Indie punk duo No Age cultivated their sound at The Smell, a now legendary all-ages venue in downtown Los Angeles. Since its opening in the late ‘90s, The Smell, formerly a Mexican grocery store, has produced some of the most creative, outside-of-the box bands of the last decade, including the highly acclaimed, sometimes bizarre but always entertaining noise rock band Health.
Subsequent to the band’s start about five years ago, No Age’s vocalist and drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall have been regulars on music blogs and have garnered all types of celebrity fans from Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox to Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, who wore a No Age shirt in an online broadcast. Most recently, on the Late Show with David Letterman, the duo played “Fever Dreaming,” a track off their new album “Everything in Between” on Monday.
Despite their new visibility and heaping critical attention, (like Pitchfork.com naming “Everything” the 13th best album of 2010), No Age seem to be as laid-back and grounded as ever. Like at their start, they’re playing unconventional venues like the L.A. Central Public Library and are still highly involved in the administrative workings of their career.
For example, when I set up an interview for this story, I received an e-mail from Spunt with the subject “Yo,” a cell phone number and the words “This is dean from No Age. Call me for an interview whenever.”
For a band on Sub Pop Records with plenty of publicists, managers and assistants running around, it was strange — and above all, rare — to see an accomplished artist so involved in such a mundane thing as appointment-making.
This hands-on attitude is without a doubt an extension of No Age’s teenage years, when the two skated their suburban L.A. high schools and listened to do-it-yourself ‘80s hardcore bands.
“Skateboarding had a huge impact on me,” said Spunt, whose sound and approach to music today still mirrors his adolescent days.
With the expanded sound of their new album, No Age have brought along a third man to handle samples while touring. Still, despite the addition, the band’s dynamic hasn’t changed much, Spunt said.
“He just plays that stuff and we jam over there,” he said.
No Age will play Common Grounds Sunday with Rene Hell, an artist they brought on tour after discovering an ad in the classifieds section of a Scientology newspaper.
Hell, No Age and Diet Cokeheads should make for a killer show, especially because Spunt said he’s excited to get to Florida, a place he calls the Cali of the East Coast.
Spunt said, “Every day I wake up in Florida I know it’s a good day.”
