RockFeedback

No Age

19.10.09

BIOGRAPHY

No Age is a noise rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in December, 2005. The band consists of Randy Randall (guitar, and best name ever) and Dean Spunt (vocals, drums). Their sound is reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr, a stripped back My Bloody Valentine and Black Dice, with walls of distortion disguising strong melodies and howling vocals. With a penchant for self-recorded samples, No Age are mostly unconcerned with things like space or pause, and Nouns is gorgeously thick-- a hazy, delirious expanse that's both comforting and disorienting. Formed from the ashes of the equally excellent Wives, No Age purvey a stripped essential take on pop delivered via a clearly defined punk-rock aesthetic, taking noise, energy and melody in equal measure.

Spiritual heirs to both Thurston Moore’s wide-eyed experimentalism and the all-encompassing, stark D.I.Y. art-is-life aesthetic of the Crass collective, No Age is the kind of band that inspires its audience without affectation, without cynicism.

“The music is an invitation and rallying call for individuals to get involved in a community which celebrates art and experimentation,” Randy explains. “It’s DIY on a different scale, an attempt to reacquaint people with the notion that art is a crucial part of everyday life. No Age is more than a band to us,” he continues. "It is an umbrella.” And, under this umbrella, Dean and Randy have curated art shows, designed shirts, hats, bandanas, etc., made videos and ‘zines. No Age prefers to perform in unique venues: the LA River Basin, a public library, book stores, an Ethiopian restaurant, all to foster new ways to experience live music outside of traditional bar/club settings.

Dean Spunt even runs his own label, PPM- Post Present Medium, though which he has put out a number of No Age seven inches, as well as releases from Silk Flowers, White Sh*t and Party Fowl. He describes the label thusly: ‘I try to put out things by friends or people who I think share my aesthetic. I consider these people "lifer's". All the people I choose to work with in one way or another are dedicated to their art to a ridiculous degree. To me those bands all sound extremely different so the PPM aesthetic is 'work and fun' and the bands I am putting out click with me somehow.’

No Age first released Weirdo Rippers in the form of 5 limited edition vinyl releases on five different DIY indie labels across the globe on the same day. Later brought together as the full album, the track listing for Weirdo Rippers follows a narrative of its own, cohering effectively as an album. They put out their second release in 2008 titled Nouns, on Sub Pop, which shows off a more considered and ambitious side of the band.

Since their first performance at LA’s legendary Smell club in April 2006, the band have continued Wives’ tradition of incendiary live shows, playing as frequently as possible, expounding a visceral energy on an equal footing with their recorded output, via guitar, drums, vocals and a minimal amount of effects. No Age’s music is deceptively simple in its construction, yet thoroughly compelling. Raw, considered and skillfully arranged, these eleven tracks are overflowing with ideas, ambition and intent.

Both Randy and Dean are also involved in a curatorial, social, and artistic sense with the aforementioned Smell, an all-ages, mutually supportive grassroots space dedicated to underground music and art. (The Smell is the building featured on the Weirdo Rippers album cover.) Randy and Dean also create video, performance and visual art together under the name No Age and individually, and recently curated the ‘Get Hurt’ exhibition in LA, featuring works by Devendra Banhart, Rich Jacobs, Ron Rege Jr., Matthew Thurber, Susan CianCiolo, and Ashley Macomber to name a few.

While on tour with New York band Liars, Liars and No Age released a joint 7" single limited to 1200 copies to coincide with the tour. 200 copies of the two-song single were sold on tour, with unique cover art for each individual city designed by Brian Roettinger, and the other 1000 featured hand letterpress-printed covers with different ink and vinyl color for each one

No Age’s music is prone to switch from syncopated punk-rock squalls to melodic, transient flashes of colour. Conversely, a pop song might spontaneously cut through the noise. On some basic level, No Age are their own band, full of their own conviction, and following their own trajectory.

Currently on tour in Europe, tonight (19th October) No Age will be drawing crowds to the Scala, London. Check back for Matt Tomiak’s review later in the week, and keep your eyes peeled for footage of a Rockfeedback Session the band performed for us this very morning in south east London.