Monocled Alchemist

Published in Bananas magazine No.16, Spring 2018

The Creation Factory | Exploring Garage and Psychedelic Sounds | Bananas has been wanting to do an interview with the phenomenal, yet illusive Creation Factory for quite some time. They are one of the hottest bands on the American West Coast, seamlessly blending garage and psych into a stew of incredible magnitude.

Their ability to combine vocal and guitar harmonies can not be outdone, and combined with their “groove factor” the band succeeded in creating a wall of sound – a hallucinogenic zone that draws the audience’s ears to become one with the music.

We’ve been digging their sound since we first caught them a few years ago in LA at the Riot on Sunset Strip’s 50th anniversary show thrown by Domenic Priore – a heady night filled with LA’s finest garage and psychedelic groups.

The Creation Factory | Exploring Garage and Psychedelic Sounds

As fans of the Mystic Braves (Ignacio and Shane’s other outfit) we had an idea of what to expect, we knew they’d be steeped in Los Angeles ’60s sounds, but the Creation Factory transcend their influences with their almost magical alchemy.

We caught up with The Creation Factory after a fantastic show for the Ugly Things Club Night with Los Sweepers. We hung out in the parking lot with the band, and Iggy who was particularly talkative this evening – to the sound of jostling glass, trash removal, and a party that could not end . . .

the Creation Factory speak!

Who would you say your collective or individual influences are?

Ignacio: Rolling Stones . . .

That sounds very definitive.

Gabriel: Yeah, Rolling Stones
Ignacio: Well, lets . . . let’s just start there.
Shane: 13th Floor elevators for sure.
Ignacio: The David, The Human Expression.
Neil: Blues.
Gabriel: Fleur de Lys.
Ignacio: Yeah . . . the blues . . . Willie Dixon! Willie Dixon has always been a huge inspiration to me . . .
Shane: The Move.
Neil: The Seeds.
Ignacio: The Kinks.

What sort of goals do you have for the group?

-silence-

Where do you wanna go?

Ignacio: To the toppermost, poppermost (laughter)
Shane: We just wanna get our music out there and see where it takes us.

Neil: We pretty much just record and rehearse – we do pretty much everything – from song writing to getting it on record, we’re all involved in that process.

Ignacio: Also to continue a perspective which is getting lost through the generations, and like how music has been progressing through times, technology and all this shit, we’re trying to like, hone in on the roots of where rock ‘n’ roll music came from and kind of like keep it . . . well, when you come to our shows it’s rock’n’roll and all this stuff, it’s a good time, but it’s also like a lesson in music history in a sense.

It’s almost like you could take notes on all this stuff that inspired us, maybe ’cause you heard a song we covered and ask yourself who played that song? Who recorded that song? Who wrote that song?

Then you can trail it back . . . We’re just trying to keep this vibe alive which which we all feel is kinda getting lost with time, and carry it on.

The Creation Factory | Exploring Garage and Psychedelic Sounds

Gabriel: When I joined the band, it was like, if an older cat put on a record it would be like – I never heard this old band from back then . . . it’s kind of like what I’ve always wanted – to sort of make them think it’s from back then. And then when they find out it’s not, it’s . . .

Ignacio: Carrying the tradition! We’re all inspired by the blues & folk. A lot of people learned blues because of a story, they got taught those songs and that’s how they know about

Gabriel: Carrying tradition
Ignacio: Carrying along songs, the style, the tone, the intention.

Gabriel: Then you blend all these things together.

So you do some great covers, but you also have a focus on originals. Does everybody write, or are some people better at certain parts of the writing . . . does someone figure out the instrumentation, then another guy is the lyric guy . . ?

Neil: It depends on the song.
Ignacio: There’s a vision – like this is the kind of band we want to do, so we work on it all together. We have a place where we meet – where we agree as musicians and as creative people at this very point – that we agree on this thing we all share – this vision.

What are a few memorable gigs – for good or for bad?

Ignacio: My personal favorite show was our first one. We’d just been working on songs, but hadn’t played yet. We kind of decided to make the first gig kind of an experience. We invited our friend Mickey Wolfe (clothing designer) to come help us with the visual aesthetic side of things. It was at an event called Everyday’s Music at our friend Julian Porte of the Levetation Room in Whittier, which is an amazing hub of music.

The Creation Factory | Exploring Garage and Psychedelic Sounds

We threw this show there and decked the halls – created the right environment and vibe . . . everything we ever dreamed – the kind of show we wanted it to be, we created it and it was SO insane!

To this day it’s probably my favourite show. The walls . . . Shane and I went to out to the fabric district in LA and picked out with Mickey all this fabric that was specific and perfect. It had to be op art, and great . . . and he was like “No! No !” – I don’t know if you’ve ever met Mickey, but he is this particular Austrian (Shane agrees) fellow who knows his shit. “That fabric’s too goofy.”

We finally found the right fabric and bought yards and yards of it – then lined the entire place. We truly created . . .

Shane: It was a nice between music and art.
Ignacio: It was music, art, friends, love and community all in one, and it was an underground show. It was not an official venue and we turned it into SOMETHING, and it’s my favourite show we’ve ever done.

The Creation Factory’s first full length LP will be out on Lollipop Records this spring and Green Slime in LA are throwing the release party on May 4th. A brand new single should follow shortly.

Discography:

singles:
“Let Me Go” / “You Got It” (Market Square Records MSR-015) 01/2017
“Swirling Sight” / “Sunflower” (Hypnotic Bridge Records HYP-004) 02/2019

album:
The Creation Factory! (Lolipop Records LPOP-312) 06/2018