Wild Pack of Canaries’ In the Parian Flesh on limited edition vinyl paid for with award money from Buskerfest 2011. Photo by Sarah Bennett.
When Long Beach’s jazzy, schizo, sometimes-septet Wild Pack of Canaries sets up their merch table at tonight’s show at L.A.’s Silverlake Lounge, it will be the first time that the band’s latest album, In The Parian Flesh, is available for purchase.
And even though the vinyl release was made possible by a prize pack won at 2011’s Buskerfest and the band has spent the last three years building a cult following in Long Beach, it still somehow feels appropriate that the genre-bending batch of songs makes its debut in more uncharted territory for the local act.
“I feel like we have Long Beach more on lock than anyone. Not in a competitive way, but a confident way,” says Wild Pack’s singer-guitarist frontman Rudy De Anda. “We wanted to get the word out outside of Long Beach..But how do we make people pay attention to us in L.A.?”
Like many other Long Beach bands on the verge of breaking beyond the city’s insular music scene, Wild Pack obtained a month-long residency of weekly shows at a mid-sized L.A. venue—an exposure opportunity once undertaken by everyone from Cold War Kids to Avi Buffalo.
Wild Pack’s press photo was taken in the former Press-Telegram Building as it was undergoing rennovation last year.
Every Thursday in February, then, Wild Pack of Canaries will play a free show at Silverlake Lounge along with a rotating cast of other area acts (think Free Moral Agents, Crystal Antlers and Brown & Blue) chosen by the band. The idea is to draw attention to not just In The Parian Flesh—which was recorded by friends at a home studio in Long Beach—but the city’s music scene as a whole.
“When we play shows elsewhere, all we hear about Long Beach is Sublime and Snoop Dogg,” says Alfred Hernandez, drummer, “but Sublime is outdated—that’s not what it’s about anymore. People need to get with the times.”
Growing up in Long Beach just as the internet became a music-download machine, De Anda and Hernandez (along with J.P. Bendzinski, Matisse Ibarra, Aaron Archambault, Miguel Vazquez and London Guzman) were bred on a combination of local bands like Greater California, Le Shok and De Facto as well as more mainstream artists from The Smiths to David Bowie.
In the Parian Flesh is Wild Pack’s second full-length and its songs show off a pleasantly discordant mix of influences and genres that could be heard as a contemporary Long Beach sound. Tracks oscillate between psychedelic, afro-beat, electronic, bebop, cumbia and melodic classic rock, never stopping long enough at each to fully fit the style but still demonstrating proficiency, understanding and appreciation of each.
“The initial inspiration for the band was, ‘What if the Beatles and Hella made an album together?’” De Anda says, referring to the dissonant Sacramento hardcore outfit. “Using harmonies, but using chaos on the same time.”
Guest appearances from a dream team of Long Beach music elite round out In the Parian Flesh’s city-representing authenticity with Dennis Robicheau, Avi Zahner-Isenberg and multiple members of 2012 Buskerfest winners The Dovelles lending their talents to the final cut. Plus, the entire album was produced by Ikey Owens, former keyboard player for the Mars Volta, who currently plays with Free Moral Agents.
“It’s almost too good to be true, being able to have our album done for free by friends and our vinyl taken care of [with Buskerfest money] and now this residency,” says De Anda. “We haven’t had to pay for anything and a lot of things seem to be falling into place.”
Wild Pack hopes this residency will not only garner the band more fans, but also open the door for bigger opportunities. In the Parian Flesh has already been confirmed for a cassette release through Fullerton-based Burger Records and a summer tour is all but definite.
De Anda says that in the future, he would like to connect with like-minded bands on other continents and explore the South American market. In the meantime, the Wild Pack guys will continue their day jobs in Long Beach and spend spare time writing even more unconventional jams.
“We’re almost exploding with creativity,” says Hernandez. “We have more songs than we can fit on a record. That kind of chemistry doesn’t come often.”
In the Parian Flesh is currently available on vinyl only at Wild Pack of Canaries’ concerts and also at Fingerprints Music in Long Beach. For more information about Wild Pack of Canaries’ free February residency at Silverlake Lounge, click here. For more info about Wild Pack of Canaries including upcoming local shows and links to hear some music, visit wildpackofcanaries.com.