Le Switch: Exclusive Video Performance At LiveDaily Sessions
The five members of Le Switch , a Los Angeles-based indie-rock outfit, joined forces in 2006 for one simple reason: they thoroughly enjoyed playing music together. Since that time, the effervescent quintet dropped their debut EP, "Hello Today," garnering support from local bloggers. They recently put the finishing touches on their full-length debut, "And Now ... Le Switch," which is scheduled to drop in late summer. The Autumn Tone Records release was recorded and produced by the group's drummer, Joe Napolitano, and mixed with the help of Radar Brother Jim Putnam.
[Click here to view the video footage of Le Switch's performance.]
Le Switch has several shows scheduled around the Los Angeles area in anticipation of the LP's debut, including double bills with the Henry Clay People and Princeton.
Le Switch , an LA-based indie-pop group, is playing around the Los Angeles area in anticipation of the mid-August release of their first full-length album.
LiveDaily contributor Maya Marin recently sat down with all five members--Aaron Kyle, Joe Napolitano, Maria DeLuca, Christopher Harrison and Josh Charney--to discuss how they formed the band, the group's songwriting dynamics, and more.
LiveDaily: So tell us about the birth of Le Switch. How did you guys connect? Are you LA natives?
Aaron: I'm from LA, Josh is from northern California, Maria and Joe are from New York, and Chris is from Portland, OR.
So you're from all over. How did you guys meet?
Aaron Kyle: I met Joe first and he and I played in a band together as a two-piece. Maria, Josh and Joe all went to USC together.
Christopher Harrison: And Aaron and I met on Craigslist. It sounds funny but it's true.
AK: Yeah, then Maria joined the band and eventually Chris too.
Joe Napolitano: Josh was the final member and that's when we became a real band.
When you were a duo, were you looking to expand the line-up?
JN: We didn't really think about it at the time.
AK: It was kind of similar sound-wise to what's going on now, just without these three (Josh, Christopher and Maria) and the mastery of the accordion.
JN: We slowly started plugging in the guitars and playing full drum sets and then a bass player seemed like a good idea.
So what's the deal with the name? Is it The Switch or Le Switch? How did this happen?
AK: We were The Switch and we had some legal issues with that. We got a cease and desist from a band in New York, so we decided that we'd be Le Switch. We went through about a thousand names ...
JN: And keep in mind this was about a four-month period of changing the name.
Josh Charney: We were trying to think of something and it just turned into this contest, like who could come up with the worst option.
Give us some of the names that ended up in the wastebasket.
MD: Hoof Are Ted was my personal favorite, and there was Mr. Whiskers and the Sunshine Kids.
JN: At a certain point, we just kind of gave up.
Alright. So Le Switch it was. Who did you all listen to growing up?
AK: The Beatles, LA punk, X ... stuff like that.
Maria DeLuca: A lot of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms.
I understand a lot of you are formally trained musicians. I've been told by some rock/pop musicians that sometimes formal training can be a hindrance as well as an advantage. Would you like to weigh in on this argument?
JN: Sometimes, you have to unlearn things to play together in a band. You have to learn how to play together. Sometimes, if you're playing a piano by yourself and you're classically trained, you don't really get that until you start playing with other people.
AK: Although, then there's Josh back here, who is probably the most classically trained of all of us. I gave him the accordion the day before yesterday and he's got no problem. He's nimble.
Did you always want to bring a trumpet player into the fold?
MD: (who plays the trumpet) Yes!
AK: Well, as you see, none of us really responded. We sort of approached each other actually because she plays the trumpet and the viola and keyboards in the beginning, and it just seemed like a cool idea.
JN: From what I understand, she's the only person in town who plays both the viola and the trumpet.
You've got a self-released EP out right now, "Hello Today," and you've got a debut LP yet to be released. Is there a name for the album yet?
JN: We haven't gotten there.
MD: That's another game.
Throw out some contenders for the title.
AK: It might be, "Hit the Sides, Work the Metal."
Will fans hear a change in production from your EP to your forthcoming album, or a change in instrumentation?
AK: I think it's just going to be more of us.
JN: It's bigger and fuller.
AK: Joe's actually producing and recording the entire record, so it's up to him what we sound like.
JC: It's like another step in the same direction for us.
JN: On a couple of tunes, instead of just a viola, we added a violin and cello and a couple other horn parts here and there. Basically, the same kind of sound, just a little denser and thicker.
With Joe being producer as well, does he throw his weight around a lot?
Christopher: Joe's more of the taken-advantage-of producer. He's not the screaming producer ...
JN: Yeah, until they leave and I stay until 5a.m.!
Describe your process of writing music. What's the group's dynamic when it comes to piecing a song together?
AK: The way that it has been, I'll usually put something together on guitar. I'll write the skeleton and we'll bring it into the rehearsal space and everybody will arrange it afterward.
JC: We just kind of do it on the fly.
JN: It's very much a group process, the arrangement. It's cool, too, because we're all pretty open to taking suggestions from everyone else. The arrangement really comes together as a group, which is nice. We really trust each other to come up with good parts and to try an idea that you might not have had but someone else did.
You guys definitely give off the vibe of having fun and enjoying each others' company. So Craigslist is the way to go for you bands out there looking for people. Describe the LA music scene for me. Is it as cutthroat as people make it out to be or do you find it more generous?
JN: Certain parts of it might be [cutthroat] but I think where we're at, it's pretty friendly.
CH: There's totally a dividing line though, east and west. Sometimes we come over this way and play the Viper Room and we're like, "Wow. This is different." There's like a guy with a stopwatch and he's like, "Go!"
AK: It's definitely more relaxed on the east side, but all the bands that are playing on the east side, most of them are really supportive of each other. Everyone looks out for one another and everyone tries to book shows with one another.
MD: A lot of us play in other bands, too.
Who are you guys listening to locally?
AK: I listen to Tandemoro a lot.
MD: I really like the Henry Clay People. They put on a good show.
