First off, there are two great shows coming up in the next couple of days that need to be brought into the limelight. Gang Gang Dance from New York is playing tonight at Plush. Tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 18, New Jersey noise rockers Japanther, with Underground Railroad to Candyland and locals La Cerca light up The Hangar, which is located right behind the Matt Bevel Institute on Echols.

So that’s three days of awesome shows, that is if you were lucky enough to witness Marnie Stern’s dexterous finger-tapping, which she deftly displayed at Solar Culture last night.

I was especially excited to check out Marnie Stern since I first learned that frenetic drummer Zach Hill (Hella, Crime in Choir) accompanied her previously in support of In Advance of the Broken Arm put out by Kill Rock Stars, which is a perfect band-label marriage with adorable feminist oriented KRS and social New Yorker Stern. (After the show, Stern said that Hill is very quiet on the road and she loves working with him.)

Her appearance in Tucson, sans Hill, but with two very good male musicians, was a non-stop sonic explosion; a constant barrage of banshee like screaming and axe wielding of mythic proportions. In short, it was the first time I didn’t hear the train that passed by Solar Culture.

Her new album This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That, also on Kill Rock Stars, is out now. For fans of Yeah Yeah Yeahs meets Battles or L.A.‘s X meets Iron Maiden (not ironic).

Moving on … LAKE from Olympia, Wash., made a pit stop in Tucson late last month, but was never to be found. The band quickly, and for the most part unannounced, eluded audiences by quickly switching locations from the Red Room at Grill to an undisclosed house party.

Concerning the LAKE show that was suddenly changed, Moore had this to say, “Sorry about the confusion with our show there in October. It wasn’t our fault. It was a big mess and we feel really bad about missing our show at the Red Room.”

Those in the know got to see an awesome house show with a band that has more resonance with the indie rock music scene than the fledgling Vampire Weekend. LAKE is pumped, but can’t seem to sink their teeth into a vein just yet.

Without further ado, here’s an interview with Eli Moore of LAKE, who loquaciously responded to all the questions. Moore talks about the band’s L.A.K.E. origins, the Olympia music scene, different music mediums and the future.

AZNB: Where’d the name LAKE come from?

EM: In the beginning, Lindsay, Ashley, Kenny and I were playing music, mostly songs by Ashley (Eriksson). After a show, someone realized that those four names spell L.A.K.E. (or Kale) and it seemed like a great name for our band. Since then, Kenny has quit, and we’ve acquired more members, so it’s no longer an acronym for anything, except maybe Lawsuit Avoiding Keeper Entitlement because I’m sure there are many bands with the same name and we are going to get sued.

You’re from a great spot in the country in terms of music scenes. How did LAKE start playing music together and where did the band meet?

EM: Well, Ashley and Andrew grew up in the Los Angeles area and actually took a barbershop class together in high school. Lindsay met the two of them after moving to L.A. from Michigan. They did some recordings in a band called the Good Looking Attractive People, but never played a show.

After Lindsay moved to Olympia, she and I began talking at shows and stuff and at one point she mentioned to me that I would like her friend Ashley’s music and that I should check it out. So, while visiting my uncle in Malibu, I called up Ashley and we met up the next day and immediately began recording together.

Those recordings eventually ended up on a 7” under the title of Ashley and Eli, Dying Dogs Come Again (released by Funkytonk Records). Anyway, a few months later Ashley moved up to Olympia and we all started doing shows and playing pretty much immediately. I think we started taking ourselves more seriously as a band when Karl Blau offered to record our first album for Kelp, his subscription based label. It was quite an honor. He’s a huge hero of mine, and the whole process was very dreamy and intense and after four days we had an album that we are still quite proud of.

Where does Olympia rank as far as music scenes in the Pacific Northwest?

EM: Of course, for such a small town, it has had huge influence on a lot of the music that I am interested in and influenced by. It was very exciting to have lived there for five years, and I directly attribute being able to get out and start playing shows to having moved to Olympia. The scene is so supportive and it definitely gave me the gumption to form a pop band and start doing shows.

The scene fluctuates because people move to Portland or wherever, and there are periods where there are less cool shows, but there is a solid infrastructure because of K Records and also the Evergreen State College, so it can never completely dry up, and right now Olympia is BOOMING. Ashley and I moved up to my hometown, Langley, Wash., (on Whidbey Island) and we’re currently pretty excited about helping to build a scene there, from the ground up. We’ve been inviting lots of bands to come up and play, and it’s fun to see what happens at these shows.

Who are some other current musicians from Olympia that you admire?

EM: From Olympia, currently? Hmmm, well, we’re on tour with Desolation Wilderness, and they are an exciting new band that we share members with. They just came out with an album on K Records, and it’s really good. I’m filling in on guitar for this tour, and I can’t get the songs out of my head (in a good way). There’s a special new band called Cool School that remind me a lot of Beat Happening. We have a friend who teaches at Evergreen and also tours and records a lot named Ben Kamen. Those are some… Oh, a band that we also share a member with named Kickball is one of the best bands to ever come from Olympia, but they are kind of on a hiatus right now.

