By Morgan James
Wow! 2 minutes into a song and I am immediately transported to my 90’s era childhood, grooving aside my bedroom stereo to ethereal tunes of Smashing Pumpkins and Mazzy Star. The perpetuating rhythm drones sweetly as lyrical melodies take me away to slower times, so thick with mood, my head continues to buzz as the song ends. I was fortunate enough to play a show with Hundred Forms last year as they were just venturing into the world of playing their original music out live. However, it was just two weeks ago that I heard from them again. “We started our band a year and a half ago and right as we were getting started with live shows we parted ways with our drummer. It’s taken the better part of a year to get going again. Drummers are a rare breed. I think I called every one of them in this valley,” commented frontman, Brent Basore. “We’re just ready to start playing and sharing this work with others.”
In fact, their first show back on stage live will be on Thursday, April 14th at Plan B Live Entertainment & Cocktails at 8pm. This time around they will be accompanied by drummer, Corwin Hendricks (Upper Class Poverty). “I instantly enjoyed the music,” Corwin says, “and have been excited about it ever since. It’s been great working with them because they work so hard and smart! I’ve never played with a band with the professional etiquette that these guys have, so it’s been fun and easy joining. I can’t wait to see where it grows from here.”
So, because Hundred Forms’ music takes me back, even way back to sounds like Velvet Underground, I wonder who the band’s influences are as they create their own music? I swoon at bassist, Carlyn Park’s response: “I love a lot of music but I’m still influenced by the music I fell in love with as a kid, bands like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Bauhaus, I always go back to that stuff, and Tool, Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Sonic Youth. I still listen to everything I loved as a teenager. I listen to Henry Rollins show on KCRW to hear new bands and other stuff I haven’t heard before. There’s too much good music, I always feel like I’m missing out on something.” Guitarist, Larry Ellison then chimes in with his own heady reply: “Moody contrasts are like my funny bone, they have great impact when everything aligns; i.e. Crass “Penis Envy,” older Zac Brown Band and Puscifer get the ball rolling. As for me, I’m like a kid in a candy store every time I pick up a guitar. Occasionally, I find the sticky sweetness and roll with it. A year a half with the band has been a great journey. We simply want to share the experience with anyone and everyone, anywhere, who has ever played their favorite song back to back to back.”
Curiously then, I ask who actually does the songwriting? “As far as writing it is a total collaboration. Hundred Forms doesn’t exist without any one of us,” Brent answers, “I think you can tell right away when a band is mimicking and when a band is being sincere. I believe we have written songs that are sincere… Music always comes first though. Lyrics occur from the inspiration of the music. Playing music has just always been in my life since I was a kid; mostly just guitar and bass. Only recently have I taken a crack at being lead vocals. Hopefully sincerity is enough in that area of expression,” he laughs. Now speaking of instrumentation, I heard Carlyn is new to the bass? “I started playing the bass about a year and a half ago basically by accident,” Carlyn nods, “My husband Brent and our friend Larry were playing guitars and I wanted to be a part of it… and that was it. We’ve put a lot of time and energy into our song writing, so I guess at some point you have to be willing to let people in on it and see how they react. I don’t think any of us necessarily think that we are very talented in the typical way, but we acknowledge that somehow we’ve written some cool songs that we like and enjoy playing together.”
As I look forward to hearing Hundred Forms play on April 14th, I will be looping a mellow 90s alt-rock station in anticipation and maybe channel my inner Shirley Manson.
