Local Natives are not a folk band, but this is my podcast and I do what I want. They are one of my favorite bands of all time, so I was geeked to talk to founding member, guitarist and co-frontman, Taylor Rice. Torchbearers of the Southern California band sound, Local Natives are originally from Orange County, CA. The core of the band have been playing together since high school. Taylor talks about what it was like to first make music together and how they developed their ultra-collaborative writing process. In fact, the process is so democratic that it can take them a really long time to finish a song, although there is a reason for this, which we get into during our conversation.

One important piece of Local Natives’ history is the house they all lived in together, which was called Gorilla Manor, also the title of their debut album. They all moved into the house after college to really go for it as a band. It’s been said of the house: “It was insanely messy and there were always friends over knocking around on guitars or our thrift store piano.” Taylor gets into how that experience of Gorilla Manor continues to inform their connection as a band. We also get into feminism and how Taylor continues to recognize disparity in the world and use his platform to change the conversation. Hope the world opens up again one day and we can all dance together at a Local Natives show! They are incredible!

Local Natives on Jimmy Kimmel with Sharon Van Etten:

Local Natives latest release, Sour Lemon EP