Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2010 > November > 02 > Entry
Fun Fun Fun Fest preview: Best Coast
5 p.m. Sunday, Orange stage
Sometimes less is better, at least for Bethany Consentino. The singer-songwriter behind the Los Angeles based rock group Best Coast, which she started in 2008 with Bobb Bruno (and now also includes former Vivian Girl Ali Koehler on drums), has won over music fans and critics with her stripped-down brand of California pop rock. The praise was rolling in even before the release of the band’s debut full length, “Crazy For You,” over the summer, and the buzz continues to grow as she scores high-profile collaborations with The Go! Team and Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. We caught up with Consentino last week over the phone as she prepared to embark on the fall leg of her never-ending tour, which includes a stop next week at Fun Fun Fun Fest.
American-Statesman: Have you been surprised at how quickly Best Coast has risen?
Bethany Consentino:Yeah, I definitely don’t think that I was ever really prepared for the amount of attention that Best Coast gained in the beginning and after the record. I started this band really as a way to fill my time and cure my boredom. I had just dropped out of college and moved back to California and I knew that I wanted to start playing music again, but I wrote most of the early Best Coast songs in the guest bedroom at my mom’s house before I even found a place to live. Then a year later I’m touring almost nine months out the year and doing all this crazy (expletive). It’s definitely surprising, but I’m really excited about it and I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can, because you always have to kind of realize that it could be over any minute, and if it is over any minute, I had an amazing time doing it.
What’s next for the band?
It’s hard to say … our touring schedule is so hectic and we are kind of like on tour and then home for a week, and it’s hard to figure out what are we gonna do on that off time. I’m writing as much I can, trying to use my time wisely as far as writing goes. I definitely want to do another record, I just don’t know when we’ll necessarily have time to do another one. I think March of next year is the next time we’ll have time off. I’m really happy in this band, doing what I’m doing, and I want to do it as long as I can. I’m also trying to just take care of myself. When you’re traveling as much as I am you’re constantly getting sick and complaining. A little bit of self improvement is something I’m working on.
When you played SXSW, Best Coast’s live sound had less of a pop feel than the album. Is that something you did on purpose?
It’s definitely difficult when the recordings are just Bobb and I, and Bobb is playing drums, he’s playing bass, he’s playing lead guitar, I’m playing my rhythm guitar, and I’m doing like five or six kind of vocal things all in one song. It’s hard to hard to take that and transfer it to the stage almost the exact way it sounds on record. We knew that would be kind of a struggle and we knew that the live show would definitely sound different than our record, but I think it’s cool when you go see a band and they sound different than they do on record, because oftentimes when you go see a band and they sound exactly like the record you’re like OK, this is cool but you’re also kind of bored and feel like, I could have just stayed home and listened to the record.
The other thing is were still a very new band and though we do tour all the time and played so many shows in the last year we’re still sort learning to play shows, we’re still sort of figuring out what can we do to improve things and how many times do we have to practice to get it completely right.
It seems like the world of indie rock is pretty male-dominated. Any idea why that is?
I don’t really know. There are definitely lots of men in music, and they’re always have been, not even just in bands, but male producers dominate the production world, as do engineers and a lot of songwriters even. I always think about how tons of girl group songs were written by men, and it’s a weird thing to think that a lot of songs that were written about guys were written by guys, you know? I think that there are definitely bands out there that are female-fronted or have women in them that are doing awesome stuff. I think it’s a weird thing, a lot of girls are doing really awesome stuff and I think they deserve to get more recognition for that. As a woman who has kind of taken on this front woman role … I try really hard to represent for girls. Touring is like a sausage fest. The opening bands are always dudes. It’s very rare that we come across bands on tour that are all girls or have girls in them. When I hear about a band that has a woman in it I get excited, as opposed to hearing about another band that has four dudes with beards and flannels.
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Permalink | | Categories: Fun Fun Fun Fest
