Sure, Local Natives now live in Silver Lake and have press pundits claiming their Afro-folk-pop-guitar sound and three-part harmonies as the “new LA sound,” but before SXSW and Coachella came calling, Kelcey Ayer, Ryan Hahn, Taylor Rice, Andy Hamm and Matt Frazier all lived in a communal house in Orange dubbed Gorilla Manor (which is also what they called their wildly successful debut). Seclusion in Orange County, Rice says, was good for the band. In an April OC Weekly cover story, he said, “It wasn't like we were feeding off of some scene, so I think it was good that we weren't in LA yet because we needed that incubation period.” The OC expats cull their sound from influences as diverse as the Talking Heads and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but they've developed a cohesive sound that's all their own—and the band are blowing up, playing at sold-out shows around the world and high-profile festivals including the U.K.'s Leeds and Reading fests.
