Allah Las
Miles Michaud
Here's Basement's interview with Miles Michaud of Allah Las, which was firstly published on our "old" blog two years ago, in March 2013 - that is shortly before their first ever appearance in Greece at Fuzz Club on the 31st May of 2013.
The Basement: Hi Miles! Welcome to The Basement. How did it all start for Allah Las? How did you guys first meet and decide to make music together?
Miles, Spencer, and Matt were all friends while in high school together in the South Bay of Los Angeles – about 15 miles from downtown LA. While in college, Matt and Spencer worked at Amoeba Records in Hollywood, where they met and became fast friends with Pedrum. Spencer and Pedrum exchanged recordings from their respective home projects, and decided they wanted to jam together. They both played guitar, so asked Matt to play drums with them. He had never played drums before, but there was an extra kit down in the surboard-laden basement where the two had been rehearsing, so he decided to take a whack at it. Spencer picked up the bass and the three decided they could use a singer and second guitar, so they asked Miles to join in.
The Basement: Is there a story behind the name? How did you come up with it?
We spent what felt like a very long time trying to come up with a name, and when Allah-Las was mentioned, it has a real nice sound to it. Rolled off the tongue. It’s a bit of an homage to UK’s The Las, the Shangri-Las, and to a pmansion and apartment complex in old Hollywood called Garden of Allah, which existed in a time before the word Allah had become so controversial, and was frequented by socialites and celebrities from the late teens to late 1950s.
The Basement: We're all overly excited that you've included Greece in your tour, not for 1, but for 4 shows! We know that you guys are avid surfers, any plans to hit the beach while you're here?
Oh yeah. Hopefully we will have some time to sail around, maybe find a few surfboards. I hear wonderful things about Greek women, as a matter of fact.
The Basement: What should we expect from your live appearances in our country?
That’s something we’d like to know as well! We tend to thrive off of playing in beautiful locations, so naturally we are expecting to have really great shows in Greece.
The Basement: So, you have crossed the ocean for a European tour. Have you noticed any differences between the European and the American audience? What things or persons do you miss the most from back home while touring?
America is still a wide open place for the most part, where you can drive for hours without seeing much but the occasional gas stop. We drive our own van while on tour in the states, and always make time to explore the nature that lies between each stop. We are headed out to Austin, Texas tomorrow for South by Southwest and have plans to stop in Joshua Tree, Sedona, Santa Fe, and Marfa on the way there, just for leisure. We don’t really have time to do that in Europe.
The Basement: Which concert/gig did you enjoy the most on your last tour?
Either Amsterdam at Paradiso, or Paris at La Bellevilloise. In Amsterdam we were fortunate enough to have our friend Jacco Gardner join us on organ, and in Paris we played with our good friend and producer Nick Waterhouse and his band The Tarots.
The Basement: Your self titled debut album was extremely (and rightfully) successful. Did you expect such a ‘welcome’ by the press and audience?
I can’t say we really did. This all started as more of a hobby – something to pass the time together while we each pursued our individual lives elsewhere. Around a year ago, though, it became suddenly serious when we signed with Innovative Leisure to make our first LP. We are grateful that people are liking the music we make because we are making exactly the kind of music we want, and don’t ever feel obligated to sound a certain way. As it is now, we are already far more successful than we would have ever imagined. I think that gives us a kind of artistic license to do what we want, since that is what worked for us in the first place.
The Basement: Does this fact put extra pressure on you working on your second album?
Not at all. Like I said, making records the way we want to make them is what’s been successful for us. Makes it easy.
The Basement: By the way, have you started working on new material?
Yeah, we have a few tracks already recorded and mixed, ready to be released as singles in the next few months. We also have a backlog of far too many song ideas and concepts, some mostly finished, most still in early stages of development.
The Basement: What are your basic inspirations in terms of lyrics?
More or less whatever is going on in our minds at the time the song is written. I find it’s easier for me to write about something I am already thinking about, rather than to try to think about something and then write about it. Feels much more natural.
The Basement: Based on your experience, what would you advise a new band starting right now? I mean, besides playing good music and having good songs in the bank – that is the most important of course, are there any tips or tricks that could help them progress and become successful?
Just to do what you love, do it well, and keep doing it.
The Basement: What are your musical influences?
We have influences from early blues and country records to garage, jazz, pop – from all decades. Too many to name. I’d refer people to our blog reverberationradio.com – where we, along with a small group of close friends - post up 30 minute mixes of what we are currently listening to every week for podcast and download.
The Basement: Any new bands you would recommend?
We have been fans of the new Jacco Gardner record, Gap Dream, Takashi Miyaki, Foxygen... Again, check out reverberation radio – there are a lot of new bands on the one that came out this week – that’s March 6th.
The Basement: The Basement has a thing for lists. Would you mind sharing a list of your favourite albums or artists with us?
Favorite? Of all time? That’s hard to say, but a few we could listen to any time are:
Love
Rolling Stones
Byrds
Primal Scream
Seeds
Rain Parade
Kinks
Beach Boys
Tame Impala
JJ Cale
Pretty Things
Thank you Miles, thank you Allah Las !
