A Chat with The Loud Bangs (23.05.23)
Exactly what it says on the tin, US-based foursome The Loud Bangs is just that: a loud bang! Compared to Pink Floyd, Alice Street, Daisy Gutierrez, Hannah Remley and Marcus Nemuro bring a hard-hitting but ethereal whimsy to audiences. We speak with frontwoman Alice Street about their new EP Why Things Fray, what food she finds difficult to eat, future plans and more.
OSR: I know this is very cliche but how did The Loud Bangs come together? What drew everyone to music?
Street: I play guitar. Daisy plays piano. At 12, I said to her, “Hey, you should play guitar, too.” So, she took up guitar. I then told her, you should play really loud with a bunch of pedals just like THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE. So, she did. Then I told her she should be in a rock band with me called THE ALICE EXPERIENCE, so she joined. She then asked, “Are you ever going to learn fucking piano?” And I said, “No, why? I have you.” Then later we met Hannah Remley and Marcus Nemuro and we formed the greatest rock band in the history of rock bands. The end.
OSR: What can you tell us about your EP Why Things Fray? Is there a theme or backstory?
Street: To be frank, it’s almost exclusively about Daisy’s trauma of not convincing me to learn piano. I’m kidding. It’s really about how I live in Mexico City now and the rest of the band stayed back in LA and no one can ever get me to respond to their texts and so they think I’ve killed myself. And it’s about a guy I went out with last year who is still in my life but we’ve both changed into these crazy sea creatures who swim in different waters and never talk.
OSR: Do you think Why Things Fray fully represents you as a band?
Street: Each of our EPs is a different sort of thing. We found a lot of different sounds in the last two years, even in the narrow sub-genres of shoegaze and dream-pop. In order to make us not sound insane, we like to approach each of the 8 EPs we’ve done since January 2021 a little differently. For example, Introducing The Loud Bangs was all fuzz and epic rockers, but Salvation Memorial Hospital was clean and poppy. We’ve been called the Pink Floyd of Shoegaze for a reason! We like to talk about our crazy brains, and we like to go high concept, ala The Wall or Animals.
For this latest (and last???), it’s like a waking dream of mid-tempo, heavily reverbed, fairly repetitive (or, as we say, hypnotic) songs about distance – physical and emotional. That’s why the vocals are the furthest in the background they’ve ever been, even though I’m singing more than I did on earlier tracks. I wanted to sound like I was in another universe. And, frankly, I kinda am.
OSR: What do you hope people take from the EP and your music in general?
Street: I just hope they take a 20-minute nap to it and it invades their dreams. Nothing will give you good REM sleep like reverb and people whispering in a stereo field. Hey, that’s not a bad song title!
OSR: What do you think makes The Loud Bangs unique?
Street: Every bit of press or friendly commentary we get is some variation of: “this is so fucking arty.” We aren’t trying to be difficult. In fact, we think of ourselves as hitmakers. We love hooks and we love songs, so what if we try to bend (but not break) the genre. Our hope is that we write the song of the summer, and we think we’re unique because we probably never will, and that’s a shame because it’s almost summer.
OSR: As a female-fronted band, what are your thoughts on the issues of sexual harassment and discrimination against women in the music industry? Do you think these topics are receiving enough awareness to empower women?
Street: Random people must be scared of me because creepy men tend to stay away. Once you get to know me, though, I’m pretty game for flirting. It’s different for Daisy who is even more of a target, but less receptive to rudeness. Though we’re in our early 20s, and there is certainly more time to prove this wrong, as a band, so far (fingers crossed) we’ve been well protected in our bubble. COVID helped, as we weren’t expected to play in front of people, and we do everything in one studio with one producer who knows us well and who we trust. And it’s always just us five. No engineers, no label guys, no friends (unless we do a listening party). The best shoegaze, IMHO, there is always a femininity that’s baked into the masculinity of loud guitars – or maybe that’s the other way around – masculinity baked into the femininity of loud guitars. We did get a comment once: “What, you couldn’t find a female to play drums?” And the honest answer is – no! And even if we could have, this is perfect. Marcus is perfect. And in the studio, we can gang up on him.
On the serious side – leave women alone, people! Really. Just leave them alone. We can’t walk to the train without someone calling out at us. The street is not a place to “connect.” Fuck off. We just want to get to the train without being fucking bothered.
OSR: What is the most recent fact you learned that surprised you?
Street: We recently disclosed a fact that surprised a lot of people. Daisy and me are sisters! We got sick of people saying we looked so much alike, so I’m telling anyone who reads the press… that’s why we look alike. It’s true, we’re related and Alice isn’t my real name. Alice Street is a street in the Jessica Triangle (a section of LA where we grew up). And that’s why I knew Daisy when she was 12. Note: she was awful. And yes, I’m older, so I can very well peer pressure her into playing guitar – it’s my right as an older sister.
For something surprising TO ME… hmmm… I guess that I could write 50 songs in 2 years. That’s pretty fucking dope. But I couldn’t have done it without the support of the band.
OSR: What do you consider the most difficult food to eat?
Street: I hate fish. Scales freak me out.
OSR: Tell us two truths and one lie about yourself.
Street: Tough one. Uh… I’m scared that I’m going to die in a car crash, I’m scared that I’m gonna be hospitalized someday, and I’m the greatest entertainer since Sammy Davis, Jr. or at least since The Weeknd. 150,000,000 monthly listeners????? WTF. I mean, he’s fine, but MY BLOODY VALENTINE has only 1/150th of that. Not fair!
OSR: If you could choose the manner of your death, how would you want to die?
Street: Pass.
OSR: Do you have future plans for The Loud Bangs?
Street: Wait. I’m changing my answer to the last question. Orgasming. Yes. Orgasming then, like, a piano falls on me, like in a glitchy silent movie.
Other than that…
Poverty. Destruction. The usual. Oh, and Shoeplaze, our UK micro-indie has dropped us. Were the first act to release a new EP and get LESS listens per month. Fuck you, The Weeknd! (Kidding, we like him.) SP only kept us on because they liked the music video for ‘Circus Mirror’. Nice English gentlemen who were very supportive, but our SP days have come to an end. This summer they release a few catalogue items to milk us, including new “enhanced” versions of our 20 best songs (an idea we baulked at originally, but kinda turned out cool). Thanks for the questions! I hope I didn’t freak you out!
Many thanks to Alice Street for speaking with us. For more from The Loud Bangs, check out their official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
