A Drop of Water from the Well:
Standing Out In An Over-Saturated Industry By Dalton Kane
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Los Angeles based band, A House For Lions met me at Paschall Bar for a few drinks to talk about their music project. It took us a while to get settled, in a frenzy trying to get the drinks, scooting stools together to fit the six of us (including co-owner Nikki Crouse) and taking a few minutes to remark on the uniqueness of the bar itself—even compared to bars in their home base of L.A. We bunched up in the back corner together, set up a couple iPhones and a laptop and started rolling. They opened up about their tour thus far and told some stories from the road and started describing the journey that led up to touring. “We really spent a lot of time focusing on establishing ourselves in Los Angeles, which can take quite a while. There a lot of bands around the world, but in Los Angeles there are literally hundreds of bands and so it takes a couple years of showing up before...you show up in the top twenty,” Daniel Norman, lead singer and songwriter for the group, remarked. After talking about the difficulties of gaining traction in a city like L.A., where the music scene is insanely oversaturated, it started to seem like really valuable information for any city with a strong music presence— what’s up Denton? The band talks a bit about connecting with crowds, even answering the question of most embarrassing set story. Daniel Norman tells a story from a show, “There’s this thing in acting, you should just be as honest as you can in the moment. And sometimes in the moment, that leads you to say things
that you shouldn’t say. We were playing at the Largo [and] Zach Galifianakis did a set right before we went out to play. We walk out and it’s not like being in a rock club—everyone is sitting out there real quiet waiting for you to do your thing. So we were setting up, which felt like an eternity. Our energy—was excited— we were nervous, not scared nervous but excited nervous. I couldn’t think of what to say, so I thought I should just be real honest, so I go up to the mic and say ‘We’re really nervous right now’ and the entire place just goes ‘Awwwww’ and I immediately realized that was the wrong word. I was like, ‘No it’s not like that.’” Other band members chime in giving examples of solid alternate things to say and commenting, “I mean after that, it’s like, well shit should I be nervous?” This leads to a group conversation about how band idiosyncrasies can actually benefit the vibe between an artist and the crowd. Giving several examples from shows they’d seen-even bringing up an incident where Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) forgot his lyrics mid-song, and then reportedly did again and again in other cities on the tour. “It shouldn’t be contrived,” Norman says, “but you should allow yourself to make mistakes without getting overly upset. Each show is unique.” With that, we parted ways with The Chain by Fleetwood Mac playing overhead and they hit the road. The band is set to release a new LP and if you want to keep up with them you can like them on facebook (www.facebook.com/ ahouseforlions) or visit their website: www.ahouseforlions.com