THE LOVE ME NOTS formed in the hot Phoenix summer of 2006, originally as a side project for its members’ other bands. The band was heavily influenced by bands like The Animals, The Ventures, The Sonics, The Gun Club, The Dead Kennedys, The Seeds, The Detroit Cobras, April March and The White Stripes, as well as 60s R&B. The Love Me Nots dubbed their sound “spy-surf-fuzz-gogo” and posted a scratchy rehearsal recording on Myspace.com in June of 2006. Within weeks the tracks were being aired on radio stations in England and New Jersey.
The band traveled to Detroit in September of 2006 to record their debut album with Jim Diamond (White Stripes, Romantics, Gore Gore Girls). Five days later, they returned with twelve finished tracks and again posted them on myspace.com. The tracks received over 1000 plays that very day. The band was soon booked at venues all around the Southwest.
In Black & White, the band’s debut album, was recorded by Jim Diamond (White Stripes, Romantics), and was released on the band’s own label, Atomic A Go Go Records, in January 2007. Within one week of its release, the album went to the CMJ Top 100 chart and spent ten weeks on the charts, getting regular airplay on satellite radio (including The Underground Garage channel on Sirius and the XMU channel on XM Radio), college and specialty commercial radio (including KEDJ, KUPD, and KZON in Phoenix), European and British garage-rock radio shows, podcasts and web stations. The band was asked to perform live on radio stations in Phoenix, New Jersey, Seattle, San Francisco, and several other cities on their tour. The single 'Move In Tight' was included on SPIN's list of "Songs You Need to Download Now." A panel of twelve editors from Billboard Magazine selected The Love Me Nots to perform at the 2007 Independent Music World Series showcase in San Francisco. By the end of 2007, XM Radio had named the debut album one of its Top XMU 25 albums of 2007, rock magazines and radio stations all over the U.S., Europe, and South America included it in their best-of-2007 lists, and Stinkweeds Records in Phoenix called it one of their Top 10 best-selling albums of the year.
In May 2008, The Love Me Nots brought on a new rhythm section. Along with Nicole Laurenne on lead vocals and Farfisa and Michael Johnny Walker on guitar, the lineup now includes two other Arizona music scene veterans: bassist Kyle Rose Stokes, and drummer Vince Ramirez.
Tell us a bit about how you got together as a band and why you named yourselves Love me nots.
Michael and our old drummer Jay were playing together in The Sonic Thrills at the time and Michael was looking to start a side project. He found my old band, Blue Fur, online and came to see me play live. After the show he asked if I’d be interested in the side project and I was bowled over, because I was a huge fan of The Sonic Thrills. We began to write songs together, using a farfisa and fuzz guitar sounds; we had a whole set written in a few months. Then we brought the rhythm section on board shortly after that. Our new bass player, Kyle Rose Stokes, actually auditioned for the band way back then, but she was leaving to study for a few months so the timing didn’t work. When we needed a new bass player this year, we called her right away. Vince Ramirez is an old friend and a Phoenix drumming institution, having played in great bands here forever. We are lucky he was available to come on board this year too. The band name actually started because I had knots in my hair and Michael called them ‘love me knots’ – and the name kind of stuck for some reason.
You look completely 60’s dressed in black and white… or silver. Who is responsible for this and why you choose these specific colors?
Michael is an artist and is kind of the ‘eye’ of the band. When we started the band, he wanted us to wear big bold graphic outfits but we couldn’t find them anywhere back then. So he designed them – on a cocktail napkin actually – and a local seamstress made the first dresses for us. They were such a hit that we scoured ebay and vintage stores for more stuff like that. Now you see mod black and white dresses in every store window, but three years ago the trend hadn’t hit yet. As we expanded our wardrobes into other colors over a year of touring, Michael liked the look of grey and silver outfits on the band in photos, so we added silver to the mix for this tour.
How do the crowd react to your 60s sound and style?
They shimmy and shake and sweat at every show. And they even dress the part, which is really fun to see. We’ve been totally surprised at the turnout at our shows, especially as we travel around the U.S.
How did your collaboration with Jim Diamond influence your sound? Since he is also the producer of your second LP, is he a “member” of the band?
I wouldn’t call him a member of the band – he does a lot work for lots of other great bands – but he certainly knows the sound we hear in our heads and can make that sound come to life with very little effort. He has all the right amps and pedals and crazy old microphones, and he knows just how to link everything together to get that raw garage sound we love. He’s a huge part of this band’s success, and he’s an incredibly sweet guy who is really easy to work with. And we can knock out an album there in five days. You can’t beat that.
I have read in interviews that you were compare to The Cramps and The Seeds. How did this sound to you especially since it was just after your first release?
