In my home state of California, D.I.Y. is taking its last sputtering breaths, suffocating under the weight of every new unbearable surf-rock band that starts up. When I was in high school, it felt like no one was doing anything new. Local music had grown monotonous and annoying, like a fly that just won’t leave you alone. But it seems that just as I’ve left home for the East Coast, there’s been an uproar, a shift in the tides. Less concerned with what others think, bands have taken it upon themselves to fully dive into their creative ambitions without holding back. Young groups like julie and Blimp are experimenting with art and post rock. Cryogeyser is reinvigorating shoegaze and singer-songwriter. KAN-KAN is championing bedroom pop and slacker rock. Then there’s The Paranoyds, who’ve been around for a few years and seem to be a sweet little mix of everything: punk, indie pop, riot grrrl, and garage rock, to name a few. They touch all the bases on their newest EP, I Like It Here, their first release since their 2022 album, Talk Talk Talk. As the group prepared back home for their release show here in New York City at The Knitting Factory, I sat down to chat with members Lexi (guitar, vocals), Laila (keys, vocals), and Staz (bass, vocals) about their new songs, gardening, the state of music in Los Angeles right now, and teenage girl-hood.
[Note: This interview originally aired on The New Afternoon Show on Wednesday, November 8th and has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
I wanted to start by having you guys break down all of the songs on the latest EP, I Like It Here. Could you go more into detail about the story behind each song, how it came to be, the writing processes, etc.? … starting with the first track, “Rita Lynn.”
Lexi: The first thing that came to be on that song was the bassline and the chorus. It’s a little funny timing wise. I was kind of challenging myself to see if I could take that weird kind of bassline that I came up with when I was stoned and actually turn it into an actual song that people might want to listen to. So that was kind of cool bringing it to the band and having everybody fill in their pieces. It really fleshed out the vibe of the song. And then I wrote the lyrics to it last, as is my style. It’s just kind of like moody, dark bar, running into somebody you don’t want to… something like that.
Would you say that when you start the process of writing a song that one person will come in with a riff or a bassline and then you all work from there? Is that typically how it goes?
Lexi: Yeah! I think that when we’re at our best, that’s how it’s going.
Now, going into “Glass,” tell me a little bit more about that song.
Staz: I started playing that bassline kind of in soundcheck while we were on tour last year. We did a whole US tour, I can’t remember what show it was when I thought of that bassline, but I think David would get kind of jammy on it and then we kind of started developing it as a song and the lyrics came last on that which isn’t that typical for me. But, it happens. It’s sort of about an obsessive crush, the kind where it feels like you get a spell cast on you, almost. I don’t know, it’s almost like there’s a darkness to it for some reason because you feel these intense feelings… The lyric about glass is in there, but it doesn’t really tie into the whole song, but I don’t know they’re all related to fragility and creepiness of glass breaking…
Lexi: It came out later too that one of our friends did indeed cast a love spell.
Oh my goodness!
Lexi: I don’t remember who or what it was on… but I think the song was fully out and recorded and then it turned out this friend admitted to us that she had cast a spell before and we were like woah! Cool.
Laila: Maybe we made that happen.
Lexi: Yeah.
Staz: That was annoying.
Lexi: Oh yeah! Well, weren’t you the target? Or the center of the spell? Is that it?
Staz: Well yeah, I mean, obviously. I wrote the lyrics… I was all messed up!
Lexi: So, it’s based on a true story but not even knowing it at the time. That’s how strong that spell was.
Now, the next track, Destructive Banter…
Staz: Destructive Banter… I wrote that song on my couch last summer. It was sort of about hanging out with someone who’s really gossip-y or toxic and you’re kind of being nice so you’re hanging out with this person then you realize what an energy suck and how weird it is after. I’m pretty into gardening and pretty into nature and plants. I really relate it to life and I think life as a human is reflected in the plant life around us. I guess it was sort of in this moment of frustration of like, I don’t really want to hear about all of this stuff I don’t care about. I really just want to learn how to grow tomatoes better. I want to learn how to tend to and build things in my life productively, naturally, and healthily. The song’s just sort of about: if you take away all the gossip and all this negative talk, who’s really there? There’s no one there. All I really want to talk about is things that can benefit me which is learning more about plants [laughs].
