I had the awesome opportunity to interview one of LA’s most promising indie bands, The Hectors, comprised of Robert Bonilla (guitar), Corrine Dinner (vocals-guitar), Erik Greene (drums) and Jim Saunders (bass). The Hectors have been playing the LA circuit and making a name for themselves with a sound that has energy, depth and fierce creativity. While their music should be considered a serious addition to the LA Music scene the folks that are, The Hectors, try not to take themselves too seriously.If you want to see the Hectors live in LA they will be playing at Echo Curio (Map) this Saturday, June 21 (All ages. $5 at the door) and then again in July. Check out their MySpace for details.LA.CityZine had a chance to talk to them about their inspirations, crappy jobs, other indie bands and, yes, even superpowers. Get to know… The Hectors:
Where are each of you from? What brought you to Los Angeles if you were not born here already?
Jim: Robert, Erik and I are actually from Southern California. Which is weird, I know.
Corinne: I grew up in the San Francisco bay area. After graduating college in Portland, I came down here to try my hand at screenwriting. But the screenplay I wrote ended up being this horrible coming-of-age trifle. Like if you mashed up Garden State, Reality Bites, and Valley of the Dolls. Blech.
How is your full length album coming along? Are you recording it in someone’s apartment, like you did your EP?
Corinne: We are still writing and working out new songs for it. We might end up in the studio for this one. Our neighbors can only take so much overdrive pedal.
What is something you want your fans to know about you?
Jim: That we love each and every one of you very, very much.
Corinne’s vocals have been compared to Liz Phair and the band as a whole has been compared to The Pixies, Pavement and even Radiohead. Every critic loves to play the “sounds-like” game but who do you think The Hectors most emulate?
Corinne: I just try as best as I can to evoke that same magical and gut-wrenching feeling I got when I first heard Elliott Smith, or Bob Dylan, or early Catpower. Then I like to balance that with trying not to sound like a pompous ass.
Robert: I don’t think we try to sound a particular way, but we END up sounding a particular way. The Hectors’ sound is the bewildering sum of each of our many influences. I think we just like to have a big sound. So, we emulate any band that’s played the Hollywood Bowl.
Erik: We don’t try to “emulate” anyone else, but influences do make there way in. As far as my specific inspirational influences go, I’m a big fan of Jez Hindmarsh (Swervedriver), George Hurley (firehose), and of course Keith Moon.
The Hectors, a 17th century of British Hooligans and a pretty damn cool name for a band. I have read that one of your band members wanted to name the band The Lollipop Guild. What are some other names for your band that didn’t exactly make the cut?
Corinne: Yes, that was Erik. All of us liked “The Hectors” from pretty early on except for Erik. So he really came up with the bulk of memorable alternatives: Harbingers of Awesome, Crenshaw Scrimshaw, Winged Battalion, Slowpoke, and The Lullaby League, to name but a few. Erik’s an idiot.
What, or who, inspires the four of you to make music?
Robert: I make music because it makes me happy and because other people’s music makes me happy. I just burst into tears. Out of happiness… I think.
Erik: Collaborative creativity and friendship.
Corinne: There’s nothing quite as satisfying as getting together in a hot, sweaty rehearsal space, drinking cheap beers, playing really loud and then spending the rest of the time collectively ripping on each other. It’s very freeing and therapeutic.
What, or who, inspired you to wake up in this morning?
Erik: Molding young artistic minds gets me up at around 6:30 every morning.
Jim: Many things inspire me to stay up late into the night, but nothing has ever inspired me to wake up in the morning.
Robert: The threat of a plumber coming sometime between 8 a.m. and noon.
Corinne: The homeless guy with Tourette’s who always comes to grab the recycling from under our window. This morning he kept saying, “Thanks for nothing.” I guess we need to start drinking more canned and bottled beverages.
Aside from your EP, “Sometimes they Collide,” what three indie albums should people be listening to?
Robert: “Eat Your Heart Out” by The Breakups is very good. There’s the first of three. Since there are four of us, two of the other Hectors are going to have to share. This question is really about team-building.
Corinne: I just got my hands on the last two EP’s Rademacher put out. Really good stuff, great lyrics.
