Rock at the museum: The Hammer Museum and KCRW 89.9 FM features up-and-coming artists in the "Also I Like to Rock" free summer concert series, including the bands ECC and Graffit6
Graffiti6’s music has been featured on television shows such as “Teen Wolf,” “One Tree Hill” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” The group will perform this Thursday at the Hammer Museum as part of “Also I Like To Rock,” the museum’s free summer concert series.
Courtesy of Marina Chavez
"Also I Like to Rock": graffiti6 and eastern conference Champions
Thursday, 7 p.m.
Hammer Museum, FREE
By Shannon Cosgrove
July 5, 2011 1:48 a.m.
The Hammer Museum is adding motion to its still life paintings in partnership with public radio station KCRW 89.9 FM for yet another “Also I Like to Rock” free concert series this summer.
This Thursday, Britain’s Graffiti6, local band Eastern Conference Champions and KCRW’s Dan Wilcox will be playing at the Hammer Museum courtyard at 7 p.m.
As concert curator, Kevin Bronson of Buzz Bands LA picked out the performers for the series.
“What I’m looking for in musicians is that they have something interesting to say and an original way of saying it ““ a certain spark and commitment to artist elements that are transferable to fans,” Bronson said.
Bronson said he also tailors the talent according to KCRW’s support of local and emerging talent.
“KCRW’s music has to be innovative, exciting, genuine ““ not too produced, contrived or commercial,” said Jason Bentley, KCRW’s music director and host of the program Morning Becomes Eclectic. “I don’t want to feel like artists are just predictable, poppy puppets.”
Bentley said he sees the concert series as an incentive for young people, who may otherwise not attend museums, to engage with the arts in a holistic way, both musically and visually.
Bronson picked out artists with this in mind.
“These bands are sonically and lyrically intelligent. They have similar aesthetics in what they project in their music, like strong imagery and a sense of longing,” Bronson said.
To ensure intellectual freedom in their music, ECC moved from major label Geffen/Suretone Records to its own, RockHampton Records, named after Southampton, Pa., where drummer Greg Lyons and Josh Ostrander grew up.
The band self-released the “Santa Fe EP” in 2009 after moving to Los Angeles a few years earlier.
“The major record label worked really hard for us, but at the end of the day, we kind of got lost in the shuffle,” Lyons said. “We like to have our hands in as many aspects of our music as possible ““ the more we can keep in our control, the better off it works.”
The band now does its own recording, producing, mixing and mastering on songs, one of which, “A Million Miles An Hour,” has been featured on “The Twilight Sage: Eclipse” soundtrack.
“The first time the werewolf guy Jacob turns around, shirtless, the guitar and drum crashes come in,” Lyons said. “There were a lot of fangirls at the premiere and during that scene, the place just erupted. We were like “˜Sweet, they like our song.'”
ECC brings this kind of youthful energy to their shows, as they sweat, dance and drum along with each other, according to Lyons.
“Josh and I like the same music, that’s why we’ve been playing together for so long. We’re so close, we think the same,” Lyons said.
The band bond between singer-songwriter Jamie Scott and producer TommyD of the band Graffiti6 also shows in their music, according to Scott.
“There’s a natural collaboration and chemistry between us,” Scott said. “It’s as much about the production as it is about the songs.”
Graffiti6 combines Scott’s folksy influences like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell with TommyD’s harder rock influences like Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles to create a multidimensional sound.
“We’ve been called the “¦ child of Fleet Foxes and Gnarls Barkley,” Scott said.
Like ECC, Graffiti6’s music has also been the soundtrack to werewolves in MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” along with other shows such as “One Tree Hill” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” In reverse fashion of ECC, however, the band has made the transition from self-releasing to signing with Capitol Records.
While the name was chosen by the slapdash system of picking two random words out of a book and sticking them together, Graffiti6 does have an artistic element to it as well – British artist Jimi Crayon is responsible for the band’s logo, artwork and other visuals.
Both Scott and Lyon said they look forward to adding a multimedia dimension to their performances in the Hammer.
“After playing bars and whatnot the past few weeks, it will be refreshing to play a museum,” Lyons said.