What kind of plants do you tend to grow? Are you a house plant person or more of a gardener?
Staz: More of a gardener. A house plant is really tricky. There’s a couple that I’ve had for a few years but many more that haven’t survived at all. But I really like growing edible things like leafy greens and herbs that can be used for cooking or tea. It really is like everything’s so symbolic with plants. I took a whole course on seeds last year. I learned about what seeds, or– what plants need fire or literally need to be scratched in order to grow. Things like heartbreak or human tendencies tie back into what plants can also need. They all need time to heal between wounds. All that kind of stuff, I really love it. I really find it fascinating and I’ve been trying to incorporate it into my lyrics more in the last two years for sure.
That’s really beautiful.
Staz: Yeah!
Now, the final song is “I’m JK,” tell me about it!
Staz: It’s the complete opposite [laughs]. It was kind of a combo effort of lyrics. That’s a song we’ve all been trying to make as a band for a couple years now but haven’t sat down and finished it. It’s so fun and wacky. I feel like it was hard to limit the lyrics. Since we’re so safe now too with everything we say and we’re so politically correct you know we were like “Well let’s just write something really politically incorrect but just say just kidding at the end.” You kind of still have to keep it somewhat PC but at the same time go for it. Definitely the best part is about going to the store and buying Ferrari’s.
Laila: I love that line.
Lexi: We’re still trying to figure that store out.
Staz: And I didn’t finish high school so it was funny to me to say I performed at the top of my class and bought a house made of crystal glass. I don’t know… it was just a silly song!
That was something I wanted to touch more on because you have a lot of humor in your songs and I read that you guys started out by putting a bunch of silly songs up on Myspace when you were teenagers. For me personally, I started listening to you guys when I was fifteen, after Carnage Bargain came out. I feel like the essence of all of your songs surround teenage girl-hood. I wondered if that was something you are consciously thinking about when creating. Do you have your inner teenage-girl-self in mind?
Staz: I would say yeah! We all just are still that.
Laila: yeah–
Staz: I mean I could try to come up with something more poetic but…
Is there anything you’d want to go back and tell your teenage self?
Laila: Oh interesting…
Lexi: Practice guitar more!
Staz: I guess I would say get ready for all of your dreams to come true. If you have a vision, pursue it because it can happen. I feel like that’s what happened for us. I think my teenage self would be super stoked… also thank you for being a fan for so long! That’s awesome.
Oh my god, no problem! Yeah I remember when Carnage Bargain came out I would listen to Girlfriend Degree a lot! I love that song so much. It’s meant a lot to me throughout the years.
Lexi: Coincidentally we were fifteen when Carnage Bargain came out…
Oh my god…Wait, what!!!
Laila: No, she’s just kidding…
Lexi: I’m just kidding!
Everyone: Just kidding!
Oh I get it I get it I get it!… Going back to the EP, it’s described as “an ode to the band’s hometown of Los Angeles and the tension between breathtaking beauty and unbearable difficulty with quotidian life there.” I know a lot of bands might feel the need to move there and the scene can be a little oversaturated. What do you think it takes to stand out as an artist/musician in Los Angeles, and who are some of your favorite musicians in LA right now?
Lexi: I think it takes a lot of hard work and playing a lot of shows and learning a lot of important lessons. You can’t skip steps. You have to play the shows in front of five people. You have to earn your stripes. It takes a lot of luck too. I feel like we’ve always been lucky that we’re from LA so we’ve been able to work on our contacts, they’re just our friends but we get things often just because we’re like “oh we went to high school with this guy” or “this awesome photographer wants to work with us she was also in our high school–” whatever! It can be neatly packaged for us sometimes because we’ve been here for a bit. What was the second part of your question? Sorry.
Oh, what are some of your favorite bands in LA right now?
Lexi: I saw an awesome show on Saturday! Staz do you want to talk about it?
Staz: Yeah, Aurat are really cool. Riki is really cool…
Lexi: I’m talking about the show we saw on Saturday! Staz started a new band called 2M8O.
Staz: OH!