Erik: The Black Kites “Paper Hearts” EP.
Who, musically, is your guilty pleasure?
Robert: I’m secure enough with my music appreciation to truly have no guilty pleasures. I like what I like.
Corinne: Ludacris. Luda!
Erik: Wesley Willis.
Jim: I know they suck, but I kind of like The Henry Clay People.
Who would play each of you in a film version of your band’s rise to the top?
Erik: Rick Moranis
Jim: Martin Lawrence or Eddie Murphy. As long as there’s a fat suit.
Robert: Cate Blanchett. But the guitar-playing scenes would HAVE to look real. I hate bad instrument miming in movies.
Corinne: Maybe a younger Catherine O’Hara. If she can sing “Sure-Flo,” she can surely sing “Cold Star.”
What concert of all time do you wish you had been able to attend?
Robert: Maybe a Beatles set when they were in Hamburg. Maybe Woodstock. Maybe the last show of the Ziggy Stardust tour. Maybe Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall in 1938. Maybe…
Corinne: Either the Monterey Pop Festival in ‘67 or one of those early Bad Brains/Minor Threat shows in D.C.
Erik: I wish I could have seen Keith Moon in his prime.
What’s your favorite venue in LA to see other bands play?
Corinne: Pehrspace or Spaceland.
Robert: Wherever the parking is quick. I guess that narrows it down to venues that either are or were bowling alleys. You know who you are.
What is the worst job you have ever had in Los Angeles?
Corinne: My first job in LA. I worked for T’ai Chi Magazine. It sounds like it would be a cool and mellow job, but it was run by this little tense man out of his rundown house in Silver Lake. He looked like Mr. Burns and was just as mean. It was him, 3 brow-beaten secretaries, and then me. I quit after about 3 weeks.
What reality television show would you most like to be a part of?
Corinne: I’d like to be the new Padma Lakshmi on “Top Chef” so I can eat a lot while looking smug and wearing an array of short skirts. She’s got the best job on TV.
Jim: Wrong. Padma Lakshmi has never looked anything but adorable and slightly regal. She’s certainly never looked smug. Jealous.
Erik, this question is for you. I noticed in another interview that your favorite shows are The Office and South Park: Two of my favorite television shows. What are your favorite episodes for each?
Erik: Wow, that’s tough. I’d have to say that my favorites are:
- The Office (UK version OBVIOUSLY): Everything Ricky Gervais does is phenomenal,… but the “Training Day” episode featuring “Free Love Freeway,” the “Motivational Speaker” episode, and the final episode are all glorious.
- South Park: “Good Times with Weapons,” “Ginger Kids,” and “Make love, Not Warcraft” are my top picks.
What is your favorite place to get coffee in Los Angeles?
Corinne: This Venezuelan place down the street from where I live called Cafe Bolivar.
Robert: I don’t get coffee. And I mean that in an ideological sense.
Jim: Bolivar if there’s no rush, Coffee Bean if there is. And yes we will accept corporate sponsorship.
Eat Lunch?
Corinne: John O’Groats,
Erik: Wahoo’s.
Robert: I’m a big Bob’s Big Boy boy. I don’t know.
Eat Dinner?
Corinne: Kifune.
Jim: La Serenata.
Erik: Casa Bianca.
Robert: Luna Park is nice with someone nice. And it’s close to home.
Drink?
Corinne: The HMS Bounty.
Robert: Anyplace that has Hendricks or Boodles.
Jim: Anyplace that has Hot Chicks and Booties. Also the Daily Pint.
Recover from a hangover?
Corinne: Gilbert’s El Indio . It’s all about the machaca breakfast or the the extra super mule burrito.
Jim: Bed.
Robert: The exact same answer as the previous question.
And lastly, Superpower - Flying or Invisibility? (Note: Flying reveals a tendency toward the heroic while the latter reveals a more sinister inclination.)
Subscribe to our RSS Feed And checkout our coffee competition to win a $30 gift voucher to your favourite coffee shop : click hereErik: Flying definitely.
Robert: Flying - if there’s someway that I don’t get too cold.
Corinne: Flying heroically.
Jim: Why choose? I’ll take the invisible jet (and bulletproof bangles). Suckas.
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