Although we haven't had the busiest of gig seasons so far,
we've been able to cover some pretty fantastic artists all over the place.
It's a real joy being in the photo pit, especially when knowing that there are some wonderful people out there who come to visit house in the sand for those gig photos.
Today you'll get to enjoy some brilliant shots our Los Angeles based photographer Melissa captured for you.
Date: 1st October 2019 Venue: The Belasco, Los Angeles, CA (US) Support: The New Regime
The New Regime is Ilan Rubin's solo project.
The musician from San Diego, CA (US) has been writing, recording, releasing and touring since 2007 and his Alternative tracks have allowed him to build an excited fanbase.
Ilan usually plays and sings every part of the work he puts out and has released a big amount of tracks. Although the multi-instrumentalist is busy playing with Nine Inch Nails and Angels & Airwaves.
Somehow he has still managed to make time for his own project and has supported bands such as Muse, The Killers, Alice In Chains and more. His latest record "Heart Mind Body & Soul" will be released in four parts between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020. The first installation, "Heart", is already out.
Watch the music video for "A Way To Feel Again" right here:
Angels & Airwaves are an Alternative Rock band from San Diego, CA (US).
Founded by Tom DeLonge in 2005 after he parted ways with blink-182.
Angels & Airwaves allowed him to discover a new dynamic, musically and lyrically.
Angels & Airwaves are: Tom DeLonge David Kennedy Ilan Rubin
Being able to rediscover and where he wanted to take the sound, Tom took inspiration from bands such as U2, Box Car Racer (in which he and David both played), Coldplay and more.
The band has released multiple EPs and LPs, the lastest being "The Dream Walker" which was released in 2014.
Watch the music video for "Rebel Girl" right here:
The beauty of having a team of amazing writers and photographers working together to create the content to you see on house in the sand, is that we all bring different tastes and interests to the table.
However, we all have the same goal and that is to allow you to get to know your favourite acts better and for you to meet some new favourites along the way.
And we believe that the best way to achieve that goal is to chat to the artists themselves and share the conversations with you.
Our LA based writer and photographer Melissa had a little chat with Froth a while back and we're excited to share it with you now.
Before you dive into the interview, please make sure to follow Melissa: twitter | facebook | instagram
Their influences range from shoegaze to psychedia to post-punk, ultimately causing them to create a wild noise rock signature sound.
Joo-Joo Ashworth, Jeremy Katz and Cameron Allen have been releasing music together since 2014 and have celebrated the release of their third album, "Duress", earlier this year.
Froth's live sets are as memorable as their studio recordings, incorporating analog snythesizers, overdubs and drum machines, ensuring their listeners are having an amazing time watching them live.
2019 has seen them performing alongside Black Marble, Versing, A Place To Bury Strangers DJs and more.
Melissa got to chat to Jeremy who told her all about the "Yanny/Laurel" debate, what the band does on days off and where they find their influences.
house in the sand: Hey Froth! Thanks so much for taking the time to have a little chat with us at house in the sand! How are you guys doing on tour?
Froth:We're basically done and driving back, but it went really well. We got along super well with the whole touring party (Black Marble, DYED).
HITS: Being from Los Angeles, would you say that the city has any influence in your sound or the lyrics in your songs?
Froth: I wouldn't say that specifically the city influences the music, but it probably does. Definitely we used to be very inspired by local LA bands and the whole scene. I'm inspired by the Dodgers now too.
HITS: The video for your song "Laurel" is so creative and kind of has a nostalgic "90's" vibe with the animation, I felt a Space Jam reference in there. What was the creative thought process when coming up with the idea for the video?
Froth: Definitely analog Space Jam was a goal from the video. It was all masterminded by Courtney Garvin (from The Courtneys) who had all the shots and animations planned out. She actually said she woke up from a dream one day and got the idea.
HITS:
You've said the song was based on the "Yanny/Laurel" video that went viral last year. Which name did you guys hear? I could only hear Laurel.
Froth: I heard Yanny first but only two times, then Laurel forever. HITS: If I asked you to cover a song by another band - which one would it be and why?
Froth: It would be "Autumn Sweater" by Yo La Tango because it's already so similar to our song "xvanos".
HITS: Describe tour life for us; what are some things you do on days off? What is your number one must have essential when traveling?
