Before their show at Casa de Amor, we chatted with The Licks about their hometown, toilet paper, and shows gone wrong.
F2S: How did you guys get together?
Thomas: In summer of 2017, Chad and I were like, “Hey, do you want to maybe record something together?”. Just because we wanted to spend more time with each other. Chad, Jimmy, and Paul were in another band already when they were in high school. I think the night that we added Chandler officially, or that we say we were actually a full band, was December 2 at the Glass House in 2017. We all knew that he was immensely talented. Eventually we were like, “Why are you not here?”. So now it’s the five of us, and I think we released “Lavender Kiss” on Spotify in January of 2018.
F2S: You guys just released the song “Avery” earlier this month, and played two unreleased songs for your “Jam in the Van” performance. Does that hint to an album in the works?
Thomas: I think we all have a different idea of what we would like to do and when we would like to release stuff. I would like us to have that be on album and maybe release “Nikki” as a single beforehand.
Chandler: We’re focusing on making sure that we have everything down and recorded to release one or two more singles and then working on a larger project.
F2S: How has your group’s dynamic and music has changed since starting, and how do you plan to continue that in the future?
Chad: The way that we were writing music before was complete bullshit. Because we weren’t writing music, I just had a bunch of songs compiled that I needed to get rid of in a sense. That’s what it felt like.
Thomas: I feel like we took those songs, and I think we were all super frustrated with our home lives, and we used those songs as on outlet for frustration and anger. We went from “Lavender Kiss” being a sad song to the EP being more like “Aahhh!”
Thomas: And now we’re trying to get back into like…
Chad: Love
Thomas: Every time we have a meeting it is: we’re having this conversation because we love music and we love one another, and we’re trying to have our music reflect that.
F2S: What do you think your biggest achievement as a band has been thus far?
Jimmy: Because I am the Wrecks’ biggest fan, I think opening for them was super cool. And, of course, The Troubadour is awesome. But I have to say, Goth Babe was absolutely insane.
Thomas: Easily the biggest show we’ve ever played. Going from house shows to more than 850 people was incredible in as short of a span as we did.
Chanler: The biggest accomplishment, I think, is the Troubadour, just because of how historic it is. I was shown The Wrecks in high school and we were all like, “Oh ya, this is cool, we should cover this song sometime. We should do this song or whatever” and then we’re fucking opening for them, and we’re not even 20. It’s something that’s very very special for me. As well as playing multiple times at The Fox, and just having a god damn blast in such a cool place.
Chad: For me, headlining The Fox main stage was really cool just because I genuinely didn’t think that we were capable of that, at all. I thought that we were kind of like.. I don’t know. I’m just super insecure and that was like, a good thing to fucking have. That was a good moment to like, cry at home over. That and the Troubadour. I gotta say I think the Troubadour.. I mean actually, I think fucking everything.
Thomas: Ya, you know the first house show we ever played. I was proud of that one.
Jimmy: The sock drive.
Chad: The sock drive, straight up. We threw a benefit show, not at my house.
Thomas: Definitely not at Chad’s house.
Chad: It was super successful. We brought so much stuff that when I went to drop it off at the Victor Valley Rescue Mission, they straight up were like, “You brought a surplus of toilet paper.”
Thomas: Who knew such a thing was possible? I wish we had that here!
All: Biggest achievement as band – surplus of toilet paper.
Jimmy: That’s our debut albums name.
Chandler: Surplus of Toilet Paper.
F2S: As they get bigger, many groups describe feeling a specific moment of shock when they realize it’s really happening. Have you guys experienced something similar?
Thomas: I have about two of those a month.
Jimmy: I’m going to go back to the Troubadour. I’d say the moment I was sitting on the balcony looking down on the stage, because The Wrecks do a pre-show game show thing, or they did on that tour. I watched these guys who I idolized just hanging out. That was my fuck moment. I was just like, “There they are.” I actually have a picture of them.
F2S: What is the biggest goal you hope to achieve as a band?
Chandler: Short term, tour. Long term, make this our jobs.
Thomas: We would love to be able to put all of our weight on this. Some of us are going to school and work. Some us are working non-stop. I think we are just all exhausted, and would rather be exhausted doing things that we love as opposed to having to support ourselves.
Chandler: I mean, this is starting to support us, which is very nice, because we don’t have to worry about travel expenses when we come and play shows that are far away from home. But we would definitely like to be able to just go, “Hey, so we recorded a song this month, and now everybody has a paycheck.”
Thomas: “Hey, I can uhh afford rent.”
Paul: As long as I can afford socks.
Jimmy: Can I add one more super long-term goal other than just supporting ourselves? I know I’ve talked to a couple of them about it, but I want to take our hometown, which is kind of just dirt and cacti, and open a venue there and make it more of a better town.
Chandler: There’s a music scene growing up there, and it’s really awesome that it’s growing, but it would be great to see it be the place bands could stop on their way from LA to Las Vegas to play a show.
Thomas: Every single time we bring up where we live, people are like, “Oh, I think I kind of know where that is” and I’d much rather have it be like, “Oh ya, that’s where we stop and play on our way to Vegas.” Because it’s an hour and a half from LA. It is two and a half hours from San Diego. I think the reason we’ve had so much success and why people never think we’re actually from where we’re from is because we are very close to where we need to be to play.
F2S: Have you guys ever had a scary experience on stage?
Paul: Okay, we had a show at this house that was like, seven houses away from my house.
Thomas: So we were super excited because Astro Samurai was on that bill. So we were like, oh shit, this is like, a big deal. We got there, it was like two bands in, and the cops showed up around 8 o’clock. The guy who lived there came out with an AR-15 and was like, “Alright, everyone out.”
Chandler: I can’t blame him, that’s a good way to get people out of your house. There were people who were going, “I bet that gun’s not even real” and I was like, “Do you want to fucking find out and fucking see?”. I had my little brother with me, and it got pointed in our direction. I don’t think the guy did it on purpose, but it got pointed in our direction, and I was, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Jimmy: There’s not a safe or sane way to find out if a gun is real.
Paul: Anyways, the show didn’t get cancelled.
Thomas: It moved to another house and lasted until three in the morning. A lot of people stayed surprisingly. I think, going back to I’d like to see our town turn into an area that bands can come play, it already seems like people are willing to do that.
Chandler: They’re becoming more accepting of it. Even if it’s not their thing, people like to go see shows, so, it’s starting to become something.
Paul: I like that sort of transition. Like, “Oh yeah we had guns aimed at us, but, we want bands to come and play in our city!”.
Thomas: We promise that was a one time deal I swear!
F2S: Anything else you want to add?
Chad: Vulfpeck, if you’re listening to this…
Thomas: It seriously is our dream to open for you guys. You don’t have to do it now you can wait until we release more music, because, I’d like to be a little bigger for you guys.
Chandler: I have one thing. I want to say a serious thank you to everyone who is pushing and listening to Avery because it’s fucking going and going and that makes me really happy and that makes all of us really happy. And just thank everybody for continuing to, even though sometimes it takes us a while to get music out, to continue to just push and push still wanting to listen to our music.
Be sure to check out The Licks on Spotify and follow them on Instagram (@thelicksofficial)!
Pictures courtesy of @devdarkoprod