A Boy's Irrational Bedtime Fear: Let's Be Loveless Talk Recording and Nightmares

It feels like it's been forever since we've done a good old fashioned chat interview here on Hearts Bleed Radio. In my defense, I've been doing a shit ton of booking (May has 5 friggin' Fridays!). This week we have a showcase on Friday at Matchless and Saturday at Pet Rescue. You should probably come to both of them, because, whoever you are, I don't seen you enough and we need to hang out more. So... Friday's lineup is great. Opening up is me, Stephen Otto Perry, playing solo, like I never do. Second we have White Like Fire, all the way from Pittsburgh, PA (they are awesome!) and Shelter Dogs (Brian LaRue's other other band, which he fronts). Next is Let's Be Loveless, and closing out the night is The Black Black. I can't say enough about this lineup, it's diverse but it works. Anyway, we had some chat action with Abby and Eric from Let's Be Loveless. Here's the transcript:

Hearts Bleed Radio: You guys have been busy in the studio. You have a single and a B-side dropping this week and an EP on the way?

Eric: Well, we just mixed/mastered 2 songs out of about 7 tunes we've been painstakingly writing/recording. It's been a year process. We get a little obsessive when recording. We are hoping to drop one of them this week, and maybe another in May to keep people interested.

Abby: We are super excited to release these songs.

HBR: Which one is dropping this week?

Eric: Well, not sure. Which one do you think works. Stephen, You are like the 3rd person to hear them. Ha.

Abby: We'll get back to you on which single we're releasing, but it will either be "Hostages" or "A Boy's Irrational Bedtime Fear" or "Death to the Moon."

HBR: Do you enjoy recording?

Abby: Recording is actually my favorite part of the process. Liquor helps a lot when doing vocals.

HBR: Really? Haha, it's my least favorite.

Eric: Yeah, I'm a fan of writing/recording. It's when I feel like I'm actually creating something.

Abby: Yes, it's like giving birth.

Abby and Eric, I'm not even going to describe this picture, it's too perfect.

HBR: I think "A Boy's Irrational Bedtime Fear" is the first single.

Eric: I think so too. It's a rocker, and has awesome Smiths'y title.

Hey Haybaby! Nice to meet you.

Hope you all made it through the polar vortex in one frozen piece. Thirty-five degrees feels like springtime to me. Anyhow, we have the first showcase of the year this Wednesday at Cake Shop, and we're really excited for the lineup. The Mad Doctors are up first, followed by Crazy Pills, pow wow!, and then Haybaby. Doors at 8, don't be late. Check out this chat with Haybaby. Try to control your excitement. Save it for the dance floor.


Hearts Bleed Radio: Can you start us off by telling us a little about the band?

Zach: Leslie and I met at a show of a band I played in called Bad and the Ugly, and then a while later I asked her to join a band with my ex girlfriend called Peter Pan, which became Peter Pan and the Lost Boys once Leslie joined. I also played in a band called Steer at the time and we played a show with Sam's other band called Spaces.

HBR: Did this all take place in NYC?

Leslie: We started as Haybaby when Zach and his ex broke up with our friend Caleb. He was on bass at first then wanted to switch to lead guitar so we had Sam join on bass, then Caleb moved back to Boston so we were just three again. Yeah, all in Brooklyn.

Zach: That pretty much sums it up, although my ex did not break up with Caleb, but my ex and I broke up.

Leslie: I play guitar, Zach drums, and Sam's on bass. We all sing, but Zach and I share lead.

HBR: Do you think that bass players need to have a good sense of humor because they are kinda the "losers" of the band?

Zach: Definitely think so which is why Sam is perfect.

Leslie: Sam definitely is the biggest loser in the whole world but he is also the best at bass in the universe.

Zach: True and it's awesome that he's not here to defend himself 'bout his loserdom.

Leslie: I think he would agree.

Zach: True, but he is the baddest ass at bass that I know.

A rare pic of a NYC band in a non-taxi automobile.

HBR:Well, in all honesty, bass players aren't "losers" but it is kinda a thankless instrument, right?

Zach: Not when you play like Sam. He thanks the powers that be with every note. I just think that they are in fact losers.

HBR: I'm going to pay special attention to that on the 15th. So, how do you guys go about songwriting? Is it a group process?