Froth:We try to find something good to eat and a newer thing is trying to find something physical to do. We used to do tours where we would just sit in the van and eat convenient garbage and bicker with each other. Now it's about eating pho and hitting some batting cage. Swimming outside on days off, playing with a ball.
HITS: Please complete the following sentence: We are Froth and we...
Froth: hate our first album, "Patterns".
HITS: Is there anything else you'd like house in the sand readers to know?
Froth:We are Froth and we hate our first album, "Patterns".
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We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Froth! Make sure to check out their music.
Whether we attend shows in massive arenas or small venues,
they are always special.
Arena shows stand out because of how energetic it feels to be in a crowd of thousands,
celebrating the same music. Small venues provide so much intimacy and character,
allowing us to understand the art so well.
Either way, concerts let us dive into the worlds the artists have created,
and that's brilliant.
Our LA based photographer Melissa recently got to dive into the sound world provided by Didirri,
an exciting and excellent artist from Australia.
Date: 20th November 2018 Venue: Hotel Café, Los Angeles (US) Headliner: Didirri
Didirri is a musician from Melbourne, Australia.
Ever since starting out, Didirri has managed to achieve big things, such as selling out two headline tours in 2017, supporting acts like Tash Sultana, Vance Joy, The Jezabels and The Temper Trap, and he sold out his first ever show in London at Shacklewell Arms.
Besides all of that, the young musician also played Fairgrounds Festival, Grampians Festival, Boogie Fest and NYE On The Hill.
Didirri switches between playing with a full band and playing solo shows. The latter providing a lot of intimacy, while the full band shows hit you with all the depth his music has to offer.
His debut EP, "Measurements", was released in July of 2018 and has convinced music fans all over the world of Didirri's talent. Whether it's the dreamy "I Can't Get Last Night Out Of My Head" or the historical "Formaldehyde",
these songs quickly became staples for playlist.
Didirri recently played a show at LA's Hotel Café and today we get to share the photos our photographer Melissa took for you.
We believe that interviews are perfect ways to introduce you to artists.
Whether you already know them, or are just finding out about them - being able to learn more a person and their views can help you connect with their art on another level.
And because we love getting to know artists better, doing interviews for this website is always an absolute joy.
Today we're thrilled to share our chat with Gabriel Black.
Gabriel Black is an artist originally from Pennsylvania, now based in Los Angeles, US. His own description is as follows, "I sing songs poorly and draw shitty cartoons".
Well, we see it differently. We're really digging Gabriel's sound and his creative way of animating his music. And we're not alone; his track "jump" has racked up more than 800.000 streams on Spotify and over a million views on YouTube.
Describing his sound can be a bit tricky, fellow music critics have used alternative rock, postpunk and hiphop. And they've kinda nailed it.
However, you should definitely check it out yourself.
Check out HITS founder Vanessa's chat with Gabriel as they chat about stereotypes, texting fans, ABBA and a lot more.
This interview was held via phone on August 29th.
Gabriel Black: Hey, how are you?
house in the sand: Hi there, I'm good! How are you?
GB: Pretty good, how about you?
HITS: It's a really rainy day over here. Hope it's better in LA!
GB: Yeah, it's sunny. Really sunny. Palm trees are swaying.
HITS: That's brilliant! Sounds gorgeous!
GB: Honestly, it gets a little old. I could use a little rain, it never rains here and I miss the rain.
HITS: I get it, but sunshine doesn't hurt, does it?
GB: No, it's cool.
HITS: So how's your day? What have you been up to so far?
GB: Today I'm doing a few calls but other than that, just hanging out and making music, that type of stuff. It's kinda earlier here, I just woke up a little bit ago.
HITS: So, I wanna talk a bit about this stereotype that artists sit around all day and that songs kind of drop from the sky. And I kinda wanna end that stereotype because we all know it's not true.
GB: No, it's not true.
HITS: So I was wondering how much time you put into your music? How long does it take you to finish a project?
GB: To finish a project? It takes me time. Part of the stereotype- okay, without a doubt you have to endlessly be working, you know?
Because you'll go through waves to make something, just waves of stuff that you don't like, is not good - and you have to work through it to then have the breaking point where you get something good. So you always have to be working but to the opposite of that point, I do think, at a certain point a song will kind of come to you. You know what I mean?
