The Los Angeles underground is exploding with the sound of music, and while angel-voiced siblings are on our minds, let’s talk about Tweak Bird. If you listen closely, two clear, high-pitched voices penetrate the cacophony of a thousand sonic battalions vying for recognition within the Los Angeles sprawl. One of these days, Tweak Bird will bring a riot to your town, and should you come late, you’ll still consider yourself lucky just to catch the echoes of their fearless brand of rock ‘n’ roll. Brothers Ashton and Caleb are recent Los Angeles transplants who have made a name for themselves in the past year on the strength of a sold-out 7-inch debut and a furious live show. Theirs is a snarl of loud, beat-heavy rock loaded with deceptively simple riffs that get heads banging and enviously catchy vocals that, as you can probably guess, get people yelling along. In appearance, Ashton and Caleb could be called Big Bird and Little Bird, respectively, and they are affable conversationalists who often inject their fraternal rapport, which is often complementary and occasionally prickly, with sports references and deadpan sarcasm. In addition to the obvious topic of music, the band recently spoke to Fuzz about the joys of brotherly conflict, Pink Floyd, and spaceships in the desert.
Fuzz: Hey, guys, are you ready?
Ashton: …Yes. Two Tweak Birds, one interviewer.
Caleb: This is Red Five.
So what’s in a name? A friend of mine wondered whether your band name had anything to do with British babes who do crystal meth.
A: (Pause) Yeah, that’s actually it. That’s pretty insane. (Laughter)
Oh, really?
A: Yeah, that’s crazy. Your friend must be psychic.
C: No, I do remember distinctly we were sitting in the rehearsal space one day, and I came up with some probably terrible band name. And I remember you, Ashton, were like, “No, dude, it’s gonna be called”–and he paused for a really long time–“Tweak Bird.” Tweak sounds like ‘tweet,’ and birds are cool, so that works for me.
As brothers, were you guys playing music together from a young age?
A: Yeah, I asked for a guitar when I was eight or ten, and of course, Caleb, being older, got the guitar, and I got a drum set. So by default, I got stuck on drums. We’ve been playing for ten or twelve years.
When did you guys decide to make Tweak Bird an official band?
A: It was probably late 2006? Or was it 2005?
C: I’ll have to check the MySpace. (Laughter) When we started our MySpace is when we became official. We moved out here over three years ago as a three piece band with another dude from our hometown. He was a cool guy, but that band wasn’t doin’ it for us, so he took off and went back to Illinois. Ashton was playing bass at the time, so he switched back over to drums. We just started jamming and said, “Let’s just do it this way,” and we liked it. It was a natural thing.
Why did you choose to move from Illinois to LA as opposed to, say, New York City?
A: LA’s cheaper than New York. And it’s warmer.
C: Yeah we actually were in New York City for a little while, but we didn’t get to see much of the city while we were recording there. We come from the country, and New York City [seems to have] absolutely no nature, and LA at least has, like, spots of it. That’s where we chill out–in nature, in the woods.
A: Yeah, we chill out in the woods, man. (Laughter)
What woods? You guys go hiking around here?
C: We used to go up to Switzer Falls. That was killer.
A: There’s some really nice hiking in southern California. Aside from the city, it’s a really beautiful place.
Speaking of LA, the music scene here is getting a lot of attention these days. No Age, Health, and Mika Miko spearhead that whole Smell scene, and there’s been a resurgence of electronic music represented by Steve Aoki and the Dim Mak crew. As an LA band playing music during this time, do you guys feel an affinity for any scenes? Are you conscious of any greater sense of community within LA?
C: Yeah, it contrasts greatly from our hometown where bands only played punk or hardcore, and it was more of a family than a scene. [In LA], we’ve been trying to do the same thing. Big Business and the Melvins have been great to us, there’s 400 Blows, but we haven’t been like, “This is an LA sound,” or “This is a movement…“
A: At any given time, it seems there’s a city that gets attention for its music, and it is interesting to be a part of it in LA. It is going on, and we are here, and bands we know are a part of it, so I’m really excited to see where it goes. It seems there have been so many musical droughts, but if you happen to make the right decision to be in the right place at the right time, it can work out really well.