We were honored and flattered of course. Those bands - along with The Animals, The Ventures, and newer artists like The Detroit Cobras, The White Stripes, and Sharon Jones – are the foundation behind The Love Me Nots’ sound. That’s what inspires us and gives us direction. When we started the band, Michael and I listened to The Animals for about two weeks straight, just lying on the floor and listening, and loving it.
Why you name your new record Detroit?
So much great music has come out of Detroit, past and present. When you visit Motown there, the musical history hits you right in the face; it’s almost like a religious experience to stand in the tiny room where all those great hits were recorded. And since then there has been just so much raw, musical intensity coming from there – it’s a strangely inspiring place, with beautiful old buildings all boarded up and everything covered in snow. It’s so desolate, but there’s a lot of fire in people there. So we wanted to pay homage to the city somehow. And of course we recorded both albums there, so it’s kind of becoming our musical base in a way also.
Have you ever played in Europe? Is there a difference in the way audience reacts?
We haven’t been to Europe yet! We had to reschedule the tour when the new lineup was forming, but now it’s coming together. We plan to be there in April 2009.
What is the most memorable gig you ever had?
We just played in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. The place could not have been more packed. We literally had to squeeze through people just to get to the stage. It was so hot on stage that Michael was pouring beer on himself to keep from passing out. Everyone was sweaty and dancing and screaming. That’s a good show right there. Last new year’s eve we played in Tempe for a big event and had to wear coats because it was so cold outside; it was pretty hard to figure out a coat that worked with the gogo dresses on stage, and my farfisa froze up by the end of the show. And we played with The Laundronauts (Canada), who shot bubbles all over the stage; it was fun to slide around on all the bubble-juice during our set after that. That was memorable, but not really in a good way. We’ve had great shows in San Francisco (The Elbo Room and Annie’s), Boston (The Middle East), here in our hometown at our CD release party last month (Yucca Tap Room), and in Hollywood too (Safari Sam’s). The best shows are the ones that are packed with gyrating people, if you ask me.
What is the nowadays garage scene in Arizona and in America in general?
It’s alright. I think Arizona has always had a few great garage bands that kept the scene alive, if only in an underground kind of way. People seem much more aware of garage stylings now, probably due to the mainstream success of bands like The White Stripes. Some cities have really strong garage-rock fans though, like Boston, Seattle, and even Hollywood, thanks to a few promoters and radio stations who work hard to keep garage at the forefront.
Which are you favorites garage bands now?
We like The Staggers, The Ettes, The Go, The White Stripes, and a lot of other stuff that really isn’t garage, like The Detroit Cobras, Amy Winehouse, Sahara Hotnights, Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, The Ghastly Ones. It all comes from old blues, but they all inject their own interpretations of it.
Your band consists of two women and two men. How this thing works? Especially since there is a couple in the band, does it help or make things difficult?
It’s really been fun to have the mixed-gender thing in this band. If I want to talk about girl stuff, Kyle is there for me. You can’t really expect a band of men to want to discuss which stockings we should wear for tonight’s show. But beyond that, we all have the same general interests, the same desire to travel around and play great shows, we love chatting about politics and books and football and our families. So we don’t really think about being of different genders for the most part, we’re all just a big team. And having a couple in the band doesn’t seem to factor in that much, at least as far as I know. Maybe it brings some stability to the band somehow; Michael and I aren’t going to run off with anyone after the show except each other, so they always know where to find us. And for Michael and I, it’s like a dream to be able to tour together and share this thing that we’ve both always wanted to do. We are great support for each other when the touring gets long and difficult, and that helps everyone.
How come you decide to have your own label? Is it difficult to exist as an independent label?
We decided early on to create our own label so that we could get our music out there but still control our touring schedule, our creative ideas, our recording desires, basically so that we could do things our own way and handle the expenses through a separate entity from the band members. It’s definitely challenging- we do our own artwork, legal work, booking, tour management, promotion – in addition to all the regular work of being in the band and songwriting. But so far it was worked out really well for us. We’ve got a bit of distribution help now and we just signed with a major publicist to help with that end of things. We’ve had some really nice offers from labels, but so far none of them has been the right fit for us. If the right offer came along, we’d definitely consider it.
Recently you have replaced two of your members. Does this affect your music or personal relations?
Our two past band members decided on their own to pursue other projects rather than continue in the band. That was their decision and we support them in it. They are both incredible musicians and we were sorry to lose them. But we were very fortunate to have Kyle and Vince immediately available and enthusiastic about the project. Having new members really injects a lot of new energy into things, not only the live shows and the sound but even touring and traveling and video shoots take on a whole new life. The new lineup gets along really well on a personal level, even outside of band activities, so we’re having a great time. Fans are saying that the live sound is a little more powerful now, with a little more ‘space’ between the thunder. We’re just starting out with this lineup so it will be fun to see how we evolve together.
How do you describe your style in your own words?
Fuzz-and-farfisa-based, retro-tinged, garage-inspired rock and roll.
Intrerview by Maria Janakis
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