New! Check out the fork/knife Flickr!

The four of us here at fork/knife just set up an account on Flickr. We'll be posting pictures from concerts, album covers from the albums we're listening to, and other miscellaneous photos. We're far from professional photographers, but hopefully it'll be a cool way for you to see what we're up to.

CLICK HERE to see our first pictures. They include photos from the Local Natives/Blind Pilot concert in Boston, as well as a few albums that we're digging at the moment.

Local Natives Band Interview

-Chris

Local Natives/Blind Pilot @ T.T. The Bear's Place: 6/10/09

After scrambling to make plans for the two and a half hour drive up to Boston, the f/k crew was met with open arms by Local Natives upon arriving at T.T. The Bear's Place. The five-man, one-woman group didn't let the club's small stage stop them from putting on one hell of a live show. They always seemed to find a way to keep the audience on their toes and wondering how they could top the previous song, and they always did, leaving us longing for more as they left the stage.

Here's a song from their upcoming release, Gorilla Manor.

Local Natives - Sun Hands

Here are two more pictures of Local Natives, click on them to see the full size version!

After Local Natives was Blind Pilot. Although we were there to see Local Natives, Blind Pilot took the stage to a packed house. They were smooth and crisp, proving why they were the headlining act for the night. It wasn't a show meant to get people dancing, but instead one that had people singing along as they enjoyed every strum of Israel Nebeker's guitar and every vibration of his vocal chords.

Overall, it was fantastic night. We look forward to seeing Local Natives and Blind Pilot again, and we recommend that you catch their show if they come to your town. If you see them, be sure to say hello to the guys from Local Natives, they're a fun group of down-to-earth guys that seem to be having the time of their lives.

-Bishop-

Local Natives' Daytrotter Session

I would just like to quickly let everyone know that the Local Natives' Daytrotter session is up on the Daytrotter website. I just did a post a few days ago updating everybody on their current status. I have also featured them as a Band To Watch along with interviewing them. So check out their awesome music, and be sure to keep an eye out for tour dates, their debut EP and their debut album, Gorilla Manor.

-Bishop-

Local Natives Update

A few weeks back fork/knife sat down with the Local Natives and asked them a few questions so all you guys out there could learn a little bit more about the smashing band from California. We are now happy to say that we have some more updates for you, including a new song from the upcoming record Gorilla Manor. The song is entitled "World News" and it's rocking my socks off.

Local Natives - World News

Band myspace

The first thing that we'd like to let everybody know about is the Local Natives' four night stand at SXSW March 18th-21st. Within these four days they will be playing a total of eight shows so you have absolutely no excuse to miss them, and trust me, you won't want to. For people who may not be able to afford the trip to Texas, although it is worth every penny, Local Natives will be touring the west coast the second half of April so you can catch them then.

In other news, the Local Natives are still currently working out a release date for their debut album, but have no fear because they are now working with the dapper guys over at Daytrotter to put together a little 5 song EP. The EP will include live tracks from their Daytrotter session as well as a few new tracks from the upcoming record. The band will have hard copies of the EP at SXSW, and it will also be available online in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

Local Natives SXSW:

March 18th:
DAY -12:00pm Spaceland/Myspace Showcase@Maggie Maes 512 Trinity St.
1:30pm Swing House Party@The Rusty Spurs 405 E. 7th St.
NIGHT -12:00am I Heart Austin Benefit@One 2 One 121 E. 5th St.

March 19th:
DAY - 5:00pm San Jose Hotel Showcase w/Wild Beasts 1316 S. Congress Ave.
NIGHT - 1:00am Official SXSW showcase Bear@Central Presbyterian Church 200 E. 8th St.

March 20th:
DAY - 4:00pm Ambush on 6th! Party w/Red Cortez@Cheers 416 6th St.
NIGHT - 7:00pm@ Fast Folks Bike Shop 2512 E. 6th St.

March 21st:
NIGHT - 8:00pm House Party 2604 Diaz St.

