Like a lot of bands looking to scrounge up some funds, Los Angeles guitar-pop combo The World Record turned to Kickstarter. The campaign was a success (with funds going to help their label, Squid vs. Whale, issue their double LP Freeway Special), but now requires the band to drive to the dusty burg of Oracle, Arizona, to play a show for a contributor to the Kickstarter campaign.
"I got excited when I found out Biosphere 2 is out there," laughs songwriter Andy Creighton. "But that's not happening."
Instead the band will play the Triangle L Ranch, a spot not known for its rock 'n' roll shows. The show gave Creighton a chance to book a mini-Arizona tour, stopping by Plush in Tucson on Saturday, September 1, and the Rogue Bar in Scottsdale on Sunday, September 2.
It's sort of a warmup jaunt for the band in preparation for a bigger tour in support of its forthcoming double LP, Freeway Special, due out Tuesday, October 9. The record's been a long time coming -- in the works for a whopping six years.
"It's been awhile," Creighton laughs, noting that during the record's gestation he left L.A. for a year, and played in bands like Apex Manor and the Parson Red Heads. "We started to record, and those recordings were bad." As the band solidified its lineup and got to work, and the record grew. "We thought, 'The record should represent the time we spent recording it, so it became a double LP."
The band often gets saddled with the power-pop label, and listening to "She's Not a Liar," the record's first single, it's easy to imagine the band fitting well into a jukebox stuffed with Teenage Fanclub, Posies, and Big Star singles, but Creighton says that the dedication to chiming guitars and strident melodies is just one element of the band's sound.
"We definitely have moments where it is [power-pop], there's no doubt about it," he says. "There are some longer songs and more exploring, but most people say 'It sounds like Big Star or Fountains of Wayne.'"
And while no one has ever compared a band to Big Star as an insult, Creighton says the label is limited in describing the full spectrum of The World Record's sound, which draws as much from Blue Öyster Cult as The Records.
"I feel like like there's more to it," Creighton says, "but I'm inside it so much. It's good to have something to describe the band and have people get an idea what it's about. But I think it's not inaccurate to say that we're a 'power-pop' band. It kind of bothers me because I want to have this other side of the band represented in that description, but if I'm being honest I'm happy it can be explained. You know what I like? Occasionally we get Pavement comparisons. Very occasionally, and I really like it when people say that, it sort of expands it a bit."
Download: The World Record, "She's Not a Liar" "She's Not a Liar"
World Record is scheduled to perform Sunday, September 2, at Rogue Bar in Scottsdale.
