Fucking Hippies

Photo by Ben Rayner

Health play weird synth-pop with thundering heartbeat drums that kick the whole thing along so hard that you have to dance. They are part of the same LA DIY scene centred around The Smell that produced No Age and Mika Miko but these guys are closer to early Ex Models or the good bits of Black Dice before they turned into a big yawnfest. Whereas most of the current crop of LA bands are heavily influenced by early-80s punk, Health seem transfixed by Beatles and Beach Boys melodies. They condense these into ten-minute live shows so intense they feel like your head might explode like that guy in Scanners. They usually fall over and break all their stuff if they play for longer than ten minutes like they did at a recent Rough Trade instore where onlooking Pigeon Detectives fans literally ran away. It was fun. What happened at that Rough Trade show? John Famiglietti (bass): It was pretty intense but it was fun. There was this band the Pigeon Detectives playing. I guess their music is pretty awful anyways but they were doing an acoustic show so it was sheer horror. We had a small slot to play in and we borrowed some equipment off the other band, The 45s. They were nice kids but we kind of broke their bass and fell off the stage a bit. BJ Miller (drums): You broke their bass. John: Okay, I broke the bass. We break stuff a lot though, it was no big deal. I’ll totally hook him up if they ever make it over to LA. A nice bass and some kombucha. Kombucha? Isn’t that what System Of A Down used to sing about? Jupiter Keyes (guitar): One and the same. It’s basically this raw, organic tea-like substance. You can basically live on it. It flushes out your system and heals everything including the most grievous hangovers imaginable. That sounds pretty hippie. Jake Duzsik (guitar): That’s okay. We are all pretty healthy. I try and stay vegan on the road but it’s tough. Jupiter comes from a real hippie family, hence the name, so he keeps it pretty organic. BJ is basically a bear, though. We were looking for a drummer and we actually found him in the want ads right by the gay sex wants. I guess he kind of fills two roles in that respect. Or two holes. That was even worse than my joke. How come you play such short sets? John: It would just bore us for much longer. We used to only ever play ten minutes. Now maybe 20. The other night in Germany some guy accosted me outraged demanding to know why we had come all the way from LA to play for 15 minutes. Jupiter: The way we write also makes it difficult to play for long. All the songs are drawn out on big diagrams that we then fill with pictures and words to represent elements of the song. It is difficult remembering how all the elements slot together. Especially if you’re high. That can always happen when you least expect it. BARNSTAPLE QUIMLEY
Health have a split seven-inch with Crystal Castles available now on Lovepump Unlimited. myspace.com/healthmusic