LA is a commuter city. What do you guys find yourselves listening to when you’re driving around the city?
C: Om. All day. I work for a catering business, so I’m driving all day. What’s beautiful about Om is that one song is, like, fifteen minutes, so after four tracks, you’ve killed an hour of your life, and you’re, like, “Yes, this is awesome!” (Laughs) It’s patience in music form.
A: I ride my bike or take the bus around the city. I usually listen to podcasts of “This American Life”.
There’s a well-documented history of brothers in bands who don’t get along personally but have an undeniable creative and musical chemistry. Bands like Oasis, Jesus & Mary Chain, and Black Crowes come to mind. You guys seem to get along, but is sibling friction an integral part of your chemistry as band members?
A: It’s a huge part. That’s where all the magic comes from.
C: Yeah, we talk about this all the time. Our styles are pretty opposite, but arguing it out and adjusting and tweaking everything we do until we’re both happy hopefully means we’re doing something good or at least something different.
As you guys continue to write new songs, do you guys find that it’s getting easier to reach that middle ground?
C: I think so, especially these past few months. This spring, with these last two or three songs, we’ve been on the same page more than we’ve ever been. We have the same ideas in mind now.
You guys just released a new EP. Tell me about it.
C: It’s the Whorses 7”.
A: It’s a cool record. They did a really good job, and it looks really great. You can order it off our MySpace.
C: It just came out on Challenge the Throne, a small label in Ventura…
No shit. Ventura’s my hometown.
C: Really? Yeah, the guys at the label are awesome, really laid-back guys. Those two songs will be on an EP that we’re putting out this summer. We’re mixing the final tracks. We’ll have six songs complete.
Will the summer EP be a vinyl-only release or are you guys going to put out the EP on digital and CD formats, too?
C: We’re not sure yet. We’ve had a few different offers, so it’ll depend on who puts out the EP. If we end up putting it out ourselves, it’ll probably be digital and vinyl.
A: There’s always going to be vinyl. Everything that we put out will be released on vinyl.
C: Yeah, vinyl’s a guarantee.
That’s great that you’re committed to vinyl releases. It seems that vinyl is increasingly seen as an archaic way to collect music.
A: I totally agree.
C: Vinyl to me is like a musical baseball card. Even if you put it in a box and shove it in your closet, it’s still part of your collection. It’s there. You can say, “I have over ten thousand baseball cards,” and you hate all them, maybe, but you have a lot. So whatever.
A: (Laughs) As long as you have it, that’s all that matters.
At one of your recent shows, the guitarist from Ancestors come onstage and played with you. Do you guys plan to expand our lineup in the future?
A: No, not really. It’s just fun for us to play live with other people. It’s a little more entertaining for us. You get isolated as a member of a two-piece band, and we have good friends who are in good bands, and they happen to like our songs, so they’ll jump in and play a bit.
C: It’s cool to play with people who have their own take on our songs. To me it seems our songs are pretty elementary–it’s a riff and some drum beats, so you can interpret it in a lot of different ways. It’s cool to hear someone else play with us. (Pause) It’s weird, but it’s cool.
Well, I wouldn’t say your music is elementary. I could be wrong, but your music seems to be informed by minimalist aesthetics, where it’s more about being tasteful and knowing how much to add to a particular song or, rather, knowing when to leave stuff out.
A: Yeah, we’ve always enjoyed that. Over the years, we’ve developed the mentality that “less is more.” We definitely think there’s something to making music that, like you said, is tasteful.
C: But to contrast, one of our most favorite bands is Pink Floyd, and they’re one of the most highly orchestrated, over-dubbed bands. I think we both agree that it’s the feeling, the emotion that comes out of a song, and if we can do it with [just] a guitar and drums, that’s success. All we want to do is evoke some strong feeling.
Being in a two-piece band makes it easy for people to pigeonhole you and compare you guys to the two-piece bands. But I noticed that you [Caleb] have been using a theramin onstage which expands your sound and the possibilities of a traditional drum-and-guitar setup.
