Ladada has been churning out psychedelic surf with occasional punk outbursts for a little over a decade now. Having maintained a cult following with a variety of EPs and a full length album, the band is evolving into a higher form. They’ve got a new guitarist ready for tour and a fresh EP with four distinct cuts that will leave everyone wondering two things: where will this band go next and how can I get tickets?
I had a video chat with the band this past Saturday night. Josiah Schlater, the band’s singer/songwriter, was the first to join and we had a chance to catch up a little bit before the other guys hopped on. I reminisced with Josiah a little because he was the first local musician I interviewed over eleven years ago. I’d been a fan of his previous project, Tokyo, with Robert Smith. When they came up with BAMM BAMM, in 2013, I was instantly hooked. They released two songs, EVOLOCEAN and YABBA DABBA, and I couldn’t stop listening to them. BAMM BAMM would prove to be the training ground for Ladada, and the band even re-recorded those songs in 2018.
Give their latest EP a listen HERE and catch them live at Bandito’s Thursday night!
Jayson Bautista (new guitarist) and Bobby Rangel (drummer) joined the call. Robert Smith (bassist) was on tour with another band and unable to join.
Davey Jones: Jay, you’re new to the band, what are your favorite songs to play?
Jayson: I like to play Eye Repair. It sounds different from the other songs, but I like the guitar sound and the riff. We do a dueling lead in there and it harmonizes. I like that. I also like one of the other new ones… I forget the name of it. I don’t know all the titles. I think it’s Anyway.
Josiah hums part of the tune.
Jayson: Yeah, that one! That’s my second favorite, but I do like playing all of them.
DJ: So you’ve known these guys since high school?
Josiah: They’ve known each other.
Bobby Rangel: Jayson and I played together in Owltian Mia. Josiah and I met almost twelve years ago… wait no… I did meet Josiah when he was 16 in the band Ridderhof.
Josiah: And Bobby was in 1888. You got a Dropbox for 1888? I just had the EP.
Bobby: Yeah, I’ll hook you up.
DJ: Bobby, I’ve seen you play with Boneske. What are some other bands you’ve played with?
Bobby: Everybody Dies before Boneske. I also played in this band called Palace Green.
DJ: So, Jay, the guys have said they’re excited to tour more with you. What’s a place you’re looking forward to playing?
Jayson: Washington State.
DJ: Seattle?
Jayson: Yeah, and Portland. The Pacific Northwest.
DJ: Bobby, when did you start playing with Ladada?
Bobby: I’d played a hurricane relief benefit with another band and Ridderhof played that show. I remember just being transfixed by this kid; that was Josiah. His brother was a sick drummer. I loved Ridderhof. I was like, whatever this kid is doing, he’s amazing. Years later, I came back to Norfolk after college, and Ladada played with their drummer then…
Josiah: Callum.
Bobby: And they were fucking sick. They were the sickest band I’d ever seen.
Josiah: Where was that?
Bobby: 37th and Zen. I saw Ladada play their first show. I loved the record. I heard that Josiah had done it all himself in a storage unit. I had to talk to him. He was having such a good time. I reconnected with him that night.
DJ: That was a great time for that scene.
Bobby: Yeah, it was. I remember I said, “Look. If you ever need a drummer for any reason, I’m there.” So fast forward, like a year later, Josiah hits me up. He’s like “can you be the drummer in a video for Ladada?” And I was like “What?” He said, “Act like our drummer in the video. Our drummer can’t make it.”
DJ: He was secretly shopping for a new drummer?
Josiah: Nooo…
DJ: Just kidding.
Bobby: Seven months later, Callum went to college. Then, Josiah was like “Do you wanna drum for us?” And I was like, “Hell yeah!” It was a gift, man. They’ve kept me playing.
DJ: So I wanted to ask if everybody in the band has had a chance to read what I wrote for your label?
Josiah: No! I haven’t shared it with them yet. I just sent it to the label.
I read what I wrote for the label for the benefit of Bobby and Jayson:
The bass blunders into the room like James Robert Smith’s just heard Television open for the Talking Heads. Bobby Rangel’s drums are tight and subdued. For a full ten seconds, you’ll think you’ve put on a record by another band. Make no mistake, this is Ladada, but something is different. Angular guitar buzzes with anticipation before Josiah Schlater’s hasty shout “I don’t know where to begin.” Everything crashes into the breaking wash of a chorus “Who cares anyway?” We do, because this shit jams.
Although Ladada pursues their audience with beachy drifts and blistering riffs the band has learned to reserve these barbs for the kill. Gobs of great musicianship are strewn about like jellyfish, tentacles brandishing snared influences. The first track, Anyway, bounces along with new wave abandon until the backside of the solo. Jazz Drag lures you in with Sixties surf vibes, then absconds to solve a mystery. Eye Repair restores order as the post-punk driving song of the bunch, like crossing a bay bridge at sunset only to witness a feeding frenzy in the dying light. YA plants a flannel flag in the sand castle, greeting everyone with a grungy pulse, and delivers a distorted crescendo worthy of your mama’s mosh pit.
That stuff leaking into your brain through your ears is the most compelling Ladada offering since their 2019 album Heaven on the Rocks. Pop sensibility lurks in the mix – owed in parts to departing guitarist, Wes Johnson, and new engineer, Alan Siegler. Four tracks each light a bonfire for bygone subcultures across four decades, a patchwork surfboard waxed up and ready to roll. The band is excited for wider touring as they welcome new guitarist, Jayson Bautista. What better way to celebrate fresh tunes than a string of gigs to share with friends and future fans? See you at the shows!
