You, Me & Us is still paying its dues in the world of opening acts, but the power pop trio is working hard to move on up.
Based in Palm Springs, Calif., a town known more for retired show business types and golf courses, You, Me & Us will be making its third visit to central Arkansas this weekend.
“We played a sort of house concert there the first time we were in Little Rock,” says singer-guitarist Carlee Hendrix. “The next time we played at an art gallery of some kind, so this show at Stickyz will be a step up for us, even if we’re one of the opening acts.”
The young band, which also includes bassist-vocalist Alyssa Midcalf and drummer Ignacio Caniza, has a sound that has earned them comparisons with The Breeders, Slowdive and Jenny Lewis when she sang in the band Rilo Kiley. Some of the group’s songs even evoke the music of New Order and The Cure.
“We’ve been together two years,” Hendrix says. “First it was just Ignacio and me, then Alyssa joined us. She and I grew up together in the Coachella Valley, so we were exposed to a lot of great music, thanks to the Coachella Festival held nearby in what’s called the ‘high desert.’ We’ve been categorized by some as a ‘shoegazing’ band, which isOK with us. Our songs are short, but we’re trying to write songs that are a little longer, and they incorporate a lot of fuzz.”
Hendrix, who says she started singing at age 5, and taught herself to play guitar when she was 9, says her first musical inspiration was Karen Carpenter, the singer in the late 1960s duo The Carpenters. She then discovered two other prominent female singers, Lesley Gore and Alanis Morissette.
“I had seven years of vocal lessons,” she adds.
Hendrix previously played in a variety of other bands, including Sailor on Shore and The Whole Earth Catalog.
You, Me & Us performed earlier this year at their “neighborhood” festival, Coachella, and also at the South by Southwest gathering in Austin, Texas. On June 25, the band released a five-song EP, Stay Inside, which was produced by Bobb Bruno of the band Best Coast. The EP is available as an MP3 download, and also as an audiocassette, a format that has seldom been used in recent years.
“In the indie scene, cassettes are making a comeback,” Hendrix says. “It’s like with vinyl records, which went away for a while and then made a comeback. Now cassettes are the next happening thing.”
(Originally, this weekend’s show was scheduled for the 8 Bit Taproom, but plans changed and the show was moved to Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack.)
Natural Child
Opening acts: You, Me & Us, The Coasts, Shoplift
9 p.m. today, Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock
Admission: $6
(501) 372-7707
stickyz.com
Weekend, Pages 32 on 07/18/2013