Spirit Vine (photo by Karri Bowman)

SPIRIT VINE conjures a retro-future where folks still read The Doors of Perception, seek enlightenment in shaman directed spiritual sweat-lodges and go Bathing at Baxters.

They’re bringing their reverb drenched tribal love rock to Spaceland Thursday May 6 along with Roughed Up Folk – My Pet Saddle – and members of Dios performing as Special K & Flying J (who will be performing songs from an upcoming Beck covers album).

Spirit Vine’s GOLDEN ep has been getting some well-reviewed attention, and the band is working on a full length album while weathering some changes. I had a chance to interview their dynamic lead vocalist Jacquelinne and here without furthur comment  is our conversation:

WES (Mister Nervous):

You guys have come a long way as a band since I first saw you at 14 Below, but right away I was impressed with the message you were trying to get across in the music and words. Could you try to describe the intention, the message that drives your music?

Jacquelinne (Spirit Vine)

Anything that inspires, helps people grow, transforms, pulsates, makes people imagine…I am really into cycles right now…death and rebirth, moving out of the past and keeping your intentions as honest as possible.

WES:

Your recent GOLDEN ep has been getting some very positive write-ups online lately and you’re still recording new stuff. Are you planning to release a full cd in the future?

Jacquelinne:

Hell yeah! We are in the midst of writing it right now….so amazing to see how the sound evolves…like watching a baby grow in front of your eyes….the process will be a little different too….we used to record in a back house/Wooden Ship in Echo Park…now we have graduated to Kelly’s farm in Silverlake…we will also be in good hands with Anthony Caruso who will be recording this record…everything else is a secret

WES:

Three of you were in Wake Up Incinerate (I still play that cd sometimes) and Spirit Vine is a very different thing. What prompted you to form Spirit Vine?
Jacquelinne:

Honestly, Gabe and I started smoking a lot of weed…we were definitely opening doors of perception…we got really into old Pink Floyd, Syd Barett, Bob Dylan ( I know, I know I started my Bob Dylan phase later…at least I admit it) Memphis Jug Band, and a bunch of old blues. We started writing in a style that felt really honest and coming from the soul and knew we were flying in the right direction.

WES:

How do you compose your songs? Is it individuals bringing complete songs to the band or is it more of a democratic group effort?

Jacquelinne:

There is no format…it started as Gabe and I writing a lot and then became whatever feels good…whatever is good for the tune

WES:

Do you think the “album” era is really over (full cd’s over 30 minutes often produced to be consistent in theme and sound) or is there still interest in longer works by artists?

Jacquelinne:

Oh no…I hope not! I love collecting records and if money served me right I would collect a lot more….one of my favorite things is the smell of old vinyl and geeking out to all of the cool artwork, lyrics, thank yous, who played what on this record, blah blah blahs

WES:

People have tried to describe your sound but is there a way you like to characterize it?

Jacquelinne:

Maybe if Mazzy Star had a drug problem and had a love child with Keith Richards who was also sleeping with Stevie Nicks who then injected Howlin’ Wolf and Sun House into the veins of Lennon’s imagination, Lou Reed’s swagger and Iggy Pop’s fist….phew!

WES:

Do you guys do a lot of reading? What is it you’re reading recently?

Jacquelinne:

Uh yeah! My mom always jokes that I am exactly like my dad…enjoying myself in a room full of books…it is so weird it is hysterical….right now I am reading Crime and Punishment, Jazz, The Sorcerer’s Way and well How To Read the Tarot….Gabe is currently working on Cash by Johnny Cash and onto Joseph Campbell…again and again and again and again

WES:

You have been playing some more high profile venues lately like the Hotel Cafe, what do you think has been the most responsible for the band’s rise in visibility?

Jacquelinne:

Weed

WES:

The band is going through some changes recently and it looks like you’re going to have a new bass player. Is there anything you’d like to say about that?

Jacquelinne:

Yeah anyone wanna join us? No, really, we are pretty sad about it…we are loosing an OG member and the backbone to the sound….he always has a place with us.

WES:

What’s your favorite food (or if you prefer what is your favorite color)?

Jacquelinne:

Pizza and salsa and tacos and avocados and… wine… I don’t care that it is not a food!

WES:

Is there anything you want to add, or something you’re just aching to say?

Jacquelinne:

We ain’t dead…yet

The LA FOLDAWAYS are finally entering intense rehearsals in May. A side project from the Mister Nervous band, Wes and a dedicated crew of misfits will be pulling together a repertoire of “classic” rockNroll including numbers from The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, The Kinks, Van Morrison, Shocking Blue (!), The Who… and more stuff including some interesting takes on old blues and RnB songs. A core trio is working as the lynchpin – and a large pool of  singers and players will rotate as the “front” or songleaders in many performances.

Not quite a tribute, “Classic Rock” or jam band – more a combination of all three. Shows will often feature completely different band line-ups, as available players will work in different combinations making each show completely unique. The LA Foldaways mission: to treat many of our favorite vintage songs as vibrant living things to be joyously jammed (as opposed to reverently copied).

We’ll let you know more soon.

Every Tuesday at the Airliner is a different theme, like the 60s night here

This Tuesday’s event at the Airliner is GO FOLK YOURSELF and features Pierre de Reeder (of Rilo Kiley), Pete Covington (from New South Wales, Australia), Homesick Elephant and Mister Nervous (hey that’s us, we’re opening up this weeks show at 8pm with a bang… well we can get kinda loud…) and 6 other musical artists. With 2 (or more) stages running at the same time wandering through the large funky building allows you to check out many different artists in a single evening.

