A band featuring drummer Josh Garza and singer-guitarist Imaad Wasif, Electric Flower makes psychedelic rock that hearkens back to the days of Hendrix and Blue Cheer. The duo just released a self-titled EP and made its live debut last week at the Los Angeles rock club Harvard and Stone. Speaking in a phone interview from his L.A. home, Garza recently discussed the band’s approach and responded to allegations that the group might just be as loud as My Bloody Valentine.
The two of you met when you were both trapped in an elevator at a taping of Top of the Tops in London. What was that initial meeting like?
It’s funny because when you’re on the road, you actually meet a lot of people. There are weird circumstances or parties or gigs or festivals, and you never know which one of these cats or yahoos you’re going to run into again. We ran into each other on an elevator and it’s funny that one of those stories comes back to be part of a new story. It’s funny because especially in England, we stood out. He’s Indian, and I’m Mexican-American. We were the two brown dudes. I remembered that. He made quite the impression. A few years later, I saw him with a solo project, and he had a band. I thought it was great. I was in the Secret Machines and so busy at the time that I never thought about it until I ran into him again, and I said, “Let’s jam.” At that point, he was busy. I kept insisting. I was really bored. I needed to do this.
The first song you wrote was “Circles”?
I think so, roughly. I think that was one of the first things we kind of wrote. It was weird because he had these bits. He had this part and that part and this part. When we first started jamming, it was more experimental. We didn’t want to turn it into verse/chorus/verse/guitar solo formula. I know we could. At some point, every musician is smart enough to know the formula. It was cool to be, “Let’s not do that.” Sometimes, that makes songs weak if they’re too formulaic, and there’s nothing new. With a song like “Circles,” it was like a modern rock mash-up. The song used to be longer and was closer to ten minutes and we shaved a bit off it. We did shave off the fat to make it lean. Even with that said, it’s still six minutes long.
How different is this band from your former band, Secret Machines?
On a lot of levels, it’s completely different. Immad’s a rocker and a guitar player. In Secret Machines, Brandon [Curtis] was our singer but played bass and keyboards. The angle he was coming at was from that school. Immad’s a straight up wicked guitar player. He’s coming from the Jimi Hendrix-meets-Bob Dylan school of thought. He loves to play and he loves to sing. When you combine those two things, it makes for an interesting rock approach. So far, it’s just me and him. The bullshit goes up exponentially the second you add another member. It gets really hard. Every band has their story. You talk to any band with more than five members, and they all probably wanted to kill each other at some point.
Sonically, it doesn’t sound like you guys are missing anything.
We didn’t want to be like the Black Keys or the White Stripes. We’re a two-piece, but we’re not just interested in being a two-piece. We’re just interested in playing good music. That’s why a lot of those frequencies are still there. These two instruments can be bigger because there’s no bass taking up the frequency range.
You’ve said your song “Four 16” was inspired by Nirvana. Can you explain that a bit?
It’s kind of weird. It’s less of a tribute and definitely something that just happened. For me, when we wrote the song, it was never about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. We had this song and then when we were talking, we mentioned what it was about. It was a real moment in my head. I was a big fan of Nirvana. It doesn’t matter what clique you are in, you like Nirvana. It’s a weird band that can do that. It doesn’t need to be announced. They’re just great.
And the song you reference in your song is a Leadbelly song. So it’s Nirvana channeling Leadbelly and you’re channeling Nirvana.
I feel like that’s rock ’n’ roll in a nutshell. You keep piling it on and making it your own and you go forward.
Even though you’ve only put out an EP, you have a full-length in the works, don’t you?
We have a whole record that’s 80 percent done. Our plan is to release another EP in the new year and then drop the full length in the spring. At this point, most bands would only have an EP. We have more songs that are going to make the record. We’re at a great point. We’ve written a lot of material. We’re rehearsing a lot. We’re doing the work that any band should be doing. We just keep writing and recording until further notice. I don’t want to be greedy and say we’re ahead of the curve. We’re right on schedule. The EP is almost old news for us. We’re really excited about the record we’re recording. If you liked the EP, then you’re going to be stoked. If you didn’t like the EP, give it a minute and you will like this. What we’re doing now is even more evolved.
Are you really louder than My Bloody Valentine?
Yeah, unfortunately. It’s weird. I wasn’t there in the ’60s and ’70s when bands were loud, but I did see My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain and the Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. There was sort of this given that it was going to be loud. Now, it’s like, “Why are you guys so loud?” What happened? The PAs in these places have gotten smaller. We used to play Brownies in New York City and they had this monster PA. ow, that would be ridiculous. I think at some point, bands started playing softer and mellower. I’m old school and there’s pop music and there’s rock ’n’ roll. I’m like the rock ’n’ roll guy. It’s got to be loud and in your face. You either want to leave or you want to be in it. You’re in or you’re out.