rather than witnessed performance, we’ve done our jobs.
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The video for Gaussian Castles that a few months ago featured rapid-flicker shots of caves, sunsets, and other idyllic nature scenes. Where was it shot? How do you know director Curtis Tamm? (His website is definitely worth checking out, .)
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LM: We have known Curtis for a while now via our friends in /. We sent him the album and asked him to make a video for any song that resonated with him. He had just gotten back from a road trip across the US, where he visited many of the locations you see in the video. He did a lot of additional shooting during dawn in the Headlands.
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Two songs that you are listening to right now.
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LM: Magnetic Stripper’s “Extended Play” and Bronze’s “Parallels”. One in each ear. (ed: You can listen to both tracks on an they put together for Dangerous Minds).
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I’m interested in the concept of egoless music. There are bands like Radiohead or Deerhunter — very egoless bands in their own right — where it is clear that while some collaboration is present, their is a singular “driver” of the songwriting process. Maybe its a sketch of a melody or a piano riff introduced by a bandmate — where does a song germinate for Lumerians and how does it develop?
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LM: Our process is emergent. We start playing together and often times good things prevail. Sometimes they don’t. We record most of our rehearsals and the best ideas that turn into songs are often things that happen spontaneously between takes of structured material. We listen back and will sculpt, cut and weld the best parts until we have something space-worthy.
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You have been called the “soul of Bay area new-psych scene”. Do you feel special kinship with any other psych-rock outfits in the Bay in particular?

LM: We relate to the concept of psychedelic as an adjective for a state of being, less than as a genre, which most people seem to equate to the Bay Area sound of the 60s. Contemporary bands we definitely feel a kinship with are Bronze, Late Young and Naked Lights. Some of the best bands to ever emerge from the Bay Area would have to be Chrome, Tuxedomoon and The Residents.
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Transmalinnia has been out for a few months now and you’ve been on tour a handful times in support — including a stop at the Austin Psych Fest this year. What are your goals for your next project? What new space are you looking to explore?
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LM: We are currently working on a mostly spontaneous instrumental music release. Ephemeral compositions that are unfamiliar and raw. Transmalinnia was a very complex and involved process of which we are very satisfied with the results, but this one will be a lot looser and maybe a bit more uncomfortable.
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You guys were described as one of the “best - albeit short - sets” seen at Psych Fest. Given a portable tesla coil and the rights of an interstellar traveler, where in this universe would you perform?
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LM: Our search parties are still attempting to make contact with awesome dance partying alien life. It would be a real bummer to travel however many lightyears just to have a couple gangly arm folders talking on a bar stool in the corner.

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Lumerians play with Bronze and Young Prisms Saturday 7/2 at , doors at 8pm/show at 9pm for $13 (dinner tickets are available for $38 if you prefer to dine and trance). You can buy tickets at the event page . You can pick up Transmalinnia from Knitting Factory Records or at any local record store. Watch the band perform Chevaux Fous on public access show “Dance Party Revival” below.

Campground, by Petey Dammit []

We’re pretty excited to say that this year’s is almost a month away, with a lineup that is representative of some of the biggest influences behind this blog, including , , and our second-favorite LA/SF transplant, . This year’s fest is split up into two days, with performances on Saturday night (Fernwood) and Sunday afternoon (Henry Miller). The lineup is rounded out by , , Woods/Fresh and Onlys Big Band on Saturday night; and , , , , and on Sunday.

Two day passes are sold out, but you can get on the waitlist for tickets to Sunday’s show . Here’s a preview of what’s to come:

SATURDAY @ FERNWOOD 9:00pm-12:30am

Nodzzz
We talked to singer Anthony Atlas the day before their new album dropped on the Woodsist label. Read our interview here. Download a track off Innings .

Art Museums
Coming off a 3-song 7″ release in (Bandcamp download comes with an extra track) and a stacked Slumberland Records at Rickshaw during this year’s SF Popfest. Sadly, the Art Museums are no longer in existence, but the Mantles have taken their place on the roster.

Ducktails
Big year for the side-project of Real Estate member Matthew Mondanile: he’s started a (listen to a track from the first release , due out June 25), and Domino Records has .

Woods/Fresh & Onlys Big Band
“Some kind of wonderful.”

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SUNDAY @ HENRY MILLER LIBRARY 2pm-10:30pm

Real Estate
Woodsist graduates signed to Domino for their sophomore album, due out in October. them play a new, untitled track live earlier in May.

Thee Oh Sees
Castlemania has been out for a few weeks now, which means that John is already busy recording the .

Fresh & Onlys
Jennifer at SEE THE LEAVES has a great review of the recently-released Secret Walls LP . Listen to track off the record .

Woods
New 7″ inch due July 19th via . Stream a track off the singles release .

Sic Alps
Ty Segall won’t be playing with his new/old band and current labelmates at Big Sur; the remaining Sic Alps are putting out a August 23rd, just in time for the Euro leg of their tour.

Sun Araw
Guess who also has a release on ? The space-rockers also have a split with titled on due July 19. Listen to a track off the August Sun Ark/Drag City release .

White Fence
Tim Presley’s White Fence is currently touring with the Strange Boys before splitting off to round out the Woods bill/tour. Listen to and download an entire live set at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.

If you can’t make it to the great Woodsist Fest this year, all is not lost. The Independent plays host to Woods, Fresh & Onlys, and The Mantles . Real Estate, together with San Francisco dream-pop acts Melted Toys and Dominant Legs (who just recorded a split 7″), also play at the Independent a few days after the fest on .