Live Review: The Little Ones; 2.26.09 @ Park West, Chicago
Hey hey hey, here’s the long-overdue review of The Little Ones. Part of the reason I delayed this was that I extended the contest a bit longer, and I wanted to do both things in the same post. The other part was because I’m lazy.
This was my first time at Park West, a groovy venue in Lincoln Park that holds almost 1000 concertgoers, yet still seems cozy. I, of course, was sick again but still excited. The Little Ones (actually pretty normal-sized) came out to a fairly full crowd, the non-seat area in front of the stage was littered with kids sitting Indian-style like it was storytime. Ahhh, all-ages shows…They started nice and upbeat, with “Face the Facts”. I can only imagine that most people were there for Brett Dennen, although I’d never heard of the fellow. But everyone seemed to respond very positively to TLO. Well, at least the people on the floor did, I didn’t pay much attention to the boring, sitting people with their fancy cushioned booths and waitress service.
The band filled the venue with ease and put me in that familiar, head-bobbing mood I get when their stuff pops up on my iTunes. I had fun, because they were having fun. Most of the between-song banter was between Ed and Brian, they joked-mostly about the over-zealous idiots at their feet (‘You guys rock!!!’, and that sort of thing) and were also very appreciative of their crowd, especially when their music brought everyone up front to their feet a few songs in. The inevitable dancing and head-bobbing followed soon after.
I got excited when they brought the ukes out mid-way through (‘You play those little guitars!’ said the drunken teen). I was even more jazzed for “Lovers Who Uncover”, with the hand claps and all-you know how I feel about hand claps. It was a good thing. The audience kept the HC’s goin’ too, there’s nothing worse than when they dribble and die midway through a song.
They kept the energy up through out the whole show, and even held the boring, seated people’s attention. It was a fun little dance party for the rest of us, but a good time was had by all. They played like they were in a smaller, more intimate venue, which made for a very, how shall I say, personal viewing experience. It was awesome, I was not expecting to have that much fun. So maybe I’m wrong, maybe there were a decent amount of people there to see The Little Ones. If not, then they certainly left with a poppy TLO beat in their head. I did. Sometimes, there’s nothing like a feel-good pop song. And considering the way I felt (sore throat, runny nose…), it was just what I needed.
I think it even cured my headache.
They were also nice enough to answer a few questions via email:
AvantTrash: Who are The Little Ones?
The Little Ones: Lee LaDouceur (keyboard/bass),Ian Moreno (guitar/percussion), Brian Reyes(bass/keyboard), Edward Reyes (vocals/guitar), Davey Esau (drums)
AT: How did you guys end up together, and how did it become The Little Ones?
TLO: Well, Edward and I (ian) met in college. I moved to LA in the late 90s to go to school and I met Edward in the first week I was there at the college radio station, KXLU. He was a classical DJ and I was a bit of a newbie and then eventual rock Dj. We at some point, a bit fuzzy, started playing music together and that eventually developed into a band called Sunday’s Best. That had a good 5+ yr run, taking us through our college days and then some. At some point in the early 2000s we decided to kill it. A couple members had already left to pursue other things and the two of us decided to finally end it and start something completely new. A scary, yet refreshing notion at the time. We had our day time, career-ish jobs and were really settled I’d say. Music was our fun time, our creative time, and mostly nights and weekends. And that was fine, there was no rush, no touring, no recording… it was at our pace, our leisure and we wanted the pieces to be right. So this kinda went on for a couple years. The first person to add was bassist/keyboardist, Lee LaDouceur. I went home for the holidays one year and met Lee… he was my younger sister’s new boyfriend. It was obvious early on that there was a like-mindedness not only in terms of musical preference, but approach and general outlook. He happened to be moving to LA for school and I had an open room in my house at the time. haha. So I offered the room up to him. He moved to LA and I quickly brought him along to a writing/hangout session with Ed. 2 became 3. For about a year we messed around on our laptops, lotta pre-programmed drums and then soon noticed we wanted that feel of a live drummer. We began a search that felt like forever when out of the blue an old schoolmate of mine, Greg Meyer, calls up and says he’s moving to LA… for school. The first thing I asked was whether he was bringing his drums. 3 became 4. At some point we realized we wanted a keyboardist and a bassist. Lee had been pulling double duty and it seemed to work for writing purposes, but knew we wanted to eventually have both. Enter Brian Reyes, younger brother of Edward. It’s now 05, and with every member addition we would drop everything and start writing fresh. Everybody in this group thrived on collaboration and it was this mixture that we really turned the corner and began writing what would be our Sing Song EP. As a whole we really began fleshing out songs and finally decided to record demos. Those demos ended up becoming SingSong. Flash forward to end of 07, and we part ways with drummer Greg Meyer. Enter Davey Esau, childhood friend of LaDouceur. We’ve obviously been able to keep it in the family in some way. It’s important to like the people you play, work and travel with and I think
that rings through in the music.
