THE SOFT PACK

Photo: Dustin Beatty

Keep it simple, stupid might not be The Soft Pack’s slogan, but it could be.  This Southern Californian 4-piece kicks out straightforward, catchy garage-rock a la Stooges…or a less sedate Velvet Underground.

Originally from San Diego, singer Matt Lamkin and guitarist Matty McLoughlin started playing together in 2006, and in less than a year solidified their lineup with bassist Dave Lantzman and drummer Brian Hill under the name The Muslims.  They released a couple 7-inches and a self-titled ep with 1928 Recordings under this moniker, switching to the less controversial Soft Pack shortly before signing with Kemado Records in 2009.

A defining part of the band’s sound is Lamkin’s laid-back vocal style.  If it’s possible to be extremely intense and utterly bored at the same time, Lamkin does it…but without any of the snobby disdain that this antithetical paring might imply.  Add to that Mcloughlin’s jangly, surfey guitar riffs, Lantzman’s Strokes-ey bass lines and the simple, banged-out beats from Hill’s modified cocktail drum kit and you wind up with a catchy post-punk that really hits the spot.

The band’s carefree, lo-fi stylings make every track on their February 2^nd release – the cunningly titled “The Soft Pack” (Kemado), well worthy of repeated plays, and cements their spot in our “rad” list for 2010.  If you’re lucky, you’ll get a chance to catch them live soon, as they’ll be touring much of the year.  They are currently on a brief West Coast tour with the band Phoenix and will soon be heading out to New York, England, Germany and Holland.  Later in the year, they’ll be embarking on a full-US tour with Nodzzz, Male Bonding and another San Diego band,The Beaters. They’ll also be making appearances at SXSW in Texas and Coachella in Southern California.

THE SOFT PACK “C’mon” MUSIC VIDEO from VIDEOTHING.COM on Vimeo.

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During a sit-down with bassist, Dave Lantzman, we collected this interesting story on the writing of one of the album’s stand-out tracks, “Pull Out.”

“We were a little under the gun when we were writing the record.  We had been touring quite a bit and we really didn’t have much time to write anything, so we were a bit stressed.  We were just jamming one day, trying to write this song and it wasn’t working.  So we all just let go and switched instruments and screwed around, and that just happened.  It was really exciting.  Sometimes when you’re not totally familiar with an instrument, you’re able to come up with some interesting, accessible stuff that way…you just try to make every note count…you just play what you can and a lot of times that’s what people want to hear anyways.”

I recently finished a remix of the song “Where the Sky Ends” by the band, The Color Turning.  They are working on a remix ep for their new album “Good Hands Bad Blood,” and this will be one of the tracks on it.

I love getting records in the mail.  Just got a few new jams that I will be DJing next Saturday, Sept 26th from 2-6 pm at the Hotel Shagri-La over in Santa Monica.  Stop by for a swim and a drink.

Sesame Street Slayer Video

I found these tapes on the wall in front of my house.  I was a bit afraid to touch them because, I don’t know, it just seemed dirty, like you didn’t know where they had been.  And I was afraid that if I listened to them maybe I’d get ear aids or something.  So I left them there.  3 days later, they were still there, so I decided to try them out in my car.  There’s a bunch of what I’m assuming is Thai pop music, and one that’s been customized with pictures from the movie “City Slickers” I think, and something with Tom Selleck.  The one titled “Modern Rocks (FE)” actually has some pretty good disco on it including Chic’s “Dance, Dance, Dance.”

Since you can’t just come back from 4 days out at Coachella and go straight back to work, we decided to attend Busy P’s birthday party at Pierre Andre’s (Etnies) Malibu estate.  The view was ridiculous; cliff front at Point Dume.  We took the very expensive key ($1,500 fine to replace) and went down to the private beach to surf, but the lack of swell meant we mostly just floated around (there was a pod of dolphins playing right by us, so that was cool).  

The party was a who’s-who of the French electronic music scene, so if Belgium wanted to jump up in the European music world’s rankings, this would have been the party to bomb…Busy P, Surkin, Mehdi, Justice, SebastiAn, Daft Punk, Kavinsky, Sebastien Tellier, etc.  It was a fantastic day, and we have to send many heart felt thanks to Pierre and Pedro for inviting us.  Mercí.

cliff front looking north

cliff front looking south

some beautiful ladies

yes, chris holmes is sporting wii underoos

voilá! another t-shirt…

ab, katie, and dustin beatty (anthem)

lulu

pedro with some fresh ink getting his nails did

frenchies…so-me, gaspard de justice, sebastiAn, surkin, pacific ocean

etnies austin brown after a long day of bbq, surf, cute girls and relaxing

miguel de la barracuda

sunset

666

Just posted a new mixtape to the download section of the website. Go HERE to download and browse the tracklisting (and the other mixes available). After The Dark includes tracks by Low Motion Disco, The Human League, Glimmers, The Cure, Captain Sensible, Prince, Tom Waits, The Police, Chromatics, Holy Ghost!, Metronomy, Chaz Jankel, Cut Copy, Allez Allez, Yazoo, Out Hud, Mock & Toof, Aeroplane, and Hercules & Love Affair. 79 minutes from the darker side of disco and new wave.