The Daily Reveille caught up with Aaron Billy Leigh from the Los Angeles band Babes before its show at Siberia in New Orleans on Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.
The Daily Reveille: So how did you guys get started?
Aaron Billy Leigh: We, me, my brother, and my sister, have been playing music forever. So the start of it was just us playing music as kids and growing up listening to music, and doing that whole thing. Then me and my sister got a publishing deal with this dude and we were writing for other people and while we were at that studio, I had the keys and we would just go in and write and record and write our own music on the side, and that sort of began Babes.
TDR: When were you like, “It’s official. We’re a band. We’re going to call ourselves Babes”?
ABL: Umm, Babes is about three years old. We started about three years ago … actually no. My sister is saying two years ago. Yeah, I have no sense of f***ing time at all. We started last week.
TDR: Because you guys are siblings, do you feel like you fight like siblings or is everything chill?
ABL: I would say it’s chill. I think for any band being at such close proximity is f***ing insane. It’s the same for any human. Everybody needs space, but, you know, when you’re in a band, you’re in a band forever. … Even though we really love each other, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of arguing, but it’s all with interest of us making cool music.
TDR: What is your type of music? How would you describe your songs?
ABL: I would just say love songs. They are all love songs. That’s what we sing about; love, unrequited love, like loss of love and how that affects your life, how it’s f***ed up and also the best thing on this f***ing planet. … That’s what I would say.
TDR: Do you think it’s possible to run out of love songs or everyone loves them and they could just go on forever?
ABL: I mean you tell me. There’s so many f***ing love songs. It doesn’t seem like it’s slowing down. It’s so important to everybody. If you look around in any culture, it’s a staple. There’s food, there’s water, and there’s love.
TDR: So how is your newest album, Untitled (Five Tears), different from the first?
ABL: I think that it’s just a little bit more progressive than the first album, which leans more towards The Velvet Underground, and I think this gets a little more heavy with the production. I think that’s really the big difference. The songs are pretty similar…
TDR: Have you ever visited New Orleans?
ABL: I went there once. … Our dad took us on a road trip and I was there when I was like eight, but I haven’t been there since. I’m actually really excited. I want crawdads. I [want to] eat that s***.
TDR: So do you guys have any specific plans for when you’re in New Orleans?
ABL: We’re just going to try to party and have as much fun as we can for only being there for one day.
TDR: What’s your fan base like?
ABL: Yeah, well we have a hotline for people to call. It goes to all of our cell phones… It’s really cool because people call us every day. We get a bunch of calls from people telling us what our music means to them and how it affected them… It makes you feel like there’s a reason why you’re doing it instead of just a selfish reason.
TDR: What are your plans for the band?
ABL: We’re going to go home and record about 20 new songs and then we’re going to release it in an interesting way. … I think we’re just going to give it to people for free. We like that idea, just giving it to people who are paying attention to our music.