HITS: Yeah, that totally makes sense.
GB: You can't just sit around, because then you're never going to improve. The whole thing is, you have to work through the bad moments; the uninspired, the not really productive moments to get to the gold.
So yeah, I probably work.. I work, I don't know. See, I do the art shit as well, so I do a few hours of the art shit a day and probably five, six hours of making music. Something like that. It's off and on, it's scattered. I've also got Netflix playing in the background, it's a mix of it.
HITS: That's totally cool. So you also animate your videos yourself - so I was wondering, when you write your music, do you already envision what the video is going to look like at the same time? Or does that just happen later on?
GB: Yeah, totally. I think that visually when I make music, I always kind of have an image in my head.
Whether it's just a guitar loop that I've done, I'll even start thinking what kind fits it visually. But especially once I start adding words, then it really comes together. I think about videos from the very start.
HITS: You seem to be pretty open about dark moments in your life through your music. Does that ever feel scary to you?
GB: Yeah!! That's kind of why it started out as a cartoon, to hide me, so I could be open about it and not show people who I am. I mean, yeah, putting yourself out there is very scary.
I've always been kind of shy to be honest. In High School would never play the talent shows or whatever, because I was very shy.
It's easier to be more open with people that don't know you than with people that do know you. So putting on a mask and being able to have a little bit of separation has been a really good thing for me.
HITS: That totally makes sense and it's really relatable. You seem to be really active on social media - and nowadays it goes hand in hand with music. And I've seen that you've put out your number online - so how did you come up with that?
GB: To be honest, I just thought it would be cool to have a way to talk to people directly. I mean, you can still dm me on Instagram and shit like that. But I just thought it would be cool to be like "let's just text.".
HITS: Amazing!
GB: And then that just happened. And to be honest, I'm not a big fan of social media. I know I'm on there a lot, or I'm trying to be. But really I hate how important social media is to music.
So texting was kind of a way of I didn't have to go on there but I could still talk to people. Being able to text feels closer than dm-ing someone.
HITS: Oh yeah, absolutely. So have any funny stories come out of that? Have you received any weird or strange texts so far?
GB:Weird or strange texts? Not really. Most of the texts honestly are more emotional.
HITS: Oh really? That's nice!
GB: I think by making music that is very true to myself, it has resonated with people in some way, so people will hit me up and tell me what's going on in their lives and how a song has helped them in some type of way.
It's gotten very deep at times, sometimes overwhelming to be honest. And I don't always know how to handle it, but I'm honoured that people will open up as much as they do. It's cool! I feel like I have a real bond with a lot of these people.
HITS: That's really beautiful actually, wow. It guess that also makes it a bit easier for you to be open, in return, because you know there are people who are willing to do the same.
GB: Yeah! I supposed it's true, I really haven't thought about it that way but I guess that's true. That's what I think, my supporters, that's what they expect from me now. It's just honest lyrics and shit like that. And then when we talk, I just try to be myself.
HITS: Of course, and that's always how it's meant to be, I guess.
To switch it up a bit and get into a bit of a lighter mood around here - I've seen your Spotify playlist and one band I was not expecting to see on there was ABBA, which is incredibly cool. Would you say your taste in music is pretty wide ranged?
GB: Oh yeah, for sure. To me, a good song is just... you just have to feel it, above anything. And I feel ABBA songs, witout a doubt.
My mom used to play a lot of ABBA when we were together. I went to the Broadway and saw Mamma Mia! and stuff like that. And literally whenever we were driving around, my sister, my mom and me would play ABBA in the car.
You just feel the music. To me the writing isn't that poetic, it's very upbeat, which is different to my kind of stuff. But like I said, when you feel it, you feel it and that's all that matters.
HITS: Brilliantly put. If you could form a supergroup with three of your favourite acts - who would you pick?
GB: Kid Cudi, Kanye West and do I get to pick one other or am I the third?
HITS: You can pick one more.
GB: Kid Cudi, Kanye West and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, something like that. I don't know.
HITS: I feel like you've now manifested it, so one day we'll have that.
GB: Yeah, that would be crazy.
HITS: For sure! So what's next for you?
