Froth is an Echo Park, LA band that has been the subject of a lot of recent talk from some of our Southern California friends. Their album Patterns saw release from Lolipop Records and Burger Records, with the band making the rounds between Burgerama and The Growlers' Beach Goth parties, but we are here today to celebrate their Patrick O'Dell directed video for, "Lost My Mind".
So in case you haven't yet, meet Froth frontman Joo-Joo Ashworth, with Jeff Fribourg, Jeremy Katz, and Cameron Allen in a daytripping experience around Los Angeles. Those opening surf licks frame screen tests of the band members, draped in honey suckle leaves and the sun's glow. Sporting an iconic Randy's Donuts ringer and a vintage phone receiver mic, Joo-Joo guides the band and Patrick's camera through the LA sidewalks, stairs and streets to the omnichord tune of "Lost My Mind". Strutting about town with the indie keys to the city, O'Dell mixes in footage of the band's performances around Echo Park with Burger Records in-store appearances to meld Froth's mind magic together. The first two or so minutes of "Lost" keep it cool, until the song's freakout finale sends the energy awry and everywhere. From the tidal wave tornado of amps and altitudes of elevated parking structures, to the front step strumming and general loitering; Froth prove themselves as a band to keep a keen ear on.
Froth takes us behind the video for "Lost My Mind", their beginnings, notes from Echo Park, and everything else between the worlds of Burger and Lolipop Records.
We're loving the timeless LA vibes from the Patrick O'Dell video for "Lost My Mind", take us behind the scenes of capturing house parties, performance pieces, wandering about LA and singing into a phone receiver mic?
We met up with Pat the day before we shot the video and ended up talking about music videos and just decided there that we should a music video the next day. We used some archived footage from Pat and our friend Anthony Ferrera from some shows in Echo Park and at Burger [Records], and Pat just made up the rest that day. The phone mic was just the only mic we had around, Cameron used to sing with it in his old band.
How did you all band together as Froth?
Jeff and Joo-Joo started the band with some friends as a joke in 2011, but we never actually started playing music with each other until a year and a half ago. We met Jeremy at a show and he wanted to record us and somehow just ended up in the band. We met Cameron thru our friends at Lolipop Records and he happened to be moving to LA just as we needed a drummer so we asked him to play with us cause we knew he shredded hard.
Patterns has caused quite a stir, give us behind-and-beyond-the-board anecdotes of recording your recent full-length.
We recorded Patterns in June with Rick Mabery from our friends' band Corners at his studio in Aguora Hills. We had been playing all those songs for a while at that point so we felt comfortable recording it live. His studio is also very vibey and he is a master engineer.
Favorite things about the LA indie scene these days?
We all live in Echo Park and there is a strong sense of community here with musicians and bands. There's a rad show here practically every night of the week. Our friends started a label and opened up a shop here called Lolipop Records and have been supporting us from the very beginning. We wouldn't have wanted any other label to put out this record.
What's the next big move for Froth?
We plan on doing a lot of touring in 2014. We have sxsw and Burgerama in March, Desert Daze in April, a national tour in May, and a new record somewhere in the mix.
Froth's album Patterns is available on LP and cassette from Lolipop Records and Burger Records.