I had a chance to interview Vince Munoz, he’s the guy who puts these Tuesday things together, so instead of me raving away let’s see what the man who makes it all happen has to say.

“Every Tuesday I do is a different monthly event”, says Munoz,” For example the first Tuesday of every month I do an indie-electronic event (Tektonik LA). Every 4th Tuesday we’ve just started doing a ’60s night. We normally have DJs spinning ’60s soul, mod, motown, etc. downstairs, while upstairs we’ve been getting some really good local acts covering different bands from the ’60s.”

“The fact that my job is getting to listen to good bands is very cool.  With Go Folk Yourself what we want to do is turn the venue into more of an experience. We want the event to be a place where artists, musicians and vendors can network and get their name out. The goal is to get really good acts that not only make the show strong and fun but also we want to give them an opportunity to come back every month and build their fans. We’ve been  getting vendors and artists to setup their products, paintings, sculptures etc. in our back patio.”

“The plan for all of our events is to branch out to a bigger community”, Vince stresses,” we want to do more than just be another show with a bunch of bands.”

GO FOLK YOURSELF

APRIL 13th 2010 – 8pm

THE AIRLINER

2419 N. Broadway

Los Angeles CA 90031

- WES D

(hit the  link below and read my complete interview with Vince!)

HERE’S THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW

The Sundowners do what they please

There’s nothing quite like a SUNDOWNERS show. The songs this band plays are completely their own and influenced (as lead singer and guitarist Dennis Stahl says) by,”…all the good shit from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. This is not a contrived sound for the masses, it’s a heavy psychedelic, spiritual blues sound:100% organic and designed to open the mind. There are a lot of acts out there, yes, but only a few bands. What this means is three guys and a lady who play together and off of each other. We don’t cater to any particular audience, just those interested in good rock and roll from every era.”

From the hills of Alta Dena where the air is justa little clearer and the altitude justa little higher their music will probably remind you of a lot of things but it’ll never sound even slightly derivative. And live the band projects an atmosphere of affection and whimsy that makes it feel like you’ve been invited into a happy house-party with your new favorite slightly bent friends.

Michael Harpel and Dennis Stahl

On  SKELETONIZE , their second album,  the songs pull from an even wider landscape of sounds and moods than on their sprawling two disc debut cd. Just when you think you know where the journey is headed the band’ll switch it up and take you to some new unexpectedly wonderful place…as Dennis recently remarked “we’ll do uptempo and downtempo in the same song”. This flies in the face of the current trend of easily pigeonholed cookie-cutter compositions many groups use to try to zero-in on their currently chosen demographic target, which naturally makes this unaffected take-us-as-we-are crew very near and dear to Mister Nervous’ heart.

And so we are pleased beyond words to say the Sundowners are opening up our Mister Nervous record release party this Thursday!

The Sundowners love you and they're your new best friends!

THURSDAY MARCH 18th

THE UNKNOWN THEATER
1110 Seward St.
Los Angeles CA 90038

(with MY IMAGINARY FRIENDS and MISTER NERVOUS)

Doors open at 10pm
$10 at the door (however: drinks are very reasonable!)

My Imaginary Friends are playing a rare midnight set at the DRAMA release party Thursday

The record company suits might call My Imaginary Friends alternative country rock, but you’ll call ‘em irresistible. Erin Armstrong writes songs that sound like your best friend is just plain talkin’ to ya… except you’re surrounded by a soundscape as real and familiar as your favorite streach of sun-dappled country road. The band’s music folds pop, indie, country, jazz and rock elements into a completely original mix that  always feels like the real deal. If these songs don’t immediately get under your skin and into your heart then you and I got nothin’ to talk about.

Erin and Ben Fordham (fiddle, mandolin, guitar)  left Charleston, SC, and joined up in LA with Grant and Yohei. Their newest  cd Blue Carolina is startin’ to cause a bit of a stir in Nashville as well. And why not? The record opens with Sue Thrasher an exhilarating rockabilly rush of blues harp and slide guitar. It’s a near mission-statement with Erin in full Carolina Firecracker mode (“Even Carolina is turnin’ blue; Darlin’ you don’t know nothin’ ’bout where I’m from”). Blue Carolina is an excellent representation of the band’s live energy, where even the most bittersweet songs in the set are delivered with such infectious bonhomie it often feels like half the audience is floatin a foot above the floor.

These days the band has stepped back from the constant gigging they were doing for a while, so chances to catch this excellent band are not so frequent… but we’re very happy to say they’ll be with us on Thursday to help us launch the new Mister Nervous cd! Erin and Ben contributed vocals and violin to some tunes on DRAMA and they’ll be sittin’ in with us during the Mister Nervous set so come early and see 3 fantastic bands.

THURSDAY MARCH 18th

THE UNKNOWN THEATER
1110 Seward St.
Los Angeles CA 90038

(with THE SUNDOWNERS and MISTER NERVOUS)

Doors open at 10pm
$10 at the door (however: drinks are very reasonable!)

Thursday 3/18  -  Doors open at 10pm

$10 at the door… awesome space, affordable drinks, great music!

You’re coming, yeah?