Happy Fangs on their Name, Influences, and Instasongs

By -


Happy Fangs by JenOf CalibreePhotography


Local band Happy Fangs plays Night at the Jewseum on Thursday, November 18.

How would you describe Happy Fangs’ music?
Our music sounds like Black Sabbath and Bikini Kill got in a pillow fight.

Where does your band name come from?
The band was formed by a guitarist whose legal last name is Cobra and a singer who is notoriously giddy. Sometimes bands name themselves. 
Who are your influences?
We are influenced by some riotous ladies: like The Slits to 7 Year Bitch; some greasy-haired gentlemen: The Melvins and Soundgarden; and some exuberant rockers out touring today: Hanni El Khatib, Palma Violets, The Vaccines, Wavves, Blood Red Shoes, and Lowell.

How long have you been playing together?
We have been playing as a three-piece (guitar, drums, and vocals) for almost a year. Happy Fangs has been making music since 2012.  

You started off without a drummer, and started playing with one earlier this year. How has the dynamic changed with a third member?
Adding a drummer to Happy Fangs, especially one of the hardest-hitting rock drummers, Jess Gowrie has increased our band's live energy and decreased our technical difficulties. 

You play instasongs, in which the theme and subject are crowd-sourced from your audience. Where did the idea come from? Do you ever wish that you could replay them? Any extremely good ones or bad ones?
This idea of instasongs came out of the dark shadows of *someone's* history of college comedy improv (not naming any names. . .). We love doing something a little bit scary and thrilling at every show. Most of our songs develop out of jamming together, so why not try our hand at it in front of a live audience?! 

Your songs are created through your practice sessions. Is this how you have always written songs or is this specific to this band? Do all three of you write music and lyrics equally or is the process completely collaborative?
Writing music live is the only way we know how to do it! We usually write the parts we play—Rebecca writes her vocals. Mr. Cobra writes what he plays on guitar and Jess is the master of her drums. We've been having fun recently writing parts for each other.

Happy Fangs by JenOf CalibreePhotography

Your band has a very cohesive look from videos to album art to photos to makeup, or rather, what you call warpaint. Do you think this cohesion came out of your professional life as a (graphic, fashion) designer?
Yes! The vision of a geometric black & white world penetrates everything Happy Fangs does and that is no accident! 

Where can we next see you play?
After this Thursday's Hanukkah festivities, you can see us at Saturday, January 31! Headlining at The Rickshaw Stop!

When will your next album be out?
Our first album ever, Capricorn will be out January 27!  

What other bands are you excited about? 
We are VERY excited that Sleater-Kinney is reuniting for a tour! 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“A Gentile’s House”: Lolita and the Holocaust

By -
Image
Along with stories of illicit sex and human derangement, Stanley Kubrick and Vladimir Nabokov both dreamed of making art about the Holocaust. Nabokov, a three-time refugee from totalitarian governments, famously rejected literature bearing social messages. Yet at the end of his seventh decade, he vowed to his first biographer that he would one day tackle Nazi terror. “I will go to those German camps and look at those places and write a terrible indictment.” 1 Decades later Kubrick made real progress toward his goal: he drafted a script, cast lead actors, and scouted a location in the Czech Republic for a film with the working title Aryan Papers . Yet neither man would complete his project. Lolita , their only collaboration, somehow survived the censors, despite a plot centered on a professor’s cross-country travel and multi-year sexual abuse of his stepdaughter. While the subject of the movie stands at some distance from genocide, Nabokov’s 1955 novel and Kubrick’s 1962 film e...
Read more

Brought to You by the Letter "Peh"

By -
Image
Thoughts from scribe-in-residence Julie Seltzer on what she's writing, her process, and the experience of writing a Torah on public view. One of the questions I am often asked is, “Do you have a favorite letter?” The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet (or 27, if you count the five letters that take a different form when they appear at the end of a word) feel in some ways like children. How can one have a favorite? But even with children the Torah reports to us certain leanings at certain times (“Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game; and Rebekah loved Jacob.” Genesis 25:28). Similarly, different letters bring unique joy, new connection, and insight at different times. Past “favorites” have included the Bet , the Gimmel , and the Chet . My current leanings are toward the letter Peh , and I’ll explain why. [These Hebrew letters spelled out, by the way, are all valid Scrabble words, FYI.]
Read more

Cats: The Beat Generation’s Secret Love Affair

By -
Image
Burberry as Jack Kerouac Created in conjunction with the San Francisco SPCA  All photography by Rod Kilpatrick A lot of the cats at the San Francisco SPCA have had beat lives. Living in backyards, alleys, and abandoned buildings, they have been deserted by their families. Some of the female felines are impregnated and left to care for their litter. And yet these creatures still persevere. They lead dignified lives full of spirit and love. They are open and ready for new relationships at a moment’s notice, much like the Beats. For example, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg all fall in love with multiple people in the beloved Beat bible,  On the Road. These cats, more importantly, are survivors. They have lived outside of society, looking in, observing, and wanting to be part of it.
Read more