Love and a .38 is a Rock band… and they’re truly very sorry about that. But the thing is… they have no other choice. Four guys from different parts of the country, who’s varied and shared experiences, triumphs, and failures have brought them all to Los Angeles with that same conclusion. In their short existence they have been tirelessly D.I.Y. in all aspects of their career. Through social media, creativity, and lots of elbow grease they have amassed a worldwide following nearly unprecedented for an unsigned, unrepresented, independent band. Not concerned with hyphens and sub genres they have taken an “Its all rock and roll to me” approach to the writing of their debut full length album, and have stumbled upon a sound that is unmistakably their own, and undeniably Rock.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Love and a .38 about the latest music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Love and a .38 is a Los Angeles based rock band. From 70s blues to modern hard rock, we all have different influences and things we like which gives us the unique .38 sound.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
For all of us, the path of music is something we’ve been on since our younger, more formative years. For me, my path was started thanks to my music teacher in elementary school. Being exposed to such a variety of musical styles during that time also led me to having a more open mind with music and I’m very thankful for that.
What motivates us is what’s always motivated us: a genuine and honest love of music and the music we write and perform. As long as that passion is there, we will continue making music and playing live.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Stand and Fight was an interesting song for us. I initially wrote the riff as a more driving, up-tempo rock song but that’s the fun thing about music: people interpret things differently. As a group, we changed up part of the riff and the whole song fell into this whole other mood and vibe than I initially envisioned it having. Ryan’s always had a great ability to write lyrics so he did his thing and it became this really cool anthemic that I know we’re all itching to be able to perform live again.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Being able to stand out and find your tribe is definitely a challenge. With 60,000 tracks being uploaded daily to Spotify, being able to make a splash and make your music visible to new people so you have to be creative about your release plans to try to be effective and efficient.
Technology has become such an important thing for musicians. After our very first self titled EP, everything else we’ve recorded ourselves in our lockout space. As time has gone on, Ryan has gotten better at what he does with recording and mixing, we’ve upgraded a few things in the room and our self made recordings sound better than ever.
What was the last song you listened to?
“So it Went” from the Pretty Reckless. I’ve been a fan of this band for several years now and this is probably one of my favorite tracks from the new record. I love the chaotic energy of the drums during the verses, the guitar riff is great and it’s got this really cool laid back chorus. Besides, anything Tom Morello chooses to do a guest spot on has to be damn good.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Being on the move so much, MP3s are incredibly convenient and a primary source of musical distribution these days so it’s a game you gotta play to be able to be accessible to a larger audience but there’s nothing better than vinyl for an actual intimate and private listening experience.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Million dollar question, right? All streaming services are pretty awful for artists because of how little someone can make per stream but for the average music listener that doesn’t care or isn’t aware of how flawed the streaming system is, Spotify has quite an extensive library of music to be able to tap into.
Bandcamp has waived their revenue fees during the Covid pandemic on Fridays to help musicians and labels during what’s probably one of the worst times in modern history to be a musician trying to get by and pay bills. While it’s not a whole lot, it’s at least something and it’s more than a lot of these other services have done to try to help out the music community during these trying times.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Find us at www.loveanda38music.com! All links to our various social media accounts can be found on there. We love talking to other music fans so come find us!
