Pop Quiz: La Luz
The ladies of La Luz have been making some serious noise lately, what with signing to Hardly Art, releasing the kick ass It’s Alive and maybe even brainwashing us with their highly creative visuals. Currently on tour with Of Montreal these wonderful girls took some time to reply to our e-mail Pop Quiz!
TGE: The focus of your music and your live shows is to really get people dancing. Who out of the group has the best moves?
Marian: Everyone kinda has their own style, all of which are pretty good, but I like Abbey’s dancing because it’s not quite like anything I’ve seen before.
Shana: I think Alice probably technically has the best moves. Like if you polled 100 people maybe 45% would go for her? I dunno. I don’t think I would win. But that wouldn’t stop me from trying.
Alice: Haha. 45%. Interesting choice. I’d say on stage I enjoy Shana’s moves the most because she’s always doing funny things with her guitar. Out on the floor, I’d beat anyone in a dance off!
Abbey: Ha! Yeah I vote alice when she’s not playing. I guess Shana when we are playing.
TGE: Before signing to Hardly Art you worked a bit with Burger Records. Describe your perfect burger, or sandwich if burgers aren’t your thing.
Marian: Im into bacon burgers with really high quality beef patties and special sauce
Shana: I like burgers that I am led to believe come from cows who had happy lives. As far as toppings I would go for lettuce, tomato, avocado, maybe some sprouts, blue cheese, onion rings.
Alice: I love this question. Lets see, mine would be some sort of hot sandwich. Maybe a vegan Reuben sandwich? Building my own I’d take some Tofurky or FieldRoast with avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion, sprouts, roasted red pepper, some kind of chipotle spread, and some banana peppers.
Abbey: mmmm I love homemade vegan grain/rice/bean patties with infinity arugula and dijon and fat slices of tomato. A warm bun, preferably slightly crispy. And avocado. mmmmmm
TGE: In interviews you’ve mentioned how It’s Alive deals with heartbreak. Got any terrible date stories to share?
Marian: I went on a date with this guy when i was in high school, but didn’t actually realize it was a date until our server at a mexican restaurant brought us a virgin margarita with two straws. Before that I had just been under the impression that we were hanging out like bros.
Shana: Haha! Nice, Marian. Umm. Huh. I can’t think of any right now.
Alice: I’ve been tricked into dates too. When I was living in France, I went out with this guy one night also thinking that we were just bros. There was a bit of a language barrier there, but after the flowers and a few other moves, I realized we both had different ideas as to what the night was supposed to be like. When I tried to confront him about it and explain that I just wanted to be friends, he said (in French) “Oh that’s so cute! You thought I wanted to go out with you?!” and basically patted me on the head. I threw the flowers away.
Abbey: Damn, Alice. That’s a bummer. I think looking back on a couple instances, guys definitely thought we were on dates and I just had absolutely no clue. So I guess that isn’t terrible, just uncomfortable for them. And me, thinking about it now.
TGE: The “Luzer” shirts have been popping up everywhere. What qualities should a “Luzer” have?
Marian: Fortitude, integrity, the ability to do the worm
Shana: Willingness to try to do the worm.
Alice: Dancing confidence, a sense of humor and adventure.
Abbey: The ability to laugh at themselves and to go out on a limb and maybe crowd surf. But no moshing. No moshing at all.
TGE: You’re on tour with Of Montreal now. What’s the best and worst part about touring?
Marian: best – bonding with bandmates, worst – stretches of the country with no unprocessed food.
Shana: I love travelling and getting to meet people in different parts of the country, and goofing around with my bandmates. I like staring out the window and daydreaming all day. The worst is using public bathrooms all the time.
Alice: Best- laughing with my band mates and seeing so much of the country. Worst- not being able to run or move around much.
Abbey: Best—listening to good music in the car and at shows, reading, and laughing with buddies (band mates). Worst—no unprocessed food, no lettuce—not even iceburg— and being tired from poor sleeping conditions.
TGE: Have you found any great roadside restaurants?
Shana: We have a picnic stop in California that we always accidentally stop at. I don’t know what it’s called. We went to a diner in Fergus Falls, Minnesota called the Viking Cafe, it was all old wood and vinyl booths and just looked really amazing inside but then we ordered the tomato soup and all the fondness that we carried it in our hearts for this little diner was obliterated by warm, unseasoned cups of diced canned tomatoes in milk.
Alice: We haven’t eaten here yet (only used their bathroom), but there’s a cute little diner type place right off the road as you drive south of the Redwoods. It’s hot pink and looks like the perfect stop for Shana’s long awaited slice of pie and coffee. Although I think when we asked last time they said they don’t serve coffee….
Abbey: I wouldn’t say I’ve found great restaurants, but I’ve just found all of the “healthiest” options at fast food restaurants.
TGE: What’s on your on the road playlist?
Marian: we seem to always listen to the Growlers and the Beach Boys. Today I made us listen to like 2 and a half hours of 60’s French pop on Pandora.
Shana: What M said, and Ty Segall, Mississippi Records tapes, and the Kinks
Alice: Also The Rolling Stones and The Shirelles.
Abbey: yep yep yep. I love listening to Pure Bathing Culture. And podcasts like RadioLab, This American Life, and Re:Sound.
TGE: Some of my favorite female bands, like yourself and the Dum Dum Girls have killer style. Where do you get your clothes?
Marian: I think I must get mine from teenage hipster boys
Shana: Thrift stores. I take most of my style inspiration from uncool school children.
Alice: Vintage shops, Goodwill, and the occassional staple from American Apperal.
Abbey: I love high end places like this shop in Seattle called Totokaelo, but I usually can’t afford anything from there, so I find classic pieces from places like Madewell and even H&M. I’ve found that black and white are always good. And blue.
TGE: Give us a La Luz fun fact.
Shana: Hmm. Well we have about a million inside jokes as a result of spending so much time cooped up in a van together, but I’m not sure any of them would come across in print.
Alice: One of those inside jokes is to sing some fake lyrics we made up to one of our songs while on stage. Not in to the microphone but to each other.
TGE: I also read in your interview with Impose how you usually come up with ideas for music videos, but then end up not using them. If you could give a video to any track give us an idea of what it would be like.
Shana: I’ve always wanted to make a video for our instrumental song Sunstroke which is just footage of us running down sand dunes over and over again in slow motion. I have another idea for a video which would just be close up images of kids faces as they jumped off the high dive.
Alice: I can’t remember which song I thought this would work for, but I think it would be funny to do one where we were a barber shop quartet. So often when we’re practicing I have this image of us dressed in those goofy striped suits singing our layered harmonies. It’s a funny image to me.