Looking through the list of up and coming local bands in today's Calendar Weekend section of the LA Times, I couldn't help grow discouraged with the fact that, whenever these lists appear, there is a complete shortage of bands I actually dig. In all honesty, I don't even know who would make it on my list of recommended local bands, but it sure as hell would not include The Like.
At first, I thought my dislike of The Like was a bit unfair. Perhaps I was just unwilling to give the ladies a chance because they are barely out of high school and have an obviously edge over the other million bands around town (i.e., they are from prominent music industry families). Maybe, I was just holding a grudge because they have, arguably, the stupidest band name ever created. I was wrong.
It's not that The Like suck. It sounds as though they can actually sing and play instruments. Then again, American Idol contestants can actually sing too and look at what kind of crap that show produces.
Let's just get this out of the way: The Like are boring. By boring, I mean that the band sounds like Ben Lee on sedetives. It is music made specifically to be piped through the speakers at Starbucks. I hear that one song that Nic Harcourt is weak-in-the-knees over and imagine what the live shows must be like: a bunch of irritating, precocious teenagers from Crossroads chaperoned by a pony-tailed, balding man and a middle-aged woman wearing her daughter's favorite outfit from Fred Segal, all of whom are pretending that the they are really moved to tears by the harmonies when really they are just that bored. I want to scream at the radio, "You aren't old enough to drink and you sound like you're ready to switch to O'Douls!" Where's the angst? Where's the teen rebellion? It's really quite tragic.