C: The theramin is becoming an ever-bigger part of our live sound, and on the last six tracks we recorded, there’s a lot of theramin added to it. And Ashton will play a mini keyboard every now and then. We just like to keep it varied enough so that after hearing the first couple songs, people don’t assume that’s what they’ll hear for the next thirty minutes. It’s for ourselves as much as anyone else because we get bored.
Your dual vocals have been described as “eerie,” and to me, you guys sound like a gang of ghostly banshee children.
(Laughter)
How’d you guys decide to sing like that?
A: Caleb’s always sang with this almost falsetto-y, high-pitched, orchestrated voice, and I’ve always been in punk bands and stoner bands and metal bands, so I’ve always yelled. We’ve always been able to harmonize with each other well, and we’ve sang with each other more than anyone else. In the incubator stage of the band, we were worried about Caleb being the lead singer because we felt that would put us in a two-piece band stereotype, so we decided to double the vocals. I sing with a higher pitch and a little more aggressively, and Caleb sings high and… pretty. (Laughs) I don’t know if people like it so far.
Well, you guys seem to have been getting good responses at your shows. And you guys always look like you’re having a good time performing. That said, what’s the worst show you’ve ever played?
A: I think I’m devastated by all of them. They’re all terrible.
C: Yeah, we just like rehearsing. Shows totally suck. (Laughter) The most memorable show was when we got to open for the Melvins last year, and I broke a string in the middle of the set, so it was the best and worst show for me.
There’s an artist, Max Neutra, who sometimes paints on an easel onstage while you guys perform; it’s an interesting mixing of media. How did that collaboration come about?
A: I met him through mutual friends. I ended up working with him, became friends with him, and I always liked his art. I saw some videos online of him doing these fast-paced, impromptu paintings. I said, “Man, that’d be great if you’d do that onstage with us,” and he was really excited about the idea, and it worked out. We’ve done it a few times, and now he’s painting with other bands in LA.
You guys are making music during a time where the music industry is constantly changing; where, more and more, young bands like yourselves have to make your own way. Do you guys ever feel any anxiety or fear that you guys won’t “make it” or succeed, even on your own terms, whatever those terms may be?
C: We’ll always be playing music. We’re not that good at anything else. And we’d consider signing big if we had the offer; we’ve never said, “We want to be an underground band. That’s who we are, that’s what we do—“
A: That’s not true, that’s totally not true. We’ve never agreed on that, ever.
C: (Laughs) No, but… we’d consider it. If we were given the offer, if it was right.
This is an admittedly shitty question, but, between the two of you, what are your top five albums?
C: I think Pink Floyd’s Meddle is on there. Ashton?
A: Yeah, that’d be on my list, too.
C: And then Black Sabbath’s Paranoid.
A: Uh, probably not for me. My top five would consist of NPR podcasts, probably. That’s pretty much what I’ve been listening to. And I just got this Sony Institute box set of folk music.
C: Oh, so you mean current top five?
A: Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about. There’s no such thing as a permanent top five for me.
C: I thought we were talkin’ All-Madden here.
A: Not the All-Madden team, dude.
Ashton, you’re a new father.
A: That’s correct.
How’s that going? Has that affected your music at all?
A: It’s pretty crazy, man. There’s some sort of enlightenment. Having a kid, I think I’ve finished a level of life. It’s changed me. It’s awesome. But I don’t know if it’s really changed me as a musician. I’m definitely more tired at practice. (Laughs)
Last question, guys. In your song “Spaceships,” you guys sing about seeing fourteen spaceships in the desert. Is that a true story?
A: (Laughs) Yeah, pretty much. I can’t go too deep into it, or it’ll get too crazy, man. You gotta be there to understand.
Well then, what desert was it?
C: It had to be one we’ve been to? When we were driving out here through the Mojave, it was pretty insane. It’s an entire day’s drive of nothingness. It’s like being on another planet. It starts with one weird feeling or thing you see, and your brain can trip out on all these ideas, and you think you’re seeing things or hearing things. And then it goes all Stanley Kubrick from there. (Laughter)
Thanks for your time, guys. I appreciate you guys taking the time to do this.
A: No, thank you, man.
C: Yeah, thank you. This is Red Five signing off.
Check out Tweak Bird at myspace.com/tweakbird