It’s not every day a college graduate has the opportunity to release an album, tour all across Europe and shake things up at a musical festival in Glastonbury just two years after finishing up finals. But two former UCLA students in the L.A.-based alternative band Local Natives have done just that.
Among the motley quintet, two attended UCLA: recent graduate vocalist and guitarist Taylor Rice and vocalist, keyboardist and percussionist Kelcey Ayer, who attended UCLA for a quarter.
“I loved my education, and at UCLA I think it was an amazing education and I do think that helped to shape how I am as a person,” Rice said.
Despite only spending a short time at UCLA, Ayer conveyed similar sentiments toward the campus, particularly regarding the prestigious education possible at UCLA. After his brief time as a student, however, Ayer ultimately left the school to pursue the band’s budding career.
“Taylor graduated right when I finished the quarter there, and we were all trying to take time off to really hunker down and write the record, which is why I decided to stop going,” Ayer said.
The band’s beginnings date back to the member’s early adolescence. Vocalist and guitarist Ryan Hahn and Rice have known each other since junior high and collaborated with Ayer during their high school years, eventually expanding into the band that exists today.
“I have played drums in the band since junior high. I played in a hardcore band in high school and really amateurish stuff, until I got together with Ryan and Taylor and started playing guitar in the band and singing backup,” Ayer said.
Now seasoned veterans of Coachella and of the European touring world, Ayer and Rice credit European fans with a distinct kind of enthusiasm about their band.
“We’ve definitely … received a great response in most of France, and they seem to be really excited about the music and the band. … The people are just the sweetest people on earth,” Ayer said.
France is not the only country that has proven to be receptive to the lulling sounds of the Local Natives.
“We did a two-month European headlining tour this winter, and it was crazy we went to more than 10 countries we’ve never even been to before, and the response was really amazing, even though the people weren’t always speaking English,” Rice said.
Despite the excitement surrounding their success abroad, the band has had its fair share of jet lag-induced experiences.
“I’ve definitely had a lot of lifestyle changes since we’ve started touring more and more. … I have to take care of myself now, being 100 percent all the time,” Ayer said.
Fans of Local Natives can also be found at UCLA. Third-year art history student Melissa Liu recalls her fondness for the band and the originality of its music.
“They have a different sound, I like the fact that they’re not mainstream. Their lyrics are pretty clever,” Liu said.
According to Rice, recording represented a culmination of years of dedication.
“While we were recording, we realized we had done something that we were really proud of and things had kind of come together for us,” Rice said. “We had really transformed during that time into the band that we always knew we wanted to be.”