On the second Thursday of each month art-loving Angelenos, the cool kids, head downtown for The Downtown Art Walk, a free, self-guided, public tour of Downtown's gallery district. Not to be left out, The Standard, Downtown LA presents Art Rock, a free monthly art and music series.
This month's Art Rock features a live performance by Sister Rogers and art work by Lola Rose Thompson. If you haven't heard Sister Rogers yet then you're in for a treat, they combine Bossa Nova, Samba, and Latin rhythms to create a sound that is pure Los Angeles. We sat down band members, Sam Aguirre (guitar), Carlos Vides (keys), Ryan Moraga (percussion), Sam Kauffman-Skloff (drums) and Ericka Sance (vocals) and asked them about their music, their latest EP, and the integrity of sound.
Standard: Tell us the story of how everyone met and began playing music together?
Sister Rogers: Sam and Ericka met at the infamous Vermont House in Los Angeles, during show on Easter. Sam later met Ryan at an Earth Day event in Rancho Cucamonga and quickly became good friends after exchanging music. Carlos and Sam had known each other longest through mutual friends, playing music and the simple fact of growing up in the IE – they had lost touch for a couple of years, but after running into each other in Echo Park, Carlos was invited to join the band on keys.
You recently released your first EP, what was the first thing you did once it was finished?
Continued practicing as much as we possibly could in order to create the same experience live. We want the listener to experience the same music they hear on the EP.
Worked on a music video for Midnight Sands, which turned out to be a delicate and drawn out process. We wanted to make it as best as we could by using whatever resources and capital was available to us.
Celebrate? Not so much, because the recording process was over a month, and once it was finally finished being produced, mixed, mastered and pressed, we weren't really thinking, "We did it, its done!" It was more of, "So what's next?”
What’s your philosophy for creating live performances?
Sound musical is priority, but allowing ourselves to unify with the moment. Every performance should be an experience for the listener; where they can engage with the manifestation of the music and for a moment be taken to another place.
What song do you wish you’d written?
Song(s)...
-David Bowie "Cat People"
-Prince "Controversy"
-Chico Buarque "Construcao"
-Blonde Redhead "Maddening Cloud"
-Antonio Carlos Jobim "Aguas de Marco"
What’s the best adventure you’ve ever had as a band?
The time we all fell asleep in the same bed - there we dreamed and traveled to many other places far away while still being really close.
See you on Thursday at 8:30pm!
