The Electric Primadonnas

The Electric Primadonnas have been relatively dormant the past year or so spending most of their time writing and recording for their followup to 2010's Summertime. We got ahold of the new record last night and gave it a spin and we can say without reservation that it is their best and most focused record to date. Keep an eye out for their new record, which doesn't have a proper title yet, to be released sometime this summer.

In the mean time, you can download a free copy of their brand new single What Is It To Be HERE. Just right click and "Save Link As". Enjoy. And please share this!

Also, The Electric Primadonnas will be playing Free Press Summer Fest in Houston on Sunday, June 3rd at 2:30PM. They will be playing along side bands like Starfucker, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Fitz And The Tantrums and The Flaming Lips. - Auxilarate.com

Tell me all about the new album you’re working on.

This will be our fifth full LP. We have been working on it for over a year now. We recorded everything in Oklahoma City in our own recording facilities. We just released a single, What Is It To Be and hope to release the full thing this summer. We have been experimenting more with instrumentation.

Generally, how do you begin composing your songs? Is it a similar process each time?

Chris stars with an idea. Everyone else’s parts generally evolve from there.

What inspires you and how do you maintain that inspiration?

There are several artists near and far that inspire us. We find inspiration in bands everyone has listened to for years, and bands we play with locally. Pilar also brings a lot of European influences being from Spain. Maintaining that inspiration is another story altogether.

What does the future hold for The Electric Primadonnas?

We have been looking forward to FreePress since last year. After it, we plan to push the new album. Chris has been working on his solo project since he moved, Modern Pantheist. Other than that its an open book for us.

Who are you looking forward to watching perform at Summer Fest 2012?

Everyone has a band they are itching to see. Pili is looking forward to Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah and Primus. The Flaming Lips is always a fun one being from OKC. Michael Melvin (bass) recently discovered Sundress. Snoop Dogg is by far the top favorite. Plan on seeing a circle with The Electric Primadonnas, Snoop Dogg, and Willie Nelson with a cloud above our heads!

See The Electric Primadonnas perform live at Summerfest
Day 1
Stage: 7
@ 2:30 - PrettyRiot.com

One could easily make the assumption that if you’ve been around the Oklahoma City music scene for the last five years or so, you’ve probably heard of The Electric Primadonnas. If you haven’t, you must have just moved here. These acid rockers have been pumping out jams since 2006 and have 4 LP’s under their belt along with countless shows that have challenged show goers audible senses in the vein of the psychedelic movement of the late 1960’s. One of the many things The Electric Primadonnas have going for them is they don’t suffer from lack of identity. They do not apologize for creating mind bending jams that sometimes make you question if you are in a dream or were just offered an LSD blot. But in a scene filled with bands that are merely trying to cut, copy and paste what the current trends and hype machines are feeding them, The Electric Primadonnas stand steadfastly on their own to create their own self served brand of psychedelic grooves that land somewhere between Hendrix, The Zombies and 3 tablespoons of the underground punk rock movement of the late 70’s. As you can tell, classifying this band has proved challenging but nonetheless empty because in all reality, The Electric Primadonnas define themselves through and through. Do they have influences? Obviously. What band doesn’t? But the thing that seems to influence this band the most is creating fun, psychedelic music that we as a society can appreciate and that leaves us yearning for the days when flower children danced in the streets of San Francisco.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any sense of monotony about this band. Some may believe that with four LP’s to their credit that they’d be satisfied to maintain what they’ve been churning out the last half decade. We certainly got concerned about the band; because after all, they’ve been in hiding for three solid months working on their follow-up LP to 2010’s Summertime. We had a chance to get a private sneak peak at what the band has been working on and let us just preface this by saying that it’s like nothing you’ve ever heard from the band before. We were privileged enough to get to hear a few new rough cuts of tracks that we certainly think will be a massive breakout for the band. A song entitled The Night really threw us through the proverbial loop. It’s very rhythm oriented and excluding the obvious title of the song, seems darker than previous material. Now, if the band is keeping their word from when we sat down with them last summer then the excerpt below unequivocally rings true.

Auxilarate: Now you guys have a new album coming out. Your follow up to Summertime. What can we expect?

Pilar: A little bit darker than Summertime.

Chris: Yeah.

Pilar: I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem as happy as Summertime.

Chris: Feels a little deeper. Sonically, it’s more complex, too. There is a lot more going on. When Summertime was recorded, a lot of the backing music was recorded live with everyone in the living room. This one’s more one on one. A lot more layers.

Needless to say, we got very excited to be hearing a new Primadonnas record in the works. When asked when the material would be ready for release, we received the overwhelming consensus that the new record would see the light of day sometime next spring. We may have to peek in again to wet our whistles before all is said and done and if what we heard was just scratching the surface then you can rest assured we were hearing a little tidbit of the best album that The Electric Primadonnas have ever released. So, as the leaves start to turn green again in a few months, be sure and look out for a truly great record from a fantastic band.
- Auxilarate

First off, kind of a generic question, but how did the band form?

Pilar: That’s them two. Brian and Chris. They’re the only original members.
Chris: Well, I was recording Angry Mom and Brian was the drummer and it seems like after that we just started a band together.


The lineup has certainly taken a bit of a winding road, with what is it five bass players?

Brian: Yeah, I think Michael is number 5.


