When two hearts keep a beat as one

By Lina Lecaro

Sept. 28, 2006 12 AM PT

Special to The Times

BEING in a rock band is a lot like being married.

There can be pure elation offset by infighting, visions for the future tempered by hard times, synergy interrupted by moments of resentment and drama.

Being in a rock band and being married, however -- that takes a special couple.

“Our music endeavor is kind of the family business,” says Anita Robinson, who with husband Kevin makes music as Viva Voce. “It’s a partnership that’s fifty-fifty and completely equal. We’re self-contained, even self-managed.

“The drawback is ... when something bad happens, like if we get bad news or a bad e-mail or something, it comes into our home. It is good that I have complete support from my partner and he has it from me, but sometimes you just want to have a normal weekend.”

The independent music landscape is littered with artists who share the Portland, Ore., duo’s ability to juggle their creative and personal sides. L.A.’s current sweethearts, the Submarines, exposed their whole relationship cycle on their recent debut “Declare a New State,” and 8mm (the collaboration between Nine Inch Nails producer Sean Beavan and his wife Juliette) this week released their debut, “Songs to Love and Die By....”

