FEATURE: Spotlight: The Paranoyds — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

The Paranoyds

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A group I discovered recently…

PHOTO CREDIT: James Juarez

I have become hooked on The Paranoyds. They have a name and aesthetic that harks to the past, but they are a very modern-sounding force. Based out of Los Angeles, they released the incredible album, Talk Talk Talk, last year. Signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records, they are a sensational band who are primed for greatness. Even though they have been together a little while, the release of their second studio album (following 2019’s Carnage Bargain) has put them firmly on the map. There are interviews with them that I want to source. Before that, here is some background regarding the incredible The Paranoyds:

“Your phone, your TV, your computer – who (or what) is watching you? It’s an oft-asked question in the digital age and one that The Paranoyds echoed when it comes to the origins of their name. Part of a generation immersed in oversharing and ease of surveillance, The Paranoyds know better than anyone, it’s scary out there. But the band’s fearless pursuit of a good time won’t stop them from crafting the kind of gritty, Southern California garage rock that refuses to hide. The Paranoyds’ debut release on Suicide Squeeze offers a taste of what The Paranoyds have been crafting.

The Los Angeles four-piece of Laila Hashemi (keyboardist-vocals), Lexi Funston (guitars/vocals), Staz Lindes (bass/vocals), and David Ruiz (drums, vocals) share a mission to craft songs with the gritty spunk and dark playfulness of a cult-classic splatter film. “Hungry Sam” is a binge-worthy feast of chugging guitars and belly-rounded drums. B-side “Trade Our Sins” is a cautionary slow dance fit for the end of the night or the end of the world. Their self-described “sister vocal act” shares the snarling, over-it-but-totally-into-it vocals throughout their songs, moving from dirty surf-pop guitar jams to power-packed garage rock”.

I will start by taking things back to 2020. The year after their debut album came out, The Paranoyds were getting quite a bit of attention and love! ADHOC chatted with vocalists Staz Lindes (who also plays bass) and Lexi Funston.

“AdHoc: You started off writing silly songs and putting them on Myspace. What made you decide to go further than that?

Staz Lindes: Time. When I was putting stuff on Myspace, I was 14 to 17. I was alone and acoustic, and I had horrific stage fright. We didn’t properly form the band until much later. I guess over the years—just building confidence, finding your bandmates, starting playing shows. I just didn’t have that right away.

The press release said that you’re called the Paranoyds because of the lack of privacy in the age of digital surveillance. How has being a band during this digital age either helped you or harmed you?

Lexi: It’s hard to imagine what else it would be, just because it is the only way to do it presently. Whether or not you even take part in social media, the venue that you’re playing at has it, your promoter for the show has it. Even if you’re trying to stay off the grid, it’s really hard to do that. I don’t know how it treats us specifically, but I think it’s awesome that maybe because of it we can reach a further fanbase. We like Spotify, even though that’s why we’re never gonna have a rock & roll private jet [laughs]. But also looking at our top-of-the-year stuff, we just found out that our music was streamed in 77 countries, which is crazy.

Staz: If that’s true, that’s insane.

Lexi: I don’t know if without [Spotify] we necessarily would’ve been able to have that big of a reach. It’s complicated, I guess. You can’t really have idols anymore because everyone is so accessible and there’s no mystery and you can know what keto meal they cooked for dinner last night. At the same time, it gives people a voice, and it gives us a chance to show our super silly side. You can hear a band from L.A. and build a pretentious storyline for us. [Then] you see our Instagram and see us airskating to Tony Hawk [laughs]. It’s pretty amazing that you can build your own brand so easily and you don’t need managers. We haven’t had a manager before, and we still don’t.

The song “Girlfriend Degree” is a very direct jab at misogyny, especially in the music scene. How do you usually handle those situations—someone assuming you’re a groupie or girlfriend rather than an actual band member?

Staz: I am a girlfriend and a groupie sometimes [laughs]. No one’s ever been like, “Hey, what are you doing here!?” Luckily, I think we’re in a space in L.A. where everyone’s pretty open to a lot of things. Everybody’s seen everything, and no one’s really been that big of an asshole. I know I’ve read things about other girl bands that constantly get interviewed about it, and they’re only having to talk about that. For us, I don’t think anyone’s ever doubted us. Everybody’s been pretty supportive.

The song basically came from the idea of: Hey, if you like music, you don’t just have to listen to guy bands. You, too, can start a band and do it. Hopefully, somebody out there is listening in one of those 77 countries, and one person gets excited about that idea.

Lexi: My friend ended up kind of relating to the song. She was dating a musician in a successful band, and she was like, “I don’t want to be so-and-so’s girlfriend.” Like, “Oh, you know Lisa, she’s so-and-so’s girlfriend”—that becomes your identity. You’re just associated with this male musician. It’s like, why don’t you create your own identity and not just be someone’s girlfriend? Be known for you”.