GB: Put out more music. It might take a second, but put out more music. I have ideas for crazier stuff in the works, I wanna make a TV show with the cartoon. I think that would be really cool. But yeah, that's really down the line. But next is really more music.
HITS: So we've got a lot to look forward to.
There is one question we ask everyone before we finish the interview: we have built a house in the sand, if you could build a house anywhere in the world, where would you build it?
GB: Anywhere in the world? Whoa, that is hard! I honestly think about this a lot because I love dreaming about my future and shit like that. Geez, it's really hard. I often dream about three houses.
HITS: Fair enough!
GB: I don't know. I think I'd like to live outside San Francisco, in Marin County, it's super beautiful there. It's still pretty close to know, you know, I live in LA so it's only six hours away. But I think it's one of the most beautiful places. And it rains a lot, as we were talking about. It rains!!!
HITS: Whoa, it's coming full circle! Amazing!
GB: Exactly, exactly!
HITS: Cool! So thank you so much for taking the time to have this little chat - that was cool, I really enjoyed it.
GB: Thank you for having me!
We hope you enjoyed our chat!
Thank you for your visit!
Credits // Words (Intro & Questions): Vanessa Jetwash | Image & Answers: Gabriel Black
I'm not gonna lie, sitting at your desk for hours is so exhausting for the mind and so painful for the butt.
I've been walking in circles in between parts and stood while writing the last post.
Good thing is, the next EP we're here to introduce to you, is going to get us all up on our feet and d(a)nce away.
(Okay, that was a #dadjoke, sorry!)
So yeah, put those dancing shoes on and let's move our desk bodies a bit.
Band: DNCE Title: People To People Genre: Pop, Alternative Label: Republic Records Release Date: 15th June 2018
DNCE are a four piece outfit based in Los Angeles, US.
The band found together through a couple connections and is now here to share their funky Alternative sound with us.
DNCE are: Joe Jonas (vocals) JinJoo Lee (guitar)
Cole Whittle (bass, keyboard)
Jack Lawless (drums)
Their debut single "Cake By The Ocean" ended up scoring double-platinum and allowed the band to enter the pop industry with a bang.
After
releasing their debut EP "SWAAY", touring with Selena Gomez and winning
"Best New Artist" at the MTV Video Music Awards, DNCE have created a lot of buzz for their debut album "DNCE" which they released in November 2016.
With an ever-growing fanbase and the big media loving their sound, DNCE haven't slowed down. "Kissing Strangers" ft. Nicki Minaj was one of 2017's catchiest tracks.
Their re-imagined version of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" featured none other than the legend himself and got us all dancing.
Now, let's check out their brand new EP, "People To People".
Tracklist:
1) TV In The Morning
2) Still Good
3) Lose My Cool
4) Man On Fire
Opener "TV In The Morning" starts our journey into the new EP on a gentle and relaxed note.
When listening to the details of the instrumentation, we're getting proper 80s vibes.
The layers of synths, drum beats, bass line and guitar riffs blends into a smooth mix of greatness.
The way the backing vocals duet with the lead vocals - all performed by lead singer Joe - creates a super interesting and dynamic vibe, whilst still not going over the top and letting the song breathe.
"Still Good" might be the most lively track of the EP.
The song has a hopeful and comforting feeling to it and really stands out. The melody in the pre-chorus is absolutely addictive and possibly the catchiest thing we've heard in months. If you close your eyes, you'll easily believe that you're somewhere at a beach, laying in the sun or jumping onto a surfboard.
(Fun fact: "Still Good" was co-written by Wrabel, one of our favourite acts who we had a super entertaining phone conversation with a while ago.)
Whilst we've mostly heard mellow instrumentals and soft vocals, "Man On Fire" is here to shake things up. Guitarist JinJoo treats us with rocking riffs, drummer Jack guides us through the track with controlling beats, bassist Cole presents THE funkiest bassline this track could've seen and singer Joe shows off his wide vocal range.
To sum it up: This EP is many things - but mostly it is absolutely smooth and such a feel-good record. DNCE have created a sound world of their own and with "People To People" they let us become a part of it. It's a cohesive collection of tracks - but boy, it's anything but shallow. So, what are you waiting for? Dive into DNCE's world.
You should listen to these tracks: Still Good, Man On Fire
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