Rising indie power group Local Natives took to the stage Wednesday night at Tipitina’s in New Orleans for the first time in years on its lengthy international tour.
The Los Angeles-based group has exploded in popularity since its inception in the late ’00s. After opening for the likes of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and performing at South by Southwest, the band has fast-tracked to indie fame and garnered rave reviews in a few short years.
Ryan Hahn, guitarist and keyboardist for Local Natives, said the band has been on tour since February after releasing its sophomore studio album “Hummingbird.”
Hahn said the group is excited to be playing in New Orleans and giving a “proper” show that’s been a long time coming since the group’s last soirée in the Big Easy.
“We ended up going out all night and it was our drummer [Matt Frazier]’s birthday,” Hahn said. “And we did that thing where you pin a dollar to someone’s shirt. We had never heard of that before, but I remember Matt being so stoked, he had so many dollars by the end of the night.”
Hahn said the group is excited to venture out into New Orleans once again because they will have some time between tour dates to take in the Cajun culture.
Later this week, Local Natives will travel to Texas’ capital for renowned music fest Austin City Limits. Hahn said he’s eagerly awaiting the festival and the city of Austin in general.
After caravanning around the continental United States, the band will be heading overseas for the European leg of its tour in mid-October.
Hahn remarked the similarities between American and European audience behavior.
“When the language barrier is there, less people know the words, but I think it’s kind of funny how you notice crowds behave in similar ways almost everywhere you go,” Hahn explained.
He then went on to point out some differences in crowd etiquette.
“When we went to France for the first time, we were kind of blown away by how quiet people are,” Hahn said pointedly. “No one talked. No one was loudly talking between songs or whatever. They were really attentive, and that’s really awesome.”
As the tour goes on, Hahn said he enjoys synergizing with his bandmates to become like “a well-oiled machine.” He believes the band is at its best on tour and can tend to lose cohesion after being home for some time.
Cohesion is essential to Local Natives, which has a unique song-writing technique.
The group has a democratic and collaborative process when it comes to making music. Hahn said everyone in the band has a part in creating the songs.
“I think our band’s a little different than most bands due to the fact that we have multiple
songwriters in our band, and each of us kind of brings an idea for a song to the table,” Hahn said. “We’ll compare ideas for hours and hours on end and just toss ideas back and fourth.”
He went on to say that this system does sometimes lead to arguments, but when the group runs into an issue with a song, a compromise is made or a vote is taken to settle the dispute.
Hahn said as the band travels around the globe performing for dedicated fans, they’ll continue to hash out new music on the road the only way they know how.

“I think our band’s a little different than most bands due to the fact that we have multiple songwriters in our band, and each of us kind of brings an idea for a song to the table. We’ll compare ideas for hours and hours on end and just toss ideas back and fourth.”

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