Reviews

by Joe Cortez

I See Hawks in L.A. has been one of the most talked about bands in the Los Angeles indie scene for quite some time now. The band has garnered national attention and even a tour or two in the process, all the while amassing a loyal following in its southland stomping grounds becoming constant fixtures at LA.’s Grand Ole Echo and deservedly so.

Their fourth long player, “Hallowed Ground,” more or less finds the Hawks in a familiar setting: belting out roots and Americana tinged tunes in a consistently upbeat and joyous tone. It’s country in the best sense of the word: unpretentious, honest and direct.

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In the land of wild untamed roots Americana DJs, scattered across America, Europe, and places like Australia, Turkey, and Israel, the Hawks rule supreme. We cracked a few mainstream Americana Charts with “Hallowed Ground,” but soared on these:

#1 on the FREEFORM AMERICAN ROOTS CHART in May, #5 in June, #12 in July

#4 on Euro Americana Chart, in the top ten for three months

Birds of California soar with fourth release.

BY MICHAEL SIMMONS

“This is Rob Waller of I See Hawks in L.A. on May 30, 2008. It’s approximately 73 degrees outside. Western breeze is blowing in off the ocean. We are all currently alive.”

“Barely,” I mutter, as I snatch the tape recorder from Waller’s bearlike paws and replace it with a beer. Lead singer Waller, lead guitarist Paul Lacques and bassist Paul Marshall — three-fourths of the Hawks (drummer Shawn Nourse couldn’t show) — are sitting in my Palms crib and yapping about Hallowed Ground, the band’s latest album. Like the others, it’s filled with songs of wit and vision about the absurdist horror show that is 21st-century America.

“One of the things that trips me out about this record is, Holy shit, we’ve really made a lot of music!” laughs Waller. “This being the fourth record, I hear the good times, the bad times. We are this funny brotherhood who’ve done this crazy shit together and then were able to come back and tell the story.”

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I See Hawks in L.A. live at Amoeba Music, May 28

The nine-year survival of I See Hawks in L.A. stands as righteous testimony to a bunch of semieternal truths. 1) Country/roots molds should continue to get busted. 2) Singer Rob Waller and guitarist Paul Lacques have proved you can start something new when you’re not very young, and a goodly number of humans might pick up on it. 3) What would’ve been a major-label act 30 years ago can nevertheless breathe in an indie atmosphere. 4) Talent and persistence will tell.

True as all the Hawks’ four albums have rung (and “Hallowed Ground” ranks as their most complete and satisfying), the recorded form isn’t their biggest strength. On the blind home speakers, occasional peculiarities of subject matter — environmentalism, drug sport, cracked humor — can come off as distractions from country music’s reliable verities. When you see the Hawks live, though, you realize that Waller and the gang are just artists who feel no need to exclude the feelings that hit them deepest, traditional or no.

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“A superb ensemble with a serious pedigree in California’s roots-rock scene – the band has links to Dave Alvin, Dwight Yoakam and Dillard & Clark – I See Hawks’ work is a timely update of Blasters/Beat Farmers heart-on-sleeve populism. On ‘Hallowed Ground’ singer-songwriter Rob Waller has a great feel for a kind of burned-out, post-apocalypse American landscape evidenced by the sparkling , world-weary ballad ‘Highway Down’, and the percolating ‘Ever Since The Grid Went Down’ (‘I killed a man for batteries’, he sings). ‘Yolo County Airport’, a scorching Chuck Berryesque tale, highlights a very strong effort!”

– Luke Torn, UNCUT Magazine / June 2008

A decidedly and defiantly LA band, the Hawks never shy away from political or environmental statements. Or humor. On their musically accomplished, more-cosmic-folk-than-country fourth album (which namechecks local byways, geographical points and musicmaking pals Mike Stinson, Tony Gilkyson and Kip Boardman), the wit’s even more cynical — and necessary, to temper the rage fueling “Carbon Dated Love,” “In the Garden,” “Environmental Children of the Future” and grimly amusing “Ever Since the Grid Went Down.” In that context of loving life, nature and land that nurtures it, the heart-tugging title track assumes multiple meanings (“There’s a child and a mortgage sleeping in our bed/ I’m wide awake with these worries in my head”). — Bliss

This band’s secret is idiosyncratically unusual songwriting. Waller and guitarist Paul Lacques write like hip university professors, or post-countercultural novelists, and their lyrics are fascinating and full of provocative ideas, a rarity in rock.

