We questioned Californian Allah-Las about their latest album Worship the Sun and let Baysan Yüksel draw it for us.
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1. "De Vida Voz"
It's been a long time since we heard a new song from you, and this is a fine intro. you are attracted to Spanish culture more than others?
Being so close to Mexico and having a large Mexican community in Los Angeles definitely makes that culture more familiar to us, and there's many aspects of it that we like. Having access to that is one of the upsides of living here.
2. "Had It All" - "Every girl"
You play these two songs at nearlt every gig but you didn't put have them on your first album. Whose shows have you been to more than once in the recent years?
White Fence, the Tyde, Dream Boys, Blank Tapes, also bands we toured with like The Growlers, Elephant Stone, The Black Angels...
3. "Artifact"
In California, you camp a lot, you cook with camp fires, you drive around in your van. I understand you all you like artifacts. What's your favorite thing that you "do by yourself"?
Writing and recording music.
4. "Ferus Gallery"
You love to play instrumental songs and to jam together. This song is about Beat Generations' famous Ferus Gallery. Who is your favourite character from that era?
It's hard to specify a favorite, but artists like Wallace Berman, Andy Warhol, or Ed Ruscha, who still lives and works in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles, are all influential artists who showed there and were part of that scene.
5. "Recurring"
Ot's really nice to hear Pedrum singing. When we look at the lyrics, it sounds like a real story. Uncertain things, complicated feelings, searching for someone... In which city do you feel like you're at home?
Los Angeles is the most obvious answer, but we also really like being in Amsterdam, possibly cause we've spent more time there than anywhere else and can imagine living there
It's good to hear Matt is singing again. Matt, you generally prefer slow songs to sing. What are your favorite songs to play in the morning?
Here’s a list if albums I've been listening to in the morning:
- Charlie Rich - that's rich
- Zafer Dilek - Zafer Dilek
- Agincourt - fly away
- Angel Demazo - Andean Harp Music
- Bruce Langhorne - the hired hand
- The Folklords - Release the sunshine
- Kalacakra - crawling to Lhasa
- Les Paul & Mary Ford - Lovers' luau
- Yucatan suckaman - Caught in the crossfire
- The sea urchins - stardust
You're collecting vinyl for years. I know that you're interested in old stuff. Do you collect anything other than vinyl?
Debt.
You love playing to and listening old tunes from 60s, 70s... "Follow You Down" sounds like it's influenced from that era. If you had a chance, who would you want to meet from those days?
Orville Sash, Brigitte Bardot, Prince Klossowski.
The first video of the new album is finally out. It looks like you had a lot of fun while making it. What's the story behind these numbers?
Due to childish handling of fireworks during the shoot, we set the neighbor's fence on fire and almost blinded our friend who recorded the video. The secret of the numbers will remain
This is another instrumental song in the album. Who decided to name the song "Yemeni Jade" and why?
Pedrum wanted to call it that because of a ring he bought when he was in Iran a couple years ago. The man who sold it to him said that it was old Yemeni jade and it stuck with him.
We know that you all are kind of in love with the sun and the sea. Is there any connection between the name of the album and LA?
The title isn't so much a reflection of LA or a fun in the sun lifestyle, but rather a call to simpler times when people literally worshipped the sun. Their livelihoods depended on it and it was something real that could be seen and felt. "Stay in the light or let life pass you by"
It's good to hear an upbeat song from you. It would be great to hear more. Do you have favorite upbeat songs that you love to play at your rehearsals?
Most of our songs are mellow but we're working on more upbeat stuff. Sometimes we mess around with covers like My Little Red Book or Slow Death for fun
You've released a gorgeous video . Most of you grew up together at Amoeba Music. You should have listened thousands of records there. Do you remember which album was popular when you first started visiting?
The Panda Bear and No Age records came out around then, as well as Spiritualized's Amazing Grace. Kanye was starting to get big then too...
