Founded in the summer of 2021, Los Angeles rockers The Loud Bangs were brought together by a love of shoegaze, ‘90s alternative, and German club music. The result: thick guitars, analog synthesizers, fuzzy production, and introspection, in that their songs typically center around the subject of mental health. Gaining a reputation as "the Pink Floyd of Shoegaze," their songs are peppered with public domain field recordings alongside sporadic howls, some oohs and ahhs, a few cryptic words here and there. These sparse ornaments and the song titles seem to be all that’s needed to let you into their world.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello The Loud Bangs. How has the time gone for you since our last interview?
Fast! Thanks for another interview. Our last with LITM was December '22 and it is now Feb '23. Like lightning! We dyed our hair, put out two more EPs, and Alice moved to Mexico City.
Who inspired you to make music?
The moon, the stars, some bad boys, some good girls, our friends and family. Oh, and David Bowie. And Talking Heads. And Foo Fighters. And My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, Pixies, Spirit of the Beehive, M83, Lush, Ride, The Primitives, Death, Deftones, St. Vincent, and so many others.
Your latest release is 'Stray Honey'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
'Stray Honey' is (secretly) a collection of unreleased stuff from 'Future Plaza.' Or, to clarify, from the originally conceived full LP, which came out in two halves -- 'Future Plaza' and 'Salvation Memorial Hospital.' So our August to September '22 sessions. We had a 2 LP + 1 EP record deal with Shoeplaze. First, we released 'Zaera,' which was a dry-run Steve Albini-type thing. Then we did 'Introducing the Loud Bangs,' which Shoeplaze split into two EPs. Leftovers from that session became 'The Alice Experience' EP.
Since that worked well we repeated the same formula for the second LP -- two EPs stretched to three -- 15 songs total. These tracks are the sexy ones, so that makes it a bit more cohesive that a normal set of throwaways. We liked each song -- they just didn't fit with the first two EPs.
Can you shortly describe each of the tracks that are on the EP?
'Electroprize' is a big arena rock thing with aggressive metal guitars and drums. We don't have too many songs like it so... enjoy!
'Sex Complex' is the most normal one, so it's the single, of course. It has a cool video from our friend Jill GG. Doesn't really have a chorus, though. Oh well. It's about the pros and cons of promiscuity.
'We All Want to be All Right' was written exiting the pandemic. It was originally a little bridge song between two other songs, but then it evolved into this seven-minute epic. This is a good chill-out track. Alice whispering 'hey! wake up!' was originally a joke, but it sounded great when stoned, so we left it in.
'This Is a Japanese Robot' is us trying to be one of those Manchester baggy bands like THE STONE ROSES or THE CHARLATANS.
The EP closes with 'Bell Gardens,' like a soundtrack to a very weird sci-fi film.
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest musical trends?
The band's early inspiration was alternative music from 1989 to 1991, so for a while it didn't matter! But that caught up with us when we got zero listeners.
So the label asked us to make the new stuff more now-sound. For example, the vocal pitching used by the likes of The 1975 or Charli XCX, and more beats and synthesizers. But it wasn't really forced on us too bad -- we needed a challenge to keep creative. All four of us are very into music from everywhere and all time periods, so our own playlists aren't exclusively retro shoegaze. Bands like Wolf Alice have the same sort of qualities we like -- dreaminess, imagistic lyrics, blurry production -- so we're not alone.
What makes you different from others?
We are TOTALLY unique. Innovators. Pioneers. There is no one like us. We are years ahead of our time. Can' you tell??? How else could you explain that we're not as big as The Weeknd!!!
What’s an average day like for you?
Sleep. Self-pleasure. Eat. Art. Sleep.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
If one of them contacts us, we'll let you know! We don't play shows and our friends don't care so... shrug.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Don't. That's a terrible idea. If you saw the four of us in the studio, you'd think we were fucking insane. It really is like we joined the circus.
What can we expect from The Loud Bangs in the near future?
We have a three-song remix EP coming out called '(International) Honey' that features some really good alternate realities of recent tracks. We were asked to play a live showcase and we're having a heated debate on that. And with utter shock, we are watching our songs 'Candy Sometimes Always' and 'Sex Complex' get thousands of listens. Why? HOW?
So we plot our next move, like Napoleon, and we are certain that this will be as successful.