AT: What are some of your favorite venues to play?
TLO: hmmmmm… the echo in LA, Schubas in Chicago is always fun, Koko in London.
AT: How is The Little Ones different from Sunday’s Best?
TLO: Well, there are only 2 overlapping members… myself and Edward. We all have silly high school bands… Sunday’s Best was like our college band… literally and figuratively. The ideas, more straight forward rock I’d say. Whereas the Little Ones is like our adult take on things. The ideas are more varied and there’s no holding back. We really do whatever we want, embrace the weird, influenced by tons of other styles of music. It’s definitely more fun, light-hearted (at times) and not so serious. We like to think we’ve shed the “angsty” and that we’re pretty content people. Sunday’s Best is like a whiskey shot and a pbr… the little ones is like a margarita and taco.
AT: What do you listen to, to keep your sanity on the road?
TLO: There are definitely points in time where it seems everybody in the van are on their personal iPods. In terms of sanity and soothing sounds, personally, I find myself listening to Innio Moricone… kinda goes with the mid-west to west landscape. When I drive I like to do audiobooks now. Mixes it up, especially if the reader is good, and pulls you in in
a different way. Obviously, depends on the content. I think the last thing we all listened to was Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.
AT: What is your songwriting process like?
TLO: One person comes in with a riff, a part, a change, an idea, or a verse with a melody… goes from there… everybody then gets their hands on it… expands, adds, changes, tweaks… Like I said, we thrive on collaboration and are excited when somebody adds something where you’re like “WOW, where’d that come from? i’d of never of thought of that”. It’s fun, it’s healthy, it works for us.
AT: Your songs never fail to put me in a good mood-are y’all as cheerful as you seem?
TLO: Haha, pretty much. We like to have a good time, we’re all friends, we all entertain each other constantly… let me put it this way… last tour on a day off, we all went to a water park…
AT: Are there any notable differences between audiences in the US and Europe?
TLO: Ya know, it varies. It can be just as rowdy or nice n’ sweet any place in the states as it is anywhere in Europe. UK on the other hand… you can play a 250 capacity venue and still have barricades. Not saying it can’t be chill… BUT, you gotta love the enthusiasm!!! I’d be lying if I said I’ve never jumped onto a barricade to get some hands clapping and then almost get pulled in… that really wouldn’t happen to, well, our band at least, here in the states.
AT: What’s next for you guys after the tour?
TLO: We have SXSW… after that … ? nothing I can announce at least. haha.
So now for the good stuff. The winner of my lil’ contest is…Kim Balderas from Berea, Kentucky. Actually, the winner is her fat little frog, Kermit. What a cutie! I have a soft spot for the cold-blooded. Her little one was cute enough to win my heart and win Kim a The Little Ones t-shirt and signed vinyl copy of “Morning Tide“, their debut album. Yay Kermit! Our winner had this to say:
“I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”
Okay, so that was Kermit, not Kim-although she’s pretty jazzed herself:
“I was so excited about winning, I forgot to mention how much I loved the you tube video of The Little Ones- Morning Tide. They will be close to me in concert in March!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!” (She likes exclamations like me & Kanye)
See? See what happens when you visit our site and you enter our contests? Good things happen. You win prizes, and maybe even a little notoriety, like a reality TV star. Then you can use that mini-fame to propel your struggling career into A-list status. Everybody wins. Stay tuned for my email interview with The Little Ones, my review of Black Gold, and more all-in-all fabulousness. It’s what I do.
Tags: Brett Dennen, Morning Tide, Park West, The Little Ones