-Bishop-

Band Interview: Local Natives

I have featured the Local Natives, a phenomenal band from Southern California, a few times, including having them be a Band to Watch, and I must say I was delighted when I checked our inbox and saw that they agreed to do an interview with us. After way too many emails, and probably interfering with their lives too much, I finally have an interview to post, and I'd like to thank the Local Natives for taking the time to answer our questions.

I could go on and on about my love for Local Natives, but as I said, I have featured them a few times so you guys can check out those posts to see what they're all about. But now it is time to see what the boys over in California had to say...
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fork/knife: Alright, I have to start out by asking if you guys are locals/natives of Southern Cal?

Local Natives: Everyone but Andy, who is from Colorado. Ryan Kelcey and I [Taylor] grew up in south Orange County. We've been playing music together since high school.


f/k: So you guys just finished up your first tour. How did the band handle being on tour together? What's some advice you could give to future first-time tourers?

LN: We already live together, so we see a lot of each other, but nothing can really prepare you to have to cram into the same 40 cubic feet with five people for the majority of a month. Luckily we get along really well. It's the sort of thing where when we got home from a month long tour we all went out together that night. Sounds sort of psycho-therapy, but I'd just advice communication and wariness towards the need for space. Oh, and rotate who rides in which van! If you get sick of hanging out with your band, hang out with the other band for a while.


f/k: What was the best place to play? Worst?

LN: Best places we played were the east coast and a little place in Hattiesburg, MI. We had never played in NYC or Brooklyn before, and yet somehow a good amount of people had found out about three small LA bands that were playing for the first time at Pianos and The Public Assembly. We were welcomed with open arms at both venues and everyone out there was more than nice to us, except the ice queen bartender at Public Assembly. She found it quite amusing to pour cocktails half full and give us a look that could kill a puppy when asking for a drink.

Half way through the tour we puttered into a small town in MI called Hattiesburg. The town was literally dead minus these creepy giant painted Swan statues, which seem to be crawling over every street corner. We barely found the venue called The Thirsty Hippo at around 8pm. By 10pm this unique little venue was packed with music loving people and it turned out to be one of the best nights on tour.


f/k: The band is formerly known as Cavil At Rest. What prompted the name change? Did the change act as afresh start for the band?

LN: We had been toying around the idea of changing the name for awhile. Ryan and Taylor had been playing under the Cavil name since they were in high school and since then the music style and band members had changed quite a bit. While finishing up the album it became pretty apparent that the band had become its own separate style with the rest of us in the mix and we all felt it needed a new identity. It was our sound, our first full length and the first time that we had ever decided to try and be a full time band. Up until a few months ago none of us had really been doing the band as a priority in our lives. The timing was right for a change, and I guess you could say it did act a fresh start for us, it helped put us in the mind set that this was a real, legit band that is going to try and get ourselves out there.


f/k: What was it like living in Gorilla Manor and recording Gorilla Manor? Release date set yet?

LN: To record Gorilla Manor, we stumbled upon a gentlemen by the name of Raymond Richards who runs a little studio out of a garage right outside LA called Red Rockets Glare. All of out prior recording experiences had been very stiff and stale so one of our biggest goals going in was to get more of a natural and more relaxed sound. Raymond's place served perfectly for this and we spent the next five to six weeks hashing out all the songs. A nice experience all around.

We are hoping to release the album within the next 2-3 months.

All living together is like having the giant dysfunctional family that I never had growing up. Constant people in and out, tripping over left over pasta and pizza from a week ago, Kelcey's usually shouting in the background and yet somehow there always seems to be at least one or two of us hiding in the corner somewhere with a guitar or piano playing with melodies.

f/k: If you had to beat up one member of the band, who would it be? Why?

Andy: Hmmm...well Matt, Ryan and Kelcey are all MIA at the moment so I would first break Kelceys writing hand because he never emailed me back his answers to a couple of the above questions. I would then proceed into Ryan’s room, wake him up, and as soon as he opened his eyes I would mace him. I don’t know where Matt is so I think I’m just going to set up the old bucket filled with tacks and water above the door prank. Then I wait.

