Foxtail Somersault - Sep 4 @ Red Devil Lounge

Becky Uline - Vocals

Elizabeth Anderson - Vocals

Seiken Nakama - Guitars

James Spadaro - Guitars

Brian Anderson - Bass

Mark Loftin - Drums


LittleBook: Why did you start a band??

Seik- I had been out of the music scene for a long time, when a friend wanted to put together a band for a party he was throwing, just the taste of performing again, albeit a crowd of 30 or so, rekindled my interest in music.

LB: How did you find each other??

Seik - James and Mark, through the band morningspy, Becky, Elizabeth, and Brian through craigslist.

LB: What's your most memorable moment as a band??

Seik - Performing at Lollapalooza 08

Brian – and breaking down repeatedly on the way to and from it.

LB: Where do you practice?

Seik - Francisco Studios, near City College.

James - Francisco Studios, sitting on each other's laps.

LB: What do you drink at practice?

Seik - a diet cola

Beth- Whatever washes down the Cheez-Its from the vending machine

Becky - Tea. Or what is left of it after in inevitably spill it multiple times. Goes really well with cheez-its.

LB: What do you do at practice when you’re not practicing?

Seik - Fiddling with pedal or amp settings

Beth- Becky and I are usually trying to turn up our vocals when the boys aren't watching

Brian – I tend to annoy the living crap out of everyone else by playing TV show themes

Becky - Admire the beauty of the carpet in our rehearsal space. That and make faces at Beth.

Mark - Watch in amusement as all this chaos unfolds in front of me...

James - Practicing my dance moves and watching beth and becky tweak out on each other.

LB: What's the hardest thing about being a band in 2009?

Seik - I think the current state of the economy is affecting venues, the turnouts for live acts seem lower now, and keeping a strong draw is challenge.

Becky - Getting exposure in a sea of amazing talent floating around out there in the vast world of the internets can be difficult. There are so many vehicles today to promote your music, it can be challenging to keep everything updated and interesting. At the same time, it's amazing to have the kind of reach that's possible. It's super cool to login and realize that people in Finland and Japan are listening and enjoying your music. But it's always best to have the local love, and to have people come out to your shows.

James - Dating

LB: What's the best / worst thing about being a band in San Francisco??

Seik - Best, the SF scene is small enough that most of us all seem to know each other, there's a very nice sense of community I feel great to be a part of.. Worst - I think live music here in SF is not as popular as clubs with DJs.

Brian – I agree with Seik, but I also want to mention how irritating it is to try to find a parking spot for our gigs.

James - There are a lot of good bands in San Francisco, which is good and bad. There's even more people in San Francisco who want to be in bands, which is invariably bad.

LB: What do you want people to know about your band, what are you doing next??

Seik -We're finishing up on our 2nd EP, should be out shortly.

Brian – I think we’ll continue to get better and better as we work out some of the challenges behind crafting some of the aspects of our sound live.

LB: What’s up with your CD where can I get it, where did you record it??

Seik - Fathom can be purchased via our website, CD Baby, ITunes, Amazon, etc.. We recorded the drums @ Francisco Studios, the rest at my home studio

LB: Favorite local Band or a memorable show??

Seik - I don’t have 1 favorite local band, but several. Astral, Tomihira, Halcyon High, Minipop,Loquat, LSD and the Search for God, Stripmall architecture

LB: Favorite venue to Play??

Seik - Great American Music Hall

James - Mezzanine

LB: Have you played The Red Devil Lounge before? What do you like it?

Seik - yes, a couple of times, they have some nice lighting on stage and a fog machine

James - The Red Devil Lounge is great, there's always new faces because of the foot traffic in that hood.

LB: Do any of the members ever take their shirts off at a show or at practice??

Beth- Although it hasn't happened yet, it's not entirely unlikely that James would strip down on stage- he seems to like attention

James - Why waste time taking anything off when it's so much easier to show up with nothing but a pair of black socks on?

LB: Who's the smelliest member after a sweaty gig??

Beth- Does our van count as a member?

James - We're a pretty tidy crew, but I once toured with a guy who showered 3 times in 11 days.

LB: Favorite pre / post show; food, indulgence or ritual??

Seik - a shot of patron after a good show

LB: Where do you think live music is heading??

Seik - Tough question, I really don’t know, I'm more focused on performing the best we can, and creating music.

Brian – I’m not so sure I’ve noticed any decline or increase in live show attendance. I would like to see more of an active curiosity here in SF regarding our local bands, and I’d like to think that the rising popularity of some internet sites might help facilitate that… just things that make it easier to stumble upon a band you might not have heard of otherwise, and then to become aware that they’re playing near you.

Becky - I think people will always want to go and see live music. It's such a different experience than listening to a recorded version. And like Brian said, it's super cool that you can check out bands online that are in town and hear what they are like before checking out shows. I've been going to a lot more shows over the years because of music I've come across online..

James - I think it's going to be interesting over the next few years as traditional means of revenue start to vaporize....ie...CD sales. I think musicians will have to rely on revenue from live shows more than they have in the past. Hopefully, this will push musicians to be more focused on performance.

LB: How do you feel about people downloading your songs for free , do you offer free downloads??

Seik - I don’t mind if people download our songs for free, but if they really dig it, please buy our CDs. We don’t offer free downloads, but we've been included in a few compilations that were available for free.

Becky - Yes, buy our CDs pretty please, they're a really good deal!

James - I don't really care too much, all I know is that Pandora rules! I think it's funny that the people who get busted for downloading songs illegally are usually downloading really bad music. You never hear about people getting busted for downloading anything good, it's always some mainstream stuff the you can buy at your local Wal-Mart