Sorcerer's Apprentices

One of the most striking aspects of the new wave of rock ’n’ roll outfits roaring down the turnpike in 2003 is the unabashedly retro thread that runs through the music. The range of influences is diverse – from The Doobie Brothers and Little Feat in the case of The Kings Of Leon to AC/DC with The Datsuns – but the interesting thing is the readiness with which they’re acknowledged.

The nod to The Velvet Underground in their moniker aside, The Warlocks also owe a significant debt to the UK indie scene, and they know it. In fact if you let ’em, they’ll talk about it at length!

Backstage at Witnness, Jason Achondo is rhapsodising about how great it is to be bringing the seven-piece Warlocks rock n’ roll circus to Europe and to Britain and Ireland in particular.

“We didn’t know what to expect and thought we’d have to work from the ground up,” he explains, “but apparently people know who The Warlocks are and they came out to see us. We give them a kickass show and they gave us an amazing response, so it’s been pretty fucking amazing.

“The culture in music is so strong over here. You’ve got to be really into music to get The Warlocks. It’s a real extreme, underground thing. A lot of our past influences are Spacemen 3 and Creation Records, a lot of which comes from over here. What we do is lots of heavy romantic guitar and a very heavy rhythm section with two drummers and a bass player.”

But how did these Los Angeles kids hear about such European leftfield pop on the West Coast?

“When I was about 16, the radio station K-Rock was 100% different to what it is now,” Jason explains. “It wasn’t as commercial and started out as a college station for Pasadena City College. There was a very hardcore public access video show called Request Video that would play all those bands and get them to guest live. So we’d ditch school for the whole day because it was fifty miles away from my house and go down and see My Bloody Valentine or Ride doing two songs or whatever.

“There was a big subculture of kids into that music and that’s pretty much what we grew up around. What opened it up for those fans in Los Angeles was The Stone Roses. It opened a door for MBV, Ride, The Pale Saints and Slowdive and so on to come over and play and I’ve seen them all at least twice.”

Jason also recently got to meet his teenage heroes.

“When we got back from our last tour around March or April a friend of mine who lives down the street from me was hanging out with Mark Gardener from Ride, so I got to hang with him,” he drawls. “A week later I went to San Francisco with a friend’s band and a friend of ours from there was dating Colm from My Bloody Valentine, so I spent the whole week just hanging out and getting pissed. It’s such an honour because that guy influenced how I play the drums so much. I felt like a giddy school girl. And he was a fan of the band and loved the way I played drums.”

In truth, it’s all been a bit of a giddy school child fantasy come true for Jason – right from the word go.

“Danny (Hole) and I have been playing in other bands previous to this – in fact everybody has,” Anchondo explains. “We were all grouped around the same neighbourhood and all played shows together with other bands. Bobby (Hecksher) was starting to do The Warlocks so he asked us in. So I go into rehearsal and they tell me, ‘If you like this we’re going on tour with BRMC tomorrow’.

“My first show was my second practice with them and we’re in New York, opening up for BRMC. I was like, ‘yeah man, great!’ I was in.”