Taylor: What? What a divisive question! Alright well...if I had to beat up one member of the band it would be Kelcey because he is the nicest and has the slowest temper, that way he wouldn't get mad at me until it was too late and he was unconscious.

Ryan: Andy is out of the question, as he could clearly destroy any one of us (see: the scar on Taylor's forehead). It would definitely have to be Kelcey because he is soft like dough and has the memory of a goldfish. We'd probably be back to normal like five minutes later.


f/k: Lastly, fork or knife? Why?

LN: From a logical standpoint it would have to be knife. I mean a knife can essentially be used for the same function as a fork. However, forks are just a better looking and all around more stylish piece of steel, and who the hell wants to be logical anyways? I remember when I was in 5th or 6th grade I was a little metal-head and had this album with a picture of a fork jabbing into an eyeball being served on a plate and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
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Be sure to watch out for Gorilla Manor, due out in "2-3 months". Included is a track from the upcoming album entitled "Airplanes".

Local Natives - Airplanes
Check out a few other tracks on their myspace.

Again, we'd like to thank Local Natives from the bottom of our hearts for taking time out of their busy schedule and dealing with our pesky emails. Hope you enjoyed it, because it's all for you.

-Bishop

Band To Watch: Local Natives

This is a new feature here on fork/knife. Every week I will be posting about a band that is short on myspace hits, but big on musical ability. So with that being said, I cordially welcome you to the first installment of 'Bands To Watch'.


Okay, so I posted about this band, Local Natives, on Christmas because I liked them so much that I felt like revealing them to the world (yes, the world) was my gift to the human race. The Local Natives are a band from southern California that spent half of 2008 recording their debut album, Gorilla Manor, in a two bedroom house (aka Gorilla Manor) that they also lived in. Upon finishing the album the band set off on their first tour. On Friday night they played a show at TT the Bears in Boston, but before setting up camp there for the night the boys decided to stop by and do a Flophouse Session for Band in Boston. This is the first time that we have been able to listen to decent recordings of songs other than the ones the band itself had released, and let me tell you, I like what I hear.

Since I previously posted about the band I will keep this one short and sweet. All you have to know about the Local Natives is that when you listen to them you will notice three things - though there is much more:
(1) They execute the three part harmony exquisitely,
(2) their melodies are catchy as hell, and
(3) you will be singing along.

With that I leave you with a live video and mp3 of their single 'Airplanes'.


Watch it in high quality by following the previous link and then clicking "watch in high quality" in the lower right-hand corner of the video.

Local Natives - Airplanes


-Bishop

My Christmas Present To You

2008 has been all about debut albums, from the Fleet Foxes to Bon Iver to Grand Archives. So as we at fork/knife get ready to post our top albums of 2008, I am beginning to look forward to 2009, and the great music that will be released. Now we all know about the major releases of 2009, from Animal Collective to Wilco, but I'm trying to find those bands that will shock all of us.


After imerging myself in the world of music the past few months, I have decided that the band to look out for in 2009 is Local Natives, an indie band from Silver Lake, California. The Local Natives have only released two original songs, and one of them is a christmas song. Despite this I have had these two songs, and their cover of the classic Simon & Garfunkel tune, Cecilia, on repeat for the past week. This band flawlessly combines the broken R&B piano of the Cold War Kids, the energtic playfullness of Ra Ra Riot, the drumming that rings a familiar tune with Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear at moments, the great vocal harmonies of Fleet Foxes, and the huge choruses of Arcade Fire into one fantstic genre of music.



The Local Natives have been living and recording together in a two bedroom house in California for the past six months and have set the release of their debut album, Gorilla Manor (coming from their living situation), for early '09. All five members of the band share duties on multiple instruments along with three of them sharing vocal assignments. They are also know to put on one hell of a live show; Their bio states "Local Natives is one of those rare bands who is defined by their ability to deliver live. In fact, it has been more of a challenge for the group to translate the vibrant and exciting nature of their performances to a recording than vice versa."

So give them a listen and tell me that they are not the shit.

Local Natives - Airplanes
Local Natives - We Come Back (Christmas Original)


-Bishop