Tonight, SummerScreen takes over McCarren Park for an evening of free music and a screening of “Peewee’s Big Adventure.” Starting at 7pm, you’ll hear from power-pop dudes Oberhofer, saxo-pop outfit Bueno, and self-described neo-noir punk trio LODRO.
We thought this an opportune moment to chat with LODRO frontwoman Lesley Hann, formerly of the Fat Possum band Friends. Where Friends brought a funk-tinged take on the ‘60s girl-group pop sound with tracks like “Friend Crush,” Bushwick-based up-and-comers LODRO sound decidedly more Wednesday Addams-goes-to-Glasslands Gallery.
Hann describes her time in Friends as a “crazy experience”: “Parts of it were fun and fulfilling and other parts of it pissed me off and drove me crazy,” she told B+B, adding that she’s happy to have moved on. “LODRO is where I actually belong. This band represents what I actually think and feel. I am truly being myself.”
Hann is an installed Brooklyn resident; the other two-thirds of LODRO, Jeremy and Jigmae, are transplants from San Francisco and former members of Royal Baths. Though they’re currently unsigned, they’ve recently opened for the likes of Foxygen and even hit up SXSW this year.
If LODRO’s sound evokes Bushwick’s grimy, post-industrial badlands aesthetic, it’s with good reason: the band was conceived in a Bushwick warehouse space, and played its first show at Shea Stadium.
“Being a Bushwick-based band is complicated,” said Hann. “There’s a lot of opportunity here which is truly amazing. You can play a ton of shows all the time if you want to. But there are so many bands here because of the opportunity… Sometimes it feels like a popularity contest. I don’t like that.”
The trio may have only released a few tracks so far – one of which, “Big Sleep For Alice”, you can listen to via Pitchfork – but Lesley assures us there is much more LODRO on the way. Expect some new songs (maybe on vinyl) in the Fall.