With their much loved new EP ‘Love Everyone, Love Everything’ still proving to be a massive hit for the group, LA-based outfit Velvet Starlings have now returned to unveil their latest ball-busting single ‘Karmic Lemonade’.
As equal part lovers on the classic 70s psych-rock sound and contemporary guitar-pop, ‘Karmic Lemonade’ plays as both a nostalgic ode to their influences, while also remaining captivatingly contemporary. With its soaring keys, grizzly guitar riffs, and catchy vocals lining the release, the outfit are set to become your new favourite band after just one listen.
So with their new offering lighting up the streaming charts, we sat down with them to find out more about their background and what they have planned for the rest of the year.
Words by Chris Bound
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Photocred: Christian Gisbourn
Chris) Hi guys, how are you today?
We’re doing amazing!! Well as amazing as you can be doing not able to play live and stuck here in LA quarantine.
Velvet Starlings) For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
Indie psychedelic rock, with a raw dose of blues and vintage guitar, we are massive fans of Jack White and White Stripes, Ty Segall, Temples, Foxygen... In this track we were aiming for a more uplifting sound, with Vox Continental organ, reflecting sounds of 60s psychedelia.
You have just released your new single ‘Karmic Lemonade’. Can you tell us how that track came about?
Oooh! So Karmic Lemonade is about a relationship’s ability to go from sweet to sour. It’s like an ice-cold sip of lemonade when things are good. My approach to thinking about karma is somewhat mathematical. I like to think 50% of the time things will be bad and 50% of the time things will be good and in the end everything balances out.
And was there a particular style you were looking for when you wrote it?
Definitely going for 60s rock’n’roll with a modern twist. I wish more bands these days used more organs! Tame Impala and Black Keys are definitely keeping organs alive!
You’re also going to be releasing your new EP ‘Love Everything, Love Everyone’. Can you tell us what we can expect on that?
‘Love Everything, Love Everyone’ is the title of our new record as well as a lyric from our 1st single Kids in Droves. It has a bit of a dual meaning. On the one hand there is the 60s ‘love everything’ approach that is very positive and which I am all for! But the other end of it is a look at how people (including me) seem to conduct themselves in their daily lives through social media - constantly liking, posting, and trying to prove themselves to everyone else. Being in high school, you see just how much your ‘social media presence’ controls everything. Even in music, you could be the best band ever but without huge numbers no one cares. That’s why the Catch me outside how bout dat girl is a rapper now. She is a meme, has millions of followers, hence a multi-million dollar record deal. While some of the coolest bands ever are struggling to keep afloat in a world run by corrupt and all too powerful corporations.
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
We’re heading into the studio next month to start working on our 3rd record! Hopefully we can get it out sooner than later. Although we won’t get to tour it, we definitely want to keep putting out music, even in quarantine!
And finally, what has been your fondest memory as an artist working today
Touring in England for sure! Playing the Cavern, which was packed due to cup final day. (Liverpool won). Such a crazy day. I blew up my keyboard and my pedal board plugging into UK voltage and we didn’t have one for the rest of the tour. We had to go full on garage style for the rest of the dates.