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Meet LA indie rockers, The Ceremonies. They brought you the infectious tracks ‘Land of Gathering‘ and ‘Wolfdance‘ — read on to learn more about the guys in their own words!

Which one of you came up with the name?

It was a combined and prolonged effort – the three of us spent many a moon brainstorming. Ceremonies are communal gatherings that span the entire spectrum of human emotion—events that reflect a sense of communion we would like to convey not only at our performances but also through our art. Our interest is not in playing “shows,” rather, “ceremonies”—gatherings of more substance where people engage in a ritual of understanding and upholding meaning beyond surface.

Were there other contenders?

We also fancied “The Curtains” based on the poem by Wallace Stevens entitled “The Curtains in the House of Metaphysician.”—it’s already taken though. For a short while we went by The Cook Brothers & Bellwethers. We also really liked “The Strangers” after the famous Camus novel (made plural).

Is there one venue you’ve always dreamed of performing at but haven’t had the chance yet?

The first real concert that all three of us went to together was at The Shrine Auditorium. We had terrible nosebleed seats but we didn’t care because it was about the music and the experience for us. We left reinforcing our ambitions to have the closest seats in the house one day — on the stage. Since that day we’ve seen other amazing artists there such as Arcade Fire and even Morrissey; seeing them perform there has reinforced that vision.

If you could live in one era of music history, what would it be and who would you be making music with?

Well, our music is most reminiscent of an ’80s sound—and a lot of our influence derives from that era… but we’d probably find it most interesting to make music in a time where less music had been created, like the mid ’60s. There wasn’t a whole lot of rock music before that time and the thought of creating music free from much prior influence would be a really special opportunity. That was the era where rock and roll really progressed into an unfiltered hyper-creative state. It would be a trip living in an era with such limited technological resources for creation (no synths or even digital recording). Also, though it is a true advancement, what a breath of fresh air to live in a world free from the everyday transparency of social media. In terms of collaboration, we’re thinking of legendary creative minds outside of commercial music like Andy Warhol or even John Cage — oh the possibilities…

Do you each have a favorite guilty pleasure song to play?

We can all three recite every line to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. That score is brilliant. You don’t want to know how many times we’ve listened to it. I think our car stereo is upset about it.

Would you ever cover it during a show?

Haha. No…maybe.

Who has your ear at the moment?

We really dig the fairly recent Animal Collective album entitled Centipede Hz. The video art visuals that were released accompanying it were fantastic as well. It’s sort of like the Beach Boys made a new age piece with video artist Ryan Trecartin.

If you set your Spotify listening session to private, what tracks would you be listening to?

We would definitely use the session to musically explore and discover new artists—we’d go on a listening spree weeding out albums we like and aren’t so sure about. That way we can limit what we share to what we are passionate about.

Check out some of the band’s favorite tracks in their colorful “Bouquet” playlist —