“Yolo Country Airport” is a cool, dramatic song about flying home as potential superstars. “Carbon Dated Love,” an existentialist, epiphanous tale about two hikers becoming one with nature, is a marvel of imagist detail. “Environment Children of the Future,” a ballad, balances sincerity about ecological awareness among young people with a killer “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” chorus. The apocalyptic rocker “Ever Since the Grid Went Down” imagines being forced to live “like an honest man” – it’s meant ironically – in order to survive a societal collapse. A detour into Celtic music is ill-advised and the production by Lacques could be more forceful. But this is one fascinating band.

Standout Tracks: “Carbon Dated Love,” “Ever Since the Grid Went Down” — STEVEN ROSEN

Despite rumors of its untimely demise, L.A. country is, in fact, still alive and well. It’s just gone underground – or rather, taken to the skies. I See Hawks in L.A. is that rare local bird, an Americana act in a city where rock rules the roost. “[We’re] sort of mavericks,” states lead singer Rob Waller (at right, with Shawn Nourse, left, Paul Lacques and Paul Marshall). “Sometimes people will say, ‘Oh, I see hawks’ and you tell your hawk stories.”

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By RON JACOBS
Counterpunch.org

Some days I wake up and the music I hear in my head is the chorus to Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” All day long I hear that lonesome whippoorwill until night finally falls, the midnight train whining in the distance. It’s not that I’m lonely or anything, mind you, yet that haunting chorus becomes the day’s soundtrack.

There’s a band out of southern California that renders music as uniquely forlorn as any Hank Williams tune. The name of that group is, somewhat mysteriously, I See Hawks In LA. Composed of founder Rob Waller on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, guitarist Paul Lacques, former Strawberry Alarm Clock bassist Paul Marshall and percussionist Shawn Nourse, I See Hawks In LA bring experienced musicianship (and many experienced guest musicians) to their work. Echoes of the Byrds and Gram Parsons and even The Holy Modal Rounders inform the music this group makes while its lyrics touch on themes of war, peace, freedom, family and that greatest topic of all, love. Sometimes the lyrics are full of humor and sometimes they are full of sadness. Sometimes they sing of the counterculture and sometimes one hears ironic commentary on today’s commercial culture of brands and empty meaning. Waller’s vocal delivery is a countrified alto that capably evokes whichever emotion the song hopes to convey.

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Gram Parsons has been dead for roughly 35 years, and yet he can still be heard all over Hallowed Ground, the latest Big Book Records release from I See Hawks In L.A. Hallowed Ground is precisely the “Cosmic American Music” Parsons would have loved. The band effortlessly blends the three-part harmonies, fiddles and weeping steel of country/roots music with the driving drums, heavy reverb and fiery licks we associate with more rock-oriented offerings. Flavor the whole mess with zydeco, Tex-Mex and even some Celtic flourishes and you’ll get an idea of how much ground Hallowed Ground covers. On this outing, the Los Angeles-based quartet is further reinforced with a handful of hired guns, including guitarist Rick Shea (Dave Alvin) and pedal steel whiz Dave Zirbel (Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen) whose licks are sure to stir memories of the late Sneaky Pete Kleinow.

Suffice to say, these boys can all play like the devil, but what really sets I See Hawks In L.A. apart from the others who play in the same sandbox is their willingness to deal with themes that fall decidedly outside of country music’s traditional comfort zone. Instead of predictable ditties about dead end jobs and no good women, Hallowed Ground offers songs that dabble in ecology, metaphysics, time travel and for the romantics in the audience, a lovers’ stroll that ends in a suicide pact. My favorite has to be Ever Since The Grid Went Down, a wry, picture-postcard of life in post-Apocalyptic California that just might become a survivalist anthem if/when this country finally goes to hell in a bobsled.

Very highly recommended for fans of the The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, and the aforementioned Dave Alvin. Absolutely essential if you refused, on principle, to buy Long Road Out Of Eden retail simply because it was sold exclusively at Walmart and Sam’s Club.