The Bad Penny (beta)

Research Society took an innovative approach to participating in the Bad Penny’s ongoing “Cover Me” series: Rather than let one bandmember do all the talking, co-songwriters Namky (vocals, rhythm guitar, programming) and G Mann (lead guitar, bass, backing vocals, programming) had a lil’ dialogue. Here’s what the indie-rock band – which hails from Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood – dreamed up for its new Best of Seven EP – along with an exclusive download song from it.

If you dig their style, catch Research Society in the flesh at Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park on October 2 at 10 p.m. Flying Machine, Gorgeous Got a Gun and Los Brigands are also on the bill.

(Scroll down for an MP3 that is available for free download exclusively on the Bad Penny.)

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Cover Me: An ongoing series in which musicians reveal the artists they’d most like to hear covering their songs.

We thought about whether we’d prefer big, popular bands or more obscure/local bands to cover our songs. We figured since we’re dreaming here, we might as well embrace the dream and go for big bands. So, we chose bands we think would “get” the song, and would have a natural affinity for finding an interesting and unique take on the song.

“Mr. Awesome”

Namky: How about the Flaming Lips.

G Mann: How about Flaming Lips … circa Yoshimi.

Namky: Touché. I wonder if they would really take the story and character and run with it.

G Mann: I’d be curious to hear the beats – I’d hope for those big, cool hip-hop beats!

“September”

Namky: The National. They have the quietly urgent arena-rock sound that is very expressive in a very subtle way.

G Mann: Spot on choice, my friend. I would look forward to the classy guitar interplay, and hopefully some dramatic organs. I can imagine the National making it even more dramatic.

“Midnight Run”

Namky: What do you think about Interpol?

G Mann: That’s exactly who I was thinking. They do mid-tempo dark, dramatic, builders better than anyone.

Namky: They know how to get really good guitar dramatics with very natural tones.

G Mann: And [Paul] Banks’ haunting voice would be perfect.

“I’ve Been Down”

G Mann: My main riff always reminds me of “Airbag” by Radiohead, so I’d be interested in hearing Radiohead do it.

Namky: “Down” seems more “Planet Telex” to me, so how about Bends-era Radiohead?

G Mann: That’d be cool. I think their version would be quite different, but quite interesting.

“Talk About the Weather”

Namky: That’s easy, it’s Joy Division.

G Mann: I was thinking Bloc Party, but why not go to the source.

Namky: Remember, it used to be a much breezier, semi-surf-rock-type song, but then we saw “Control,” the Anton Corbijn film about Joy Division, and we found the song’s soul.

G Mann: This song definitely took longer to gestate than most of our songs, but I bet Joy Division would have gotten it immediately. They would’ve stripped it down but kept the groove.

I don’t think we’ll be getting any calls from these bands about covering our songs, but it was nice to dream …

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Audio asset:

• Bad Penny download: Research Society’s “Mr. Awesome”

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Related stuff:

• “Memento: Research Society’s ‘2001’ Obsession, Lego’d”
• Paper Tongues’ installment of “Cover Me”
• Mark Bacino’s installment of “Cover Me”
• Cassorla’s installment of “Cover Me”
• French Miami’s installment of “Cover Me”
• Cougar’s installment of “Cover Me”

This entry was posted on 09/24/2010 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Cover Me, Exclusives, Features with tags Research Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.