Slang Chickens

Artist: Slang Chickens
Title: Slang Chickens
Label: Psychedelic Judaism (Echo Park)
Format: LP (+ download), translucent blue vinyl, burlap jacket, 550 pressed

Local quartet Slang Chickens may have just celebrated its first anniversary as a band, but its debut album showcases a group that's honed a disparate set of influences into a cohesive, extremely promising whole. The Chickens' eponymous LP opens with "Tropics" (download it below), where southern-tinged harmonies and downright purty acoustic strumming merge seamlessly with garage rock grind and punk pacing. "Blues (Dripping Down My Leg)" combines lapsteel guitar, grungy vocals and a country amble (plus a trumpet solo), while "Parasited Out" sounds like The Strokes sped up -- until, that is, it morphs into a halftime crawl through jangle and feedback. New band, new ideas, new label. Slang Chickens play at Unknown Theater this Saturday. Show your support by dressing in burlap.

- LA Weekly

If you can envision the banjo being employed as a rock & roll instrument, then Los Angeles' Slang Chickens is for you. According to lead singer and former Wires On Fire guitarist Evan Weiss, the band's approach is simply "to have fun, not over think things, and write crazy pop songs." Having heard the recently completed debut album I'd say mission accomplished. Look for the self-titled release this fall. Read the full interview with Weiss after the jump! -IL



What happened to Wires On Fire?

Nothing really happened to Wires On Fire… we are still band, we just don't operate the way most bands do. We haven't played together in almost a year. Geographic locations and all of our involvement in other projects have put the band on hold. We still love each other, and if it feels like a good time to actively be Wires On Fire again, we will.

How'd you get the name Slang Chickens?

When I was growing up the term "slang" was slang for selling "stuff." A friend of mine's father works in the poultry business. One day about a year and a half ago, another friend of mine said, "Hey man, what does your dad do again? Slang Chickens?" It had a ring to it and right away I knew that would be the name of the band...

Was there a specific approach you had when forming the new band?

With the Chickens our approach is to have fun, not over think things, and write crazy pop songs. Something happened in my brain around the time we started playing together where I stopped thinking about music in terms of riffs and sonic intensity and began to think in terms of melodic hooks, however maniacal they may be, and simplicity.

How'd the band come together?

Dash, Zach, and I have been friends for years and years. Dash was the first person I played these songs with. We had played and toured together in the past, and have a serious musical and personal connection. I knew I needed him to be in the band. Zach is someone who I had only played with briefly before the band, but when he came into the picture everything sank into place. My brother played guitar for the first few shows, we had a lapsteel player for the first two, but we came into our current lineup when we met Travis. I had seen Travis around LA for years, but never knew him. My brother introduced us at a Tom Waits show in Phoenix last July. I ran into him a couple weeks later back in town and told him I heard he was a badass guitar player, and asked if he wanted to come play with a band some friends and I had recently started. It was clear after the first time we played together that we had completed the puzzle.

What did you do in between bands?

There was not really any time between bands. There was a point where both were active.

What genre would you say applies to Slang Chickens? How do you feel about rockabilly?

I hope this doesn't come off as a cop out, but I'm not really interested in genres, my brain doesn't work that way. Like, I love The Everly Brothers and I love the Circle Jerks. They both make me feel good and I don't really see much of a difference. We keep that idea in our head as Slang Chickens, we try not to put up any borders. I am not very familiar with rockabilly... I like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, is that rockabilly? I don't have much knowledge about what rockabilly is.

How'd you come up with the term "Let's microwave" and is it an actual dance? Or a euphemism for sex? Or getting stoned? Tell me!

The "Let's Microwave" dance is in the works. Yes, Let's Microwave comes off very sexual, and I will not deny that. I think for me the song is just about people coming together, and doing whatever it is you need to do to enjoy yourself. That could be sex. It could be getting high, throwing a vegan potluck, or getting a library card with your nephew. They are all valid to me.

On "Badland Blues" you sing "1985 and all I want to do is get stoned." I hope the song is about someone other than yourself--because that would mean you wanted to get stoned as, what, a three year old? That's fucked up.

