The 75's Talk About Their New EP & Their Power-Pop Sound

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'Cause everyone loves a chocolate milkshake and kickin' music.
(Photo credit: Jenelle Renk)

The 75's are becoming an indie-rock favorite in St. Louis. The band, which consists of two local ladies playing guitar and bass and providing the vocals, and one Y-chromosomer on drums, just released their EP Stereo through the local label, Trouble in River City.

You can check out the single "Stereo" by clicking on the Audio tab, and read on to learn more about their sound and the band.

Your sound is often described as punk or power-pop. How would you best describe The 75's?

When asked, we always say we're a power pop band. That's probably the closest description. We're definitely more driving and raw than your average pop band, but were not as abrasive as straight ahead punk. And with 2/3 of the band being female, we are totally, unabashedly "girlie". Having a female-fronted band in this town, playing the music we do, is rare. We liked that, and decided to embrace it. We wanted to create something that would catch people's attention, and would appeal to fans of punk, garage, and indie pop.

Who are the biggest influences on the band?

Basically, it's The Ramones, and a lot of the bands that recorded for K Records in the 90s. We liked the naiveté and childlike lyrics of the K Bands (Tiger Trap, Cub, Beat Happening) with the sheer 1-2-3-4 power of The Ramones. Laurel and Scott played together in a failed garage rock band, The Downcasts. Some of our fuzzier guitar tones and primal surf beats stem from that experience. Morgan is a big fan of Nine Inch Nails/Tool type stuff; on the songs she's written for The 75s, some of that influence comes through.

You just released a new EP, Stereo. What was the recording process like?

It was very, very informal. Our friend, Brandon Walsh, started a studio in his basement called Army Of Robots. He was looking for someone to record as sort of a test run, and we just happened to be looking to record three songs for an EP. There wasn't a lot of pressure, and we weren't really pressed for time. We recorded 5 songs total: 3 made the EP, and the other 2 will be on our next full length album, which should be out next year.

Can you tell us a little bit about your history?

As mentioned above, two of us played in The Downcasts together, which was a total failure. We decided to form another band, but this time around, we wanted to take your basic garage sound and move it in a different direction. When we were looking around town for a bass player, Morgan's name kept popping up; we invited her to be our friend on MySpace, and then asked her to come over and jam with us. We were scared of Morgan. We listened to her some of her stuff online, and we were like, "Damn, she's too good for us!"

All three of us played in some moderately popular bands before The 75s. Laurel played bass in ResistAll, Morgan played bass and sang in Galaxy Rock Meets William, and Scott played drums for Long John Thomas and the Duffs.

What are some of your favorite things about St. Louis' local music scene?

It's friendly. Scott graduated from high school and college in San Francisco, and is always telling us horror stories about the scene there. Bands move to SF from all over the country to try and "make it big". It's highly competitive, and there just isn't a lot of camaraderie between the bands. Here, it's just the opposite. Bands are very supportive of one another.

It's also very easy to get shows here, even for new bands, and there seems to be just enough clubs and venues to support the local scene plus the nationally touring bands that roll through.

Where can we find your albums and see you live?

We normally play once a month at a south city club; our page at www.myspace.com/the75s is the best place to find our upcoming shows. Our first LP can be picked up at Apop Records or by emailing us at the_75s [at] yahoo [dot] com. The new EP, Stereo, can be downloaded from Trouble in River City, or by emailing us. Both discs can be picked up at any of our live shows, along with T-shirts and buttons.

The 75's will be playing at The Firebird on Monday, March 23 at 9pm. The show only costs $8 for those who can order adult beverages and $10 for the 18-21 crowd.

This article also has 1 audio file attached to it.