Before coming to the final interview, FAR OUT spoke with the quartet. It is clear that they have a wide range of influences and sonic inspirations. What is also clear is that you cannot compare them with anyone else. With various shades and colours in the blend, the music of The Paranoyds is something that everybody needs to hear:

“This swirl of inspiration has always been apparent in their sound, and that comes down to the unique constitution of its formation. The friendship among the band is palpable, and friends are never really that much alike. “It’s very different for everybody in the band,” Laila Hashemi says of the music tastes that everybody brings to the table. “I grew up listening to a lot of what my parents listened to. Just the classics like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. That was what really inspired me. Then in middle school, I started listening to Radiohead and that really inspired me.”

With that in mind, The Paranoyds are unafraid to forage out a niche of their own weird making. “It’s also for better or for worse we want to play stuff that is fun. What is fun to us – how we found our group – is not playing song after song that sounds like similar,” Funston adds. “It’s not something we talk about strictly like ‘this song needs to sound different to that last song’. It’s just something that naturally happens.”

Explaining: “I think that is due in part to the way David likes jazz and hip hop and metal music, and I like stoner metal and pop punk and pop music, and Staz likes country music. There’s no limits. Everybody likes what they like, and they bring the best of that to the band. Then, it’s a lot of fun. It’s like being a mad scientist putting it together.”

This has always been part of their sound. The elements swirl into something that makes comparisons nearly redundant. You might mumble a few things about a heavier Blondie or a B-52s and Pavement lovechild as you recommend them, but ultimately, you’ll just say, ‘Ah, you’ve just got to give them a listen’. That’s even more apparent with their latest album, Talk Talk Talk. “What sets this record apart is we were able to be more melodic,” Funston confirms. “For me, it sounds like were we very 70s proto-punk and now we’ve moved into this 80s new wave punk which is very exciting.”

This music is pitched on the pointed edge of modern living explored with absurdity. They don’t want to get dragged into the dismal, but some things you can’t avoid which is why fun and deliberation coincide. “I think the pandemic forced you to look within. It caused a lot of time for inner reflection. For me, ‘Single Origin Experience’ came from a time just being really embarrassed of being American.”

“Sometimes it’s so cool, we’re in LA and we get all these cool opportunities, and we’re so lucky, but sometimes it’s a bit embarrassing being from America. I guess Trump was still president too so that obviously played into it and we were just thinking, ‘God, how is this happening’. I do think that we were able to reflect a little bit more which made for an interesting record,” Funston says”.

PHOTO CREDIT: David Perlman

Looking forward to a future with Third Man, ALTERNATIVE PRESS talked with The Paranoyds. Released at the end of last year, the band talked about how they were feeling about touring with Jack White. It is clear that, having won the ear of White and his label, that confirms that The Paranoyds are going to explode and release many albums to come:

“So tell me about the process. Since we're on songs, how do they get written in the band?

DAVID RUIZ: First there were ideas, and we were just jamming them out. Now they're a bit more fleshed out, and they just expand as we all play together. I have this progression. And we're like, “I have these lyrics!” Then we all just get together and expand on them.

FUNSTON: During the pandemic, we were trying to do the GarageBand vibe, which was really different for us. A lot of these songs were fully written, and then we all had to add our parts.

Which artists have influenced you the most? Not necessarily bands that sound like you but they're just a powerful influence.

FUNSTON: I listen to a lot of old country like Hank Williams, Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers. And a lot of Motown like Smokey Robinson and Sam Cooke. We’re trying to reference basslines to those really nice, old, soulful ones, too. I think probably country music's pretty far from us. But that's a huge influence on me, especially lyrically.

You’re opening for Jack White in several cities. What are your feelings about that?

FUNSTON: He was formative for me, and pretty much everyone in our generation. You knew who the White Stripes were and that they were causing a whole transition, whether people were aware of it or not. He was really cool. The fact that he asked us felt super validating.

I was reading through your materials, and it sounds like you had a challenging experience up in San Francisco a couple of years ago when you were at a studio there trying to demo songs.

RUIZ: It was awesome. We just had one tiny cellphone, and our friend Spencer Hartling was engineering. I guess it maybe sounded tough. We were sleeping on the floor living in the studio.

FUNSTON: It was tough times. We thought the world was ending. It was right in the middle of George Floyd dying. We all got tested before we even got in the car with each other. We’re all thinking, “Should we take off our masks?” It felt like we were gonna get into trouble. Bands were getting canceled from playing shows. People would comment like, “You guys aren't six feet apart.” It was insane.

RUIZ: Those demos sealed the deal with our label Third Man Records”.

If you do not have The Paranoyds in your sights, do make sure that you redress that and explore their work. Talk Talk Talk is their most accomplished album so far, and it hints at a very bright future! I am really excited to see where they go. Keep an eye on their social media channels to see what is happening and where they are going. They are going to make some big waves…