That part of the song is borrowed from a Spacemen 3 song in which the lyrics are "1987 all I wanna do is get stoned." I was born in 1985, so I changed it. The 3 borrowed the melody from "In My Time Of Dying" which is an old American traditional song. I think Dylan really popularized it. One thing I love about American roots music is the passing of songs not just between people in a given time period, but from generation to generation. It's about reinterpretation and ultimately about communication. I think for us it's a way to join the line of that continuum.

"I Want To Score," "Wild Winds" and "Young Money" are my personal highlights. Do you have a particular favorite song or moment on the record?

I love them all. - Death + Taxes

8. SLANG CHICKENS
“Tropics”
“This song kind of reminds me of a summer pool party ?in 1994 at the Phoenix ?Hotel in San Fran with a bunch of strippers…not ?that I have ever been to anything like that.” - Maxim

Slang Chickens opened, and were perhaps the most exiting band of the night. Not that they were necessarily better than Sleepy Sun or Entrance, but rather, the Chickens were an unexpected surprise. They play a brutal mash of surf punk and rockabilly with a hint of sludge metal, the sound crisp and bass thumpy and unlike anything I've heard going lately. - LA Weekly

Some kiddies departed, leaving me room to squeeze in for a nice blast of Slang Chickens, a clutch of squalling hellions it did my heart good to contemplate. Their nitro-fueled countrified squawk acquitted a claimed decent from the likes of Hank Williams, the Flying Burrito Bros. and the Gun Club very credibly. The Chickens shut down, I gave hurried regrets and was soon padding swiftly around Echo Park Lake wondering where all the cops were going. - LA Record

"A refreshing breath of grimy cowpunk, poking out from the indie scene in Los Angeles. Slang Chickens are led by Evan Weiss, formerly of Wires on Fire, who can create all sorts of electricity with a banjo, and of whom there is in fact a paper doll, available online at Chicks on the Rail (myspace.com/prettyvioletcolouredshirt). For the rockabilly fans, few and loyal, the band will be at the Unknown Theater Jan. 9 and the Smell Jan. 20, opening for Crystal Antlers. myspace.com/slangchickens" - Campus Circle

Openers The Slang Chickens were a riot. Reviving a little bit of the LA cowpunk sound of yore, the strongest impression I have left from their lively set is an open can of Tecate, tipped on its side on stage and spitting beer, jumping two inches high in rhythm to the stomping feat of the free-wheeling rockers. They get the CGT seal of approval without hesitation. - Classical Geek Theater

1. What artist inspired you to create art?

I am inspired by all kinds of artists, musical and non musical. I am inspired by The Beach Boys and I am inspired by Anthony Anzalone. I am inspired by Henry Miller and John Fante. I am inspired by Wooden Allen (and for the record, I dug “Whatever Works”).

2. What or who still inspires you to keep on keeping on?

Life, the sun, our planet, love, dogs, my family, my friends, records, shows, guitars, pianos, drums, words, babies.

3. What would you rather be doing right now?

Hanging out with my puppies or riding my bike… don’t have time for either today!

4. Give us your best recipe? Let us have it!

Shit, I wish cooked more. I usually wake up and for breakfast / lunch make some sort of a scramble with eggs, cheese, tomato, soy or turkey sausage, maybe some onions and I top it off with a bunch of pesto if ive got some laying around. Maybe a piece of toast or a bagel (Trader Joes Sprouted Wheat is my jam) I will usually dowse the thing with Tapatio, but I recently ran out and used Sriracha… extreme breakfast. Of course a cup of coffee (its so HOT now, so iced, duh) is necessary.

I also make pastas n stuff, and I grill with the dudes on the Webber in our patio.

5. How old were you when you lost your virginity and how’d it go?

I never kiss and tell.

6. What makes you cringe?

Stories about bicycle / skating accidents my friends have had, or anything like that.

7. If you could pick one super power and it had to be either being able to fly or being able to time travel, which would you go with? And what would you do first with your new found super power? Would you rally on the side of good or evil?