What happened to get the lineup as solidified as it is to this point? Bringing Chad in for rhythm and settling on Michael and Pilar…

Brian: I think we just found a group of musicians that worked well together.
Pilar: Yeah, we get along very well.
Brian: Yeah, it took us awhile but I really think we found it.
Pilar: We don’t want to kill each other.


How’d you guys find Chad?

Brian: Uh, in the back of a van. We were stealing a van and Chad was there and we just asked him to play guitar for us.
Chad: I just came with the van.
Michael: I was actually friends with the original bass player. I went to film school with him and he had come up to me asking me to start playing with these guys. Knowing Rob, I really didn’t expect it to be any good. But I checked them out on MySpace and figured I’d try it out. They happened to be a mile from my house. So I just showed up. And they were like, “Well, you want to play the next practice???… So I just kept coming to practices from then on.
Chris: That’s where the magic started...


The band’s sound really reminds me of the late 60’s San Francisco movement. Even bands that weren’t necessarily involved in the region or movement, like the Zombies or the Doors… Where does the inspiration come from to hone in on that sort of sound?

Chris: Well, we’ve got a lot of members. That’s a start. So we’ve got to do something with all those fingers. So, you’ve got organs and synthesizers, ringing guitars…
Michael: Weren’t we supposed to do a Zombies album at some point?
Chris: Eventually.

Is the acid rock sound on purpose or is something that just flows out of you guys naturally?

Pilar: It just happens.
Chris: I think it definitely comes naturally.
Pilar: We just like that old sound. All of us do.
Chad: Yeah, I think that’s one of the common things we share.
Pilar: We just all share a love for psychedelic rock.


Now you guys have a new album coming out this fall. Your follow up to 'Summertime'. What can we expect?

Pilar: A little bit darker than Summertime.
Chris: Yeah.
Pilar: I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem as happy as the Summertime.
Chris: Feels a little deeper. Sonically, it’s more complex, too. There is a lot more going on. When Summertime was recorded, a lot of the backing music was recorded live with everyone in the living room. This one’s more one on one. A lot more layers.


You guys think you will have it ready for a fall release?

Chris: It should be.
Pilar: Yeah, we’ve been working real hard.



How many tracks do you guys have completed?

Pilar: I don’t think we are actually done with one…
Chris: Yeah, but there are five or six that have most of the instruments done on them.


Going back to an earlier statement, I have actually heard somewhere where you guys were going to cover the iconic album Odyssey and Oracle from The Zombies?

Pilar: Yeah, I actually think Colin is going to help us out on that record.
Chris: We’re going to need all the help we can get.


Now is something you guys are serious about doing?

Brian: Yeah, after we finish our punk and surf album, we’ll get to it.
Chris: The only thing I’m worried about is the organ solos.
Pilar: Yeah, they’re a little tough. But we can do it.
Chris: Yeah, I have faith.
Pilar: Well, we can both do it. It’ll have to be a four hand collaboration to be able to do it.


You guys have been around awhile. Going on six years now. How’s the Oklahoma City music scene grown from when you guys first started? How do you think it’s progressed?

Brian: A lot better. We use to play shows and there would be maybe ten or fifteen people there. Now days you see bands, even if they’re not that big within the scene, they still draw in a huge crowd.
Chris: Not just the emo bands or the metal bands either.
Brian: Yeah, people are starting to change their minds towards different styles of music.


What do you guys attribute to the influx in the interest in the scene?

Brian: Well, the city is growing. It’s gotten a lot bigger. Also, people are just sick of the same thing. For the longest time, the same bands were just playing the same songs over and over and over. Now people are just ready for something fresh.
Pilar: Yeah, it just seems like there are a lot of new bands in the past year.
Michael: I remember personally, back in high school five or six years ago, wanting to move. And now, I have no intention of moving. I really like it here.
Pilar: I like it here now. I used to hate it.
Chris: Well, back in the day it was all the Norman bands that were…
Brian: …doing all the experimental stuff.
Chad: And see, if you hear a Norman band, you don’t get that true Oklahoma sound; you just get a bunch of college kids from all over the country.
Michael: Yeah, like at Norman Music Festival this year I was so surprised. All the bands that I enjoyed the most were all local bands


You guys planning any possible tours after the record drops?

Pilar: That’s what we want.
Brian: January we were talking about doing a good two weeks of solid touring.
Chad: That’d be awesome.

Sunday, July 31, 2011 - Auxilarate.com

Nice People is a music label based in Norman, Oklahoma. They release great music, made by nice people. While they eventually plan to make physical releases (CD, Vinyl, Cassette, DVD, etc.) available, for now they will release several mp3 singles for free over the coming months.

Their newest single comes from Oklahoma City band The Electric Primadonnas.

DOWNLOAD: The Electric Primadonnas - “I’m Not Real”"

Buy Subconsious Overdrive here.

To subscribe to the Nice People podcast and get all of the Nice People singles for FREE, click here to open the iTunes page for Nice People. There you can download individual singles or subscribe to get them all automatically.

Check out the music video after the jump. - Nice People

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be counting down the Top 100 Oklahoma Albums of the 2000s. Every weekday, we will unveil another ten Oklahoma albums that helped shape the way Oklahoma music is heard by the outside world.

We asked three dozen musicians, fans and journalists for their opinions on the top albums of the past decade. With their guidance and our own opinions, we compiled what we hope is a decent and fair list.

Hopefully, there’s a good bit of reflection, discovery and enjoyment when listening to these albums through Lala (when available). Enjoy!
- OklahomaRock.com