Heading Out West

The New York-Irish band Stand comes to L.A.

Stand have been building up a huge fan base in New York for years, and now they are finally playing their first concerts in Los Angeles at The Knitting Factory in Hollywood on Nov 14 and in the Afterknit Lounge two days later on Nov 16.

They have just finished their fourth album "Travel Light", and are bringing it to the West Coast to see how it enjoys the sunshine - after all, recording began in a springtime blizzard - prior to it's release. Produced by confessed studio junkie Walsh with help from Hit Factory NY chief engineer Michael McCoy, they started by saying "slan" (goodbye) to layering, and out popped their strongest songs to date.

They're a million miles from being an Irish drinking song band, as Jeff Miers of the Buffalo News noted after seeing them live: "...the shades and drama of the Smiths and the tunefulness of Coldplay run through a decidedly heavy guitar meat grinder. They generate feverish excitement, both on the concert stage and in the recording studio." Imagine the writing of Neil Finn mixed with the wide-open spaces of Pink Floyd, and you have bait that should reel in some new Los Angelinos.

All of the band members are from Tallaght, Dublin: stand up lead singer and bass player Neil Eurelle, lead singer/songwriter and guitarist David Walsh, guitarist Alan Doyle and drummer/songwriter Carl Dowling. We spoke to Eurell and Walsh about their early years and their upcoming trip to California:

"Bingo, Carl!" We started playing together in our parent's garage, and when we got two top 10 hits in Ireland from our second album "Correspondent" it just escalated from there."

They spent the first two years writing songs and performing continuously in clubs throughout Ireland and Europe and in mid-1999, having built a loyal fan base in their native Ireland, Stand played a sold-out show to 1200 fans at Vicar Street in Dublin and departed for America a year or so after.

Now, years later, Stand are making their first trip to Los Angeles in the wake of being voted best band on the NACA college circuit once again - but why has it been so long in coming?

"We spent our time building a fan base organically, starting from the east coast (which is the closest American soil from home) and slowly but surely working the "westward expansion". We have built a substantial base of friends and fans in L.A., and that sparked the initial demand for Stand on the west coast!"

They have high hopes for L.A., even though it's miles away from their home turf:

"We believe L.A. will have more of an eclectic and mellow atmosphere. NYC is a vortex - you just feel like you're constantly walking at an extremely fast pace, for no reason. We're not sure if that comparison will be deemed true, but we're looking forward to exploring new territory."

The boys try to go home to Ireland as often as they can between tours - usually four or five times a year - and they are hoping that the trip to Southern California will bring more fans on board:

"We plan to continue what we've been doing at 110%. We have a great team of people we're surrounded by who support us, whole-heartedly. We will continue to aggressively tour and promote our new album for the next few months, and then begin work on our next one. We are firm believers in building ourselves locally, nationally and internationally as a grass roots band who have, and will strive to maintain, lasting loyal fans. That's our most important goal."

For more information on the band, visit: standland.com