The Californian cool kids that make up LoveLikeFire are ready to hit the ground running with their new single “William“. Soon to follow will be “Tear Ourselves Away“, which will be yours to own from August 09. While they are looking forward to winning us over with their indie majestic melodies, us Brits are relative latecomers to the LoveLikeFire phenonemon, which has already blazed a trail in America. So what are we waiting for?! LLF will be in England soon, performing at venues around the country. Check their MySpace for details. Hopefully when they perform in London, they will have lined their stomachs, because yours truly has offered to be their official pub crawl companion. I’m thoughtful like that! The other day, I had an online chat with Ann Yu, vocalist of LoveLikeFire. She filled me in on LLF’s bio, their musical sounds and influences, and why we could see a collaboration in the future with a little band called The Killers……
Hey Ann; by the way, I am very jealous of your location. You are in San Francisco right? My brother lives in Mill Valley, Marin County, so I know it well
(Anne) Oh wow, yes that is really close to S.F only twenty minutes or so…are you in London?
Yes, East London. Do you know the area?
No, not very well, I am very excited to spend two weeks there, I hope we can do some sightseeing. I think we’ll be staying one night in East London, in Hackney. I hear it’s the cool fun place with lots of stuff to do at night?
That is near us! And we do make very good tour guides…. our speciality is tours of pubs and bars! So are the upcoming gigs your debut shows in London?
Yes! first time over, and we actually play the day we fly in!
Good luck with that! I wanted to ask a couple of questions about your fantastic new album; you seem to have accumulated a serious fanbase, especially from the US press. But for us Brits who are unfamiliar with your work – how would you describe your music?
In adjectives I would say – somewhat dark and pretty, bittersweet at times, dynamic, emotional not emo, indie rock and pop, at times dreamy, at times more direct.
Good adjectives! Your Wikipedia profile also describes Britpop influences. Is that a fair description?
Yes, we love all the classics - Blur, The Smiths, Pulp, New Order…
and also, bands like Lush, Siouxsie, Curve, Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen
Has your sound developed with your newest work – or have you always had a clear idea about your musical styles?
It’s hard to try to keep to a specific sound all the time, but there are always similar moods I think. But we’ve gone more in a pop-esque direction with the album, i think we veer in and out of dreaminess always, sometimes more than others – and this album is less dreamy than songs before it.
What was inspiring you when you were making this record?
Lyrically I tried to be very honest with myself, and not think too much about who would be listening really, I would say that sometimes I have tendencies to be imbalanced, and so trying to find inner happiness and well being was a big inspiration – without sound too new agey cheesy . 
I’m all for New Age! I’m a bit of a hippy in an urban sprawl
Yes, i feel like i am a wannabe urban hippy!
Do you collaborate with the rest on the band on all the tracks or are you the main songwriter?
For Tear Ourselves Away, I brought most of the songs to the band and everyone contributed their ideas which was great; lately we’ve been much more collaborative but it changes all the time. We try to freshen up the creative writing perspective
There is a story that I have heard about you – an urban myth maybe? That you and the guys from The Killers were room mates at one point?
Oh there are several urban myths with that. I was a roommate of one of the guys in The Killers, where we all practiced. I was in college when they were playing their songs every night, i know those songs inside and out now.
I bet! Could you see a LoveLikeFire/Killers collaboration at some point?
We’ve talked about it with them, who knows when that might be but there are a few things that might happen later this year…..
So watch this space! I am interested in your backround as a violinist – am I correct in saying that you trained as a classical violinist prior to this?
Yes, I took private lessons and played in school for my grade school, junior high years but my private lesson teacher always told me that I should have started much younger – and that at some point I wouldn’t be able to compete with kids who had been playing since they were six.
It goes without saying, but you are obviously now versed in two very different styles of music now. Can you be as personal and honest in both styles? Which do you find is a better outlet?
Definitely playing in a band and writing songs, there is nothing better than this in my humble opinion…you can write so many different stories with a few chords – I never did that with violin – only learned other peoples music.
Do you ever sneak the violin into any of your tracks?
Haha, no, i’m very rusty now, we did have an amazing session violinist and cellist come in and play on a few tracks, they were sooo wonderful. They did the parts in practically one take each.
How long have you been together as a band?
LoveLikeFire has been a band since 2006..
What were you in before?
I was in a twee/indie pop shoegaze band called Evening Lights…we are thinking about putting out a digital release of our material actually!
A website used ’shoegazing’ as an adjective to describe LoveLikeFire. Seeing that you described your previous band as such – is that fair description for your current band?
There is definitely some shoegazing elements in LoveLikeFire, we’ve never been a self proclaimed shoegaze band but we like some of those elements for sure.
What is the relationship like between you and the others in the band?
There is no Fleetwood Mac action going on with us, although that might be another urban myth! (mmm). I really love them, i enjoy being on stage with them and off stage…sweeet sweet boys – I only mentioned Fleetwood Mac because whenever i see mixed gender bands i am always curious of whether they is any interband relationships happening!
I think it is a wise idea not to base your band on the antics of Fleetwood Mac!
Hahah, at one show someone did call out to me Stevie Nicks!! and i wondered what they meant by that?
High praise indeed! But yes, I can’t quite see it myself
Do you have any other side projects?
I do an electro side recording project, called Adios Control, which lets me have an outlet for something different.
I guess you don’t have much time for that now though?
It’s tough, there is very little time for much at all these days.
And you are off on tour now……. what can we expect from your live shows?
Actually we don’t leave for a couple of weeks, i’m at home in San Francisco! four people that really love being on stage together and my own honest interpretation of the songs at every show at that moment is that too vague?
No that is great! I won’t take up more of your time now…….
But I think when you come over you should get in touch, and we can be your London tour guides…..
We would LOVE that!
