What Laura Says

What Laura Says. (Credit: Jeff Ambrose)

What Laura Says Members:

Greg Muller : drums

James Mulhern : guitar/vocals

Danny Godbold : vocals/keyboards/guitar

Jacob Woolsey : percussion

Mitch Freedom : bass/vocals

What Laura Says Influences:

The band is influenced by everything from the Beach Boys to vintage reggae to Sly Stone—not to mention various DJs and producers. “A good melody is a good melody, and a good beat is a good beat and a good sound,” Freedom says.

What Laura Says Genres:

Indie, Rock

Better described as: They're impossible to pigeonhole—on one song they're evoking classic pop sounds, the next they've gone into crunchy indie guitar riffs. Some songs start off slow then speed up and go in a completely different direction.

Behind the name: The name, which has been shortened from its original What Laura Says Thinks and Feels, was a tongue-in-cheek reaction to the emo movement by Godbold.

If you have two minutes to check out the band's MySpace page, listen to this: “Couldn't Lose Myself If I Tried” manages to cram in gospel, folk and pop between tempo changes, hand claps and tambourine shakes. It'll leave you scratching your head yet wanting more.

Currently working on: They recently did a two-month tour, but now they're back home writing and recording for an album they hope to release this fall. They're currently promoting their self-titled debut album and have a slew of local shows lined up.

Music is…: “It's an amazing ability to be able to make music, and I feel it's a very special thing being that it's the only sense you have that's intangible,” Freedom says. “You can't see music. You can see the physical form that it's playing off of, but it's just this very, very intangible thing. I think that's why everybody loves music so much and it's such a moving force. I feel there's a great possibility every time you make music to make people happy. That's who I am. That's my personality, so maybe these two things go hand-in-hand.”

See more:

Indie bands, Rock bands