Lexi: And that’s who we saw…
Staz: Yeah I had my first show with 2M8O and then Badlands played that show and they were really good. And Reckling I love. Pangea are our friends and their shows are always so much fun. I feel like, you know, it’s such an interesting time. So many venues shift and switch over. All of our foundation venues kind of disappeared so we don’t really have our “home base venue” anymore which is interesting. If you ask a lot of bands what their favorite venue is I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them didn’t know what to say anymore. So there’s an interesting shift like when we started it was still very much surf rock-y, garage rock and then it was like oh people want to be able to dance or maybe not have people just yell at them for a while but now I think it’s circling back to wanting to just see people be dirty and wild. So, it changes a lot, you know, obviously. There’s a really amazing goth-industrial-punk-post-punk movement which you see with like Riki, Sextile, and that whole kind-of vibe. I guess I would say it also kind of seems like there’s more women around or femme people at least. I don’t know. It’s funny here though, I don’t know if you do need to move here as a musician because the internet accesses everyone in a way that some people don’t have to do that grind anymore. I do think it’s really important to dedicate a lot of your time and work to it because that will make it stronger and last longer ultimately. I think you really just need to be yourself. If you believe people should come out and hear you, you believe that this is your destiny, then prove it. You know?
Lexi: And try not to be a hater along the way. It’s a waste of energy. It’s kind of funny to be a hater but then also you’re like I’m such a troll I’m not gonna hate. Don’t be a hater–
Staz: You have to work out the balance of competitiveness and inspiration.
Lexi: Yes!
Staz: You can’t compare yourself to anyone, it will drive you crazy when you’re not the same as those other bands. Just do your thing and make peace with that. Just try to be friends with everybody. Just be like a friendly, cool person to work with and you’re gonna have a great time. It’s a really tough industry. There’s a reason why bands don’t last. It’s pretty crazy that we’ve lasted this long. It’s pretty unforgiving. There’s a lot of walls and setbacks. You have to have a strong foundation and core belief in it.
I have one more question…You’re all getting ready to come over to New York for your EP release show, what are you most looking forward to while you’re here?
Laila: Walking around. We don’t get to do that much in LA! I’m actually just so excited to just walk around [laughs].
Lexi: Is there some like Sex and The City reference that’s still relevant? Or is it just…
Anything can be relevant!
Staz: Comedy concert?
Everyone: Comedy concert?
Laila: Oh!
Staz: That’s what they were saying in the…
Laila: Yeah, I got you Staz, that’s funny!
Staz: I’m excited to feel the energy over there and hear everyone complain about their problems, make mine look probably not that bad. I’m excited to see some friends–
Lexi: It turns out today, at least on NPR they were saying that the county of LA is officially the most expensive county now in all of the US.
Everyone: wow!
Lexi: I have noticed the last few times we’ve been to New York and San Francisco being like, is LA more expensive? Did it finally happen? And the data’s just in: it happened. Apparently Santa Monica is the second most expensive zip code in the whole US. That’s where we went to high school.
Staz: And what’s the minimum wage!? Compared to what people are actually making here every year. It’s nothing. Minimum wage is still sixty grand or something crazy.
Lexi: That would be a lot I think, honestly. I mean you can’t do anything here for that… Anyways, those are the big things that are on our minds Shannon. Our, um, nineteen year old brains… Can you believe Carnage Bargain came out when we were fifteen? [laughs]
Well, it came out when I was fifteen.
Lexi: Shannon, can we buy beer yet at the bodega or no?
Me? No, I’m nineteen…
Lexi: Ok so you are nineteen, alright. Same. [laughs] Why don’t you use that ID behind you? [Referring to a poster of ‘Ol Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version on the wall.]
Oh, the ‘Ol Dirty Bastard? [laughs] I’ll rip that one down and try it next time.
Lexi: Yeah, you can buy a beer with that!
I think it’ll work… do you guys wanna plug what you have coming up?
Lexi: Laila you go. You sound the most chipper, I’m gonna mute myself… you’re perky!
Laila: Sounding real perky [laughs]… We’re playing at the Knittering–Knitting! Factory on–[laughs]
The Knittering Factory… [laughs]
Laila: I just had a brain freeze– We are playing at the Knitting Factory on November 10th. We have Josephine Network opening for us, very exciting. Yeah! We’ll be playing the new EP. We’ll be selling the new EP sooooo, come party!
Listen to The Paranoyds newest EP, I Like It Here, here!