Meet Eagle Rock’s “Dirty Velvet” Rockers.
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Natalie Durkin (TribeLA Magazine): Give your band a Tagline.
Sonny Wong (Fake Furs): Two boys making noise.
László Bolender (Fake Furs): Reviving ghosts and setting them on fire since 1989.
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ND: What got you started in music? What is the Reason you are where you are today?
LB: I was lucky enough to be raised by musicians, so I was introduced to a wide variety of music at a young age, but also, to music technology which I think just blew my mind more than video games. Beyond that, I have things to say that can’t just be spoken, and I want to make music that I can’t find anywhere else.
SW: I wanted to play drums in the school band, but it was required to study another instrument for a year, so my first instrument became the Saxophone. Throughout middle school and high school, I was in the jazz and marching bands. I’ve been playing ever since.
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ND: What effect (Influence) do you hope to have on us?
SW: Hopefully our audience connects with our music but also has fun with it. It’s loud music and I think loud music should be fun.
LB: Making art can be very selfish and narcissistic, so if someone finds itself in what we do… that’s a fortunate but unintended victory? I like to think of it as story telling. It goes back to having things to say; to explore, interpret one’s own experiences. Empathy might be the resulting effect.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZX6AirBgfH/?taken-by=fakefurs
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ND: What do you do when you’re stuck (Blocked)?
SW: I like to go on bike rides or long car rides. Physical movement helps with my creative movement.
LB: That does happen and I usually have to physically get away from it. It’s part of the cycle and I’ve learned to embrace it. So I read, watch films, go out on a walk somewhere I haven’t been.
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ND: What fires you up and gives you Energy?
LB: Coffee.
SW: Mars Volta’s De-Loused in the Comatorium record.
LB: That too, actually.
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ND: Can you share a Little known fact with us?
SW: I have double-vision.
LB: I am keeping my grandfather’s collection of holes alive.
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ND: Where is your favorite place in Los Angeles? Where would you take visitors? If you could defend the city in one sentence to someone who doubts it, what would you say?
SW: My favorite place is the Los Angeles Public Library. I don’t go there often nowadays, but my mom has worked there for a couple decades and used to take me there as a kid. I would probably take visitors to Six Flags because I haven’t been there in a while and it would be a good excuse to go. I would defend the city with “The [greenery] is great here.”
LB: I love Eagle Rock. It’s my new home. I just feel at ease there. It’s not exactly a place one can visit per say, but there’s good food, good people, and it’s eerie enough at night to walk around.
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ND: Briefly chronicle your creative process. How do you like to Make art?
SW: A lot of ideas spawn from lengthy drives. I’ll voice memo the ideas and try to get them into Ableton as quickly as possible. Most of the creativity comes from making mistakes during production that spawn into new ideas.
LB: Whatever comes out that I can repeat twice gets out on paper. Sometimes I start with lyrics, but usually the melody dictates that. Then it’s all about turning it into something that doesn’t bore me after 37 seconds.
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ND: What is coming Up?
LB: A new record which will be released very soon. More shows. Vinyl. We’re doing everything ourselves which gives us a lot of freedom.
SW: I think we’re cooking up something good. I’m also working on my side project.
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ND: Describe your Style – musically and otherwise.
LB: Dirty velvet rock — hard and brutal with a sense of ease and grace.
SW: Laszlo put it best: dirty velvet rock.
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ND: What is the best advice you’ve received and the best advice you can Impart on us?
SW: Be honest in your music.
LB: Only brush the teeth you want to keep.
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ND: Any Closing words?
LB: Question everything.
SW: “Peace and love.” -Ringo
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