The ability to travel back in time seems cool, but as much as I love Back To The Future (even 3) I wouldn’t want to take on that much responsibility. If I could fly somewhere with a nice body of water, maybe I lake, I think I am more into fresh water than salt water. I would probably go to Europe because it’s foreign. Rally on the good side for sure!

8. Do you have hope for this new generation of kids who worship Lindsay Lohan, suck down TMZ, download music (and have never even owned one cd or lp) and fast food gobbling generation that is in their teenage years right now? Or are they a lost cause?

We’ll, for every shithead kid out there, I know there are rad kids who use the internet and modern technology for good. There are kids making music on their computers as opposed to playing video games all day. There are kids discovering Dead Kennedys online when their friends are reading Parez Hilton. For all the fast food grubbing goblins, there are kids who are reading Vegan blogs and making delicious health food (note: i like both greasy cheeseburgers and vegan meals)! I see rad young kids at shows, I see rad young kids out skating and riding their bikes. I see rad kids at record stores. I am an optimist, and I am stoked for the future.

9. Tom Cruise… genius or psycho?

Probably neither.

10. What in the world is affecting you right now?

What in the world is NOT affecting me? That’s the question!

11. Tom Jones or Neil Diamond?

Neil Diamond for sure.

12. What could you NOT live with out?

Air, water, gravity, all that stuff

13. Give the internet some words to live by….

DO YOU! - Buddyhead

I had a very long day yesterday. Non of which was made any better by the fact I have started to receive hate mail via myspace for what we are trying to do for here at Loudvine.com. I guess we must be doing something right, after all, if some jackasses are willing to take their time to write to me and call me all sorts of names, the message is getting out there. This might just be my attempt at feeling like a rap star, you know, when people start hatin’, you can feel like you’re making moves.

So after being verbally abused and just feeling out of sorts all day, I decided to head east to listen to the F Yeah Fest Benefit Show. I figured getting my mind off things would help and after all, for a mere 6 dollars, I could listen to some LA music. The lineup included five bands, and usually I would roll in late, missing the first or second bands. But tonight, I changed it up and actually showed for once, on time and I was very glad I did.

See, as the crowd started to fill in at 1296 E. Street, the massive sound check was being organized as a band I had never heard before went through their acoustics, just to get it right. With the backdrop of a filling little stage and standing in the between the vert transitions of a sweet looking half pipe, the leader singer whipped out a impromptu little session of tuning up his banjo. Yep. You heard me, the banjo. Welcome to world of Slang Chickens.

I must admit, even though this is where the hipsters hang out, and its downtown la, as I soon as I heard the banjo, I had visions of “Deliverance� going through my mind. Then Slang Chickens started to play. Awesome band. Really, I could not say it any other way. Walking a killer line between punk and country, the audience was really digging these guys play. I liked it, reminded me of the very core of great, emerging LA sounds. Lately I have been going to a quite a lot of shows, but Slang Chickens is the first band that has moved me in a bit.

As I listened to Slang Chickens, I felt like this band had a bit of everything. Killer vocals, the energy we all demand when they do a live set,they were powerful, creative, sang sweet melodies, going between electric and acoustic, and Evan, the lead singer, sure can carry a show. The band will be undergoing some changes as one of the their members returns to NYC, but I also would recommend that you come see their upcoming show at The Echo on September 3rd.

When you are surrounded by great music and new friends, positive energy, you cannot help it but think back on past moments in your life. Listening to Slang Chickens, I was brought back to my days as a little shredder on a skateboard and wished I had heard a band like Slang Chickens when we tearing it up in our buddies ramps or pools. Something about watching them on the half pipe last reminded me of how cool it is to be in LA, reconnected to this city, even after all this years, because when you have great music like Slang Chickens, what difference does it make that time is passing.

Last night, as I made my way east to this show, I was hoping to hear something that would just take my mind off everything. I wanted to listen to something fresh, and have it resonate with me even into the next day. Thankfully, for once I was on time and I experienced Slang Chickens live. I will see you guys again soon. - Loundvine.com