You state on your MySpace page that ‘we are each songwriters and performing/recording artists in our own rites, and we listen to each other’s music a lot.’ I like that dynamic, but what kind of mentality goes along with that? Does that make you more of a collective than a band?

EM: Well, in theory we’re kind of a collective and if anybody ever has a song or a cover song that they want to play in the band, we’re happy to do that. In general, Ashley and I do most the writing. Lindsay also writes songs for the band, and we’re hoping that she will bring more to the band in the future.

On this tour, we’re playing a song she wrote called “Gravel,” and it’s definitely the big hit of the tour. In the recording process, it helps to have people who record and write themselves. Andrew helps a lot with arrangements, and everybody has opinions, which is great. Songs can change quite a bit from the demo stage to the final LAKE version. One concern about having so many songwriters, or music originators, in the band is that people are sacrificing their own projects to put time into this band. But that’s why we really try to make it open, and let people have a say in things.

When it comes down to it, who has the final say on a song or is it always sort of a democratic process to writing, playing, recording, finding a restaurant, etc.?

EM: I suppose that whoever came up with the original idea for the song has the final say, but often we will offer to record two versions if there are disagreements. We could even record three versions of the song. Or play it differently from night to night. These days Ashley and I write a lot of songs collaboratively, so if there is a disagreement about the music, the person who wrote the music has the final say, and the person who wrote the vocal melody and lyrics will have the final say about that aspect of the song.

Working with Funkytonk Records, you recently converted an older tape release (originally out on brown interiour music) into a 12” record with two unreleased songs. You also just released a split 7” with Typhoon (who sang and played on the brown interiour cassette). Do you see a trend in music to be heading back to the tangible medium of vinyl?

EM: It’s surprising how much vinyl we’re selling on this tour. It definitely seems like this is the case. I’ve never downloaded music, and I don’t have an iPod, but I love CDs. They are great because there is no degradation in the sound over time (unless they scratch) or from the point where the song is completed and mastered. Tapes and vinyl sound different, nice, but different than how the recordings sound when we finish them. Andrew and Mark prefer tapes or vinyl, and I like vinyl because the art is bigger and I like albums to be split in two. I love the A-side/B-side duality of the album. CDs don’t have that.

What was it like recording these two albums compared with releasing your first album with K Records Oh The Places We’ll Go in October 2008?

EM: Do you mean how is the new album different from our first two? Well, we did this album at home, on our own, like the second album, but we took more time, and worked a little harder to make it sound nice. We used more tracks, and did more overdubbing. We didn’t know K Records would be interested in this album when we made it, so in that respect, we just went about it the way we would any project.

Also, since the second album, we started an album with the record producer Tucker Martine. This project was taking a long time to finish, so we started Oh, the Places… when we realized it was still going to be quite a while before Tucker could find the time to finish that record. So, technically, this is our fourth album and the third album is still in utero.

Your new album follows a poppy side of rock that you might find in successful bands like…well, Vampire Weekend comes to mind. What comparisons do you find most apt and who are some of the people who have influenced your music?

EM: I recently heard Vampire Weekend; they’re pretty cool. Well, I fell in love with Arthur Russell a while ago, and I think that sunk into our sound a little bit. We toured with Adrian Orange playing as his back-up band, while he was working out the songs for his K Records debut, and I think that has a lot to do with some of the sound on our new record (the more world music sounding stuff). Karl Blau is always an influence.

Along with your tour of Europe this summer and this current tour, you seem to be on the road a lot. What are some of the things that are necessary for a comfortable, stress-free tour?

EM: We haven’t had a comfortable, stress-free tour yet, so I’m not sure. We definitely needed a tour manager in Europe. That tour was very stressful.
This tour is nice because we have our own vehicle now. We try not to drink too much, and stay with friends that we’ve met on previous tours. It’s very nice to stay with people rather than at hotels.

What’s some worst-case scenario stuff that you have had happen? What about in Europe? Those tours tend to be great, but going through customs can be a bitch.

EM: You can be turned around at the border of England if they decide you shouldn’t be let in. That’s a big fear, and even though we had work permits this time, they tried to make us feel like we were going to be sent home. Trying to figure out how to get from here to there was too hard for me. Other than England, we had no customs whatsoever.

Where are you most looking forward to playing post Tucson?

EM: I’m looking forward to playing with Justin Vollmar in Bloomington, Ind. I’m also looking forward to playing in Boise, Idaho.

What’s in the works for LAKE?

EM: We’re doing more recording with Karl in December at Dub Narcotic Studio. Besides that we’re just hoping for the best, and seeing what happens next. Working on developing as a band, and continue touring as often as we can without burning out. I think I want to record a LAKE 7inch for K Records, and work on finishing that record with Tucker.

Catch Gang Gang Dance at Plush with Rainbow Arabia (who sound just like their name) starting around 9:45 p.m. The show is $8. On Tuesday night, Japanther, Undderground Railroad to Candyland, Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout and La Cerca play at The Hangar around 9:15. The immediate future is so bright, it makes me want to cry tears of joy.