Some assert they’re the best band in Los Angeles.
L.A.’s Water District plays cool indie-pop with contemporary emo flavors. Made up of Tice Griffin (guitar, vocals), Erik Williams (drums), and Ryan Scottie (bass), Water District’s sound exudes shimmering colors, silky textures, and buff energy. If The Cure fused with Blink 182, the end product would be Water District.
Their latest music video, “Dream With Your Eyes Open,” is superbly infectious. Popdust spoke with front man Tice Griffin to find out more about the band’s impressive music.
How would you describe yourself?
We’re three dudes who really enjoy making music. We don’t want to make it more complicated than that. If we had to choose a genre, we’d describe ourselves as rock.
What is the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
Ryan got kicked out of Canada for smoking pot in Wisconsin; border control escorted him out. When I was younger, I got arrested for being drunk in public in Laguna Beach a few years back. But the worst trouble Erik has gotten into was a D- on a math test!
What’s your favorite song to belt out in the car or the shower?
I like to wail along to “Creep” by Radiohead, it’s great warm up for my vocals.
Who is your favorite music artist?
Anyone who knows me would tell you Death Cab For Cutie, so I’ll just go with them.
How did you get started in music? What’s the backstory there?
My father is a musician and I always wanted to be just like him.Ever since I could remember, even before I could play an instrument, I would tell people I’m going to make music one day.
What musicians influenced you the most?
’90s rock bands: Blink 182, Fountains Of Wayne, The Starting Line. ’80s pop bands: The Cure, The Smiths, A-ha. The ’00s indie/Emo bands like Death Cab, American Football, Cursive. Oh and obviously the Beatles!
How, if at all, do your musical influences shape and impact your music?
The DIY indie bands of the ’00s really inspired me to just go out and do it on my own.
What kind of guitar do you play? And why?
I play a blue Fender Sonic-Duo because it looks and sounds amazing.
Ryan plays a blue Fender P-Bass.
What kind of drums and cymbals does your drummer play?
Pearl, Zildjian K’s and S series.
You’ve released a demo album, an EP, and a bunch of singles. What’s the band working on currently?
We’re working on more singles as well music videos for those tracks. We love to make visual content just as much as we love making music.
Your sound merges indie rock, new wave, and emo. It’s a good sound, by the way. Did this stylistic blend happen naturally, or was it deliberate?
It happened naturally. None of us got together and said, “Hey, we should be this.” When we write songs, we start by building around one organic idea and give each bandmate an opportunity to add their own vision to it.
What was the inspiration for your latest music video, “Dream With Your Eyes Open?”
We recently added a light show to our live set. Each song has its own light design that we’ve programmed ourselves. The music video for “Dream with Your Eyes Open” features our light show in a studio setting that really made the light effects pop. Several of our performances were spliced together to capture the kinetic energy of the song
Who directed and produced the video? Where was the video shot?
I produced it, my good friend Logan Ward directed and Ryan edited it. We shot the footage in a studio in downtown Los Angeles.
Will you be doing any touring?
We’re hard at work making a lot of new content with plans to tour in the winter and spring.
Randy Radic is a Left Coast author and writer. Author of numerous true crime books written under the pen-name of John Lee Brook. Former music contributor at Huff Post.
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