The band takes it all in for a second.
Bobby: I appreciate that you took a creative approach to that. I’m honored to have come up with that stuff with these guys. Not only is it supposed to be fun, but it’s supposed to be the most creative shit we’re doing in our lives. And it is to me. 1000%, it’s exactly what I want to do.
DJ: I think you guys have a good mix going on. The point of reading it leads to my next question. What music styles are you excited to blend with the psych surf punk vibe in the future?
Josiah: Personally, more of the Anyway kind of angular stuff. There’s a song that I have in mind, just a piece of it, like a riff. There’s a darker feel on some of the tracks, but we were more exploring that with Wes. Wes brought in that Nineties grunge feel. What about you Bobby?
Bobby: There was certainly a life that Wes brought to the sound. The coolest thing was that we workshopped these songs over two and a half, almost three years. When you’re in it, you don’t realize, and I don’t want to lose what that was… Jayson and I were from a very Nineties post-rock, post-hardcore background. A lot of what I do on the drums goes back to Lincoln, Hoover, and even Tortoise – the Chicago movement – that’s where the jazziness comes from. Jayson and I were reconnecting the other night and I was like what are you listening to?
Jayson: Crumb.
Bobby: Yeah! Crumb.
Josiah: Crumb’s awesome.
Bobby: There was definitely this post-rock thing that Wes was feeling from me. Josiah maintains this new wave, shoegazy psych form and we add our flavors.
DJ: Jayson, what’s some other music that you’d like to hear added to the Ladada sound?
Jayson: I’m open to anything. I like guitar-centric music, obviously, since that’s what I play. I love playing with Bobby. I’m here for the ride. I’m here to get better.
DJ: If you were gonna steal riffs that jive with the sound of the band, who would you go to?
Jayson: Recently, I’ve been into John Reis. Swami And The Bed of Nails. They just put out an album about a month ago. His tone’s always been up there for me. If I hear a guitar and it’s a particular sound, I know it’s him.
Josiah: What was his name again?
Jayson: John Reis. Rocket From the Crypt. Drive Like Jehu.
Bobby: That’s what I need in my life.
DJ: Josiah, what about you? You’re the guy. The band is your baby.
Josiah: Oh, I’m just singing at this point… *laughs*
DJ: What’s some stuff that you’re into recently that you think might affect the future of the band’s sound? Because at this point, I’m expecting another full length record.
Josiah: Yeah, we love our EPs, don’t we?
DJ: I want Hell on the Rocks or whatever.
Josiah: It would be cool to have some time to write. Maybe go to a cabin somewhere or some shit. I want to keep playing shows for this release, play some more shows out of town. Anyway, influences… I’ve always liked Thee Oh Sees since I saw them play South By Southwest in 2014. Allah-Las, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Mystery Lights.
DJ: If you guys wanted to make a whole metal album about Godzilla, why not?
Bobby: It’d be nice to put out five albums in a year.
DJ: With five different sounds…
Josiah: Yeah, they’re nuts.
DJ: So let’s talk a little more about your EP. I feel like the sound is more bass forward, a little bit from the mix, but I also feel like you guys are trying to feature Robert more.
Josiah: Yeah, definitely. I wrote the initial bass lines for three of the songs. He took it from there and did so much more. Eye Repair was all him. The bridge, when the guitars take off… I love what he does. It’s so sick.
Bobby: Robert is so talented and passionate about music. He was the songwriter for Tokyo. He’s been a front man, he’s a sick drummer… he’s done it all. He’s a multi-instrumentalist. He can play the piano like nobody’s business. It’s ridiculous that he doesn’t play piano in this band.
Josiah: We want him to.
DJ: Maybe you guys should get him a keytar. Let’s open that up to the rest of you guys. If you were going to play another instrument for Ladada, or just in general, what would that be?
Josiah: Electric sitar. They make ‘em at a spot in the Lower East Side, in the Village there’s a shop. In the basement there’s a guy making electric sitars.
DJ: You guys gotta pick one up when you go to New York.
Bobby: For real.
DJ: How much does an electric sitar run?
Josiah: Like a thousand.
Bobby: Oooh… Maybe not. Haha
DJ: You guys are gonna have to sell a lot of t-shirts. Bobby, how about you? What would you play besides the drums?
Bobby: Piano, for sure. I’ve messed around. But if I knew it, oh my god.
DJ: Maybe get a Moog and mount it over the drum kit. Fuck with some loops.
Bobby: I could wing it.
DJ: I would get a theremin and hook it up to a plasma ball… Haha. How about you Jayson?
Jayson: The lowest register brass instrument. The tuba?
Bobby: Sousaphone.
Jayson: Yeah. It just sounds so low and you can feel it in your body.
DJ: I love seeing live shows, especially when it reverberates in your bones.
Bobby: I just took my kid to a Ken Carson concert at the Norva. The bass was so loud… I’ve never felt the floor of the balcony move like that. It made my nose tickle. It rattles your gums.
DJ: I want my nose tickled and my gums rattled next time I see you guys play.
Upcoming Ladada Shows:
Thurs. 11/7 @ Bandito’s in Richmond, VA – TBA
Sat. 11/9 @ Smartmouth in Norfolk, VA – Free Event
Buy Ladada Records: Gold Robot Records