Leslie: I think in a lot of bands the role of the bassist is pretty boring, holding down root notes or whatever but that definitely is not the case in Haybaby. Sam pretty much defines the groove of the whole song and I just noodle around it.

Summer/Fall Roundup! Music for your ear-brain-heart mechanism to digest.

  Hey everyone, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's been a strange couple of weeks for me, but I've managed to have some Halloween fun, watch my beloved Red Sox win the World Series, and possibly have secured a new job. Needless to say, I've been swamped with shit to do, and really haven't been able to get around to writing about everything that has been sent my way. Unfortunately, some things slip through the cracks. Here are some albums that came out over the last couple of months that deserve a listen. It's an eclectic group of mostly friends/local artists, and there ought to be something for everyone in here somewhere.

The HBR new music research team. Our employees are our greatest asset.

In order of release date:

Dead Leaf Echo - Thought & Language

  DLE is a really rich, almost symphonic, shoegaze meets kinda pop-goth band. I don't even know what this stuff is called anymore really, but there's a lot of attention paid to detail and if you give it a deep listen, you'll be rewarded. "Memorytraces" is my favorite track on this album, give it a listen... Oh, and they are playing three shows on the East Coast this month. I highly recommend catching them if you can.




American Darlings - With Love, In Retrospect

  When I first saw these guys, at Legion, like, in the spring... I thought they were a super loud, indie guitar death, kinda overpowering huge Jazzmaster squeal tsunami wave murder squad. But I guess that's just how bands come off in loud small rooms, after everyone has had a couple. On With Love, In Retrospect you can tell that these guys really put songwriting first, and it's almost surprising how poppy they really are. American Darlings are that mix of catchiness, rawness, attitude and sweetness that really makes indie rock special. "No Clue" is the opening track on the album, and is one of the strongest tracks, right off the bat.

Marta from The Meaning of Life talks videos, cats, and CMJ

  As promo for 10/17 Hearts Bleed Radio CMJ Showcase #1, my band Big Quiet was going to record a collaboration with The Meaning of Life. Unfortunately, we couldn't make the time to get it recorded in time, so you're going to have to wait till, well, who knows when. But it's gonna be an original song, and it's gonna be sweet! Anyway, instead of a song right now, you get an interview, and a song in the future. You can see both bands (as well as FAN-TAN, EULA, and Heavy Birds) on Thursday, and another great bill (I set it up, so I'm biased...) on Saturday 10/19. So check out this interview with The Meaning of Life's singer/bassist Marta DeLeon and get pumped for the festival!


Hearts Bleed Radio: So, I've known you guys for awhile, but I'm not sure exactly how TMOL got started. How did you and Christian meet?

Marta: Somewhere between J-Date and the Bensonhurst Times? I answered Chris's ad for a female singer who sounded like Talk Talk's Mark Hollis being tickled by Jeff Buckley.

HBR: You seem like such a good fit for each other, it's hard to believe you met that way. What was it like when you first sat down to play together, and how is it different now?

Marta: I'm always a little scared meeting strange men in remote areas of Brooklyn BUT Chris's silliness translated through email. I was glad he also seemed to be a intuitive and creative player at the end of the B6 bus ride. We played for a couple of hours mostly originals. We were going to do a Velvet Underground cover I think to break the ice. Our approach today is similar. We start playing in the practice space with our adept current drummer San Lajeen and form a verse and maybe a chorus piece of the song. Then we make fun of each other while one talks of an obscure sitcom and or metal band. San grew up in Kalmyk and Chris in Chile so that makes the pop culture POV really fun.

Just another day at TMOL practice...

HBR: We did a piece on the Laura V video. Now that it's been out for awhile, are you thinking of making more videos? I kinda think you guys should do a movie.

Marta: Sure and something much different than Monty Python right?! The video really let us express the absurdity, color and cinematic qualities that we feel in our heads when play and write music. We are inspired by so many different images, vintage and futuristic I'd love to make something like "The Man Who Fell to Earth" type video/mini movie next time. These things take time and a little bit of bling.

HBR: Yeah, that's true. I'd like to see a four song EP, where like, you make videos for each song. Then, if you watch them in a row, it all actually goes together somehow. Anyway...
Are you working on anything in the studio right now?