Punky indie power-pop band the Happy Casualties are composed of musicians that have been in multiple great local bands, have released a lot of great records and have gigged all over the region. Big Star and Elliott Smith are two of this project’s main influences, which should appeal to fans of infectious melodies and abrasive guitar. They perform at the Cinema Bar on Friday, and band member Stephen Sigl told the News about what they have in store for Culver City…
When did you start playing and performing?
I started playing guitar when I was sixteen and I played ska music in a band called Waterslide. Ryan Blandford, our drummer, started much younger and played in mostly hardcore bands on the east coast. He and I have been the only consistent members of the Happy Casualties since the band formed in 2005. We met at a New Years Eve party at my apartment in Venice.
Describe your sound/style?
Our style is pretty varied. I guess when we’re playing live we try to play heavier and faster, so we focus primarily on that side of our catalog. Most of our albums would be classified as indie rock and are heavily influenced by bands like Big Star, the Pernice Brothers, the Replacements and Elliott Smith. We have a few albums where we consciously moved away from that genre; two of the albums from last year evince this tendency: Joyous Songs of Happiness and Friendship was primarily a punk/metal album and Bleed\Worship/Bleed was kinda vaporwave or electropop. Our upcoming album, Of Floods, Droughts and Other Ravages Visited Upon the Earth is a double album that we wanted to be eclectic, but focused primarily on living in and eventually moving away from, Los Angeles.
What are your career highlights so far?
As far as career highlights go, my favorite one was getting to open for American Music Club at Spaceland and getting our music played on Indie 103.1 back when it was on the air. Releasing our new album on vinyl is also very exciting for us.
What recorded music is available — particularly the most recent?
The new album will be our ninth. The other eight are all available on streaming platforms and there are some CD copies out there as well.
Have you performed at the Cinema Bar before?
We’ve performed at Cinema Bar many times and love the venue. Rod has been one of the most supportive, artist-friendly club owners we know. One of our favorite memories was playing the farewell show for Sarah when she moved out of state years ago (though she’s back in town now).
What can the audience expect from the set this time?
Hopefully we’ll play a mostly high energy set that lasts roughly an hour. We’ll try to tackle a few songs off the new album as well. We have our friends: Mark Steggell, Loser Company and Jet Set Future opening for us, so it should be a great and exciting night!
What else do you have coming up?
Well, the new album is our primary focus. We are busy recording our next (tenth) album and hope to have that out this time next year –hopefully on vinyl as well. We recorded an EP of GG Allin tunes that we’re in negotiations to have released on vinyl for Record Store Day next year. My cousin Brian Godfrey, who played with us on Joyous Songs of Happiness and Friendship and Of Floods, Droughts… will also be featured on the GG EP. We’re hoping this new album gets us some traction and we can do more press and possibly some light touring.
The Happy Casualties performs at 9 p.m. on Friday, October 27 at the Cinema Bar. Go to thecinemabar.com for more information about the show.
Elsewhere this week
The Culver Hotel will be hosting the likes of Sylvia & the Rhythm Boys, and Scotty Bramer. Go to culverhotel.com for more info.
The next show at Boulevard Music is the Carl Verheyen Band at 8 p.m. on Friday, November 3. Visit boulevardmusic.com for more info.