Leaving behind careers and college educations in exchange for sleeping on the couches of strangers and playing in brothels may seem a bit strange, but after years of playing long-distance and putting their music on hold, the members of the indie rock group Local Natives are embracing every aspect of their new rocker lifestyles ““ both the good and the bad. After a successful string of shows at this year’s famed South by Southwest festival, Wednesday will mark the band’s formal debut at the brothel-turned-music venue, Bordello.
With two of the members being former UCLA students, the band has gained acclaim through their numerous performances, tours and their dedication to the band. Each member of the group previously put Local Natives on the backburner while they prioritized schooling and careers.
They based themselves out of Orange County, which made quite a commute to rehearsal for Taylor Rice, who was then a communications studies student at UCLA, and Kelcey Ayer, who was attending San Francisco State University. Ayer transferred to UCLA, but after Rice graduated in 2008, he dropped out in order for them to pursue a future with Local Natives.
“It made my parents very angry,” Ayer said. “But now they’re a lot more supportive. My dad lives surrogately through me. He used to be an old folk hippie type of guy, … but my mother … (will) still lie to everyone she talks to and say I still go to UCLA because she just can’t handle the fact I don’t, but she’s come around.”
After Rice graduated, Ayer wasn’t the only one who made sacrifices for the band. Practically all of the members gave up careers or education in favor of day jobs, and moved into a house together in Silver Lake. They changed their name from Cavil at Rest ““ which many students heard at Spring Sing last year ““ to Local Natives.
“Last summer, we started recording our first full-length debut album … and we really all felt very strongly that things had come together for us,” Rice said. “Prior to that, we had been searching for our sound and searching to develop ourselves as a band, but now we found what made us “˜us.’ We had come into our own, and we wanted to fly a new banner completely.”
Living together allows for the collaborative writing process adopted by Local Natives to flourish. When one member ““ any member ““ comes up with a melody or chord progression, he can quickly share that with the others, who then add different components. The bandsmen are all multi-instrumentalists, so they often write parts they don’t even perform.
“(Our music) isn’t something one person could originate by themselves, which makes it wholly unique from something that I could have done by myself,” Ayer said. “It’s better to have all these different hands molding a song into something much bigger.”
Their writing is exceptionally personal, but not selfish.
“We trust ourselves enough to say if we write music we love and are passionate about, other people will be able to recognize that,” Rice said.
And that thought appears to be true thus far. Recently, Local Natives performed at South by Southwest, a music festival and conference in Austin, Texas. After performing eight shows in a week, they decided to add a ninth. Thanks to word of mouth, that show played to a packed venue.
“You could see on people’s faces; they were just really digging what they were hearing and really buying into it. I felt like a con-man; am I fooling them? Am I tricking them?” Ayer said. “We’ve been popping into people’s radars. Everyone felt it on the stage.”
Part of Local Natives’ appeal is their interactivity. Often, they pass around shakers or tambourines to the audience and invite them to join in with the cacophonous whoops and shouts that embellish the vocalists’ neatly placed harmonies. Backed by keyboard, guitars, bass, drums, and occasionally violin and other percussive instruments, Local Natives’ sound is put together like the cogs of a smooth-running pocket watch. Adding to their list of performances are both West Coast tours and a nationwide tour. Although the guys typically had nowhere to stay along the way, fans offered up their homes for them to sleep in.
“Because we were touring with two other bands, there were, like, 15 of us guys, and almost every night we were just sleeping on couches and floors in people’s houses that we met that night,” Rice said. “People are great out across the country. It was good for my faith in humanity.” More fans also mean more critics, but Local Natives face the opposition unafraid.
“Our songs are our babies. We have 10 or 12 children who we are letting loose into the world. You only have the first impression, which is usually the biggest. You only get one,” Ayer said. “It’s scary, but I’m excited about the challenge.”
As long as Local Natives continues to are put out what they deem to be “worthwhile” music, fame is a only secondary priority.
“I don’t think you’ll see us on tour with Jonas Brothers soon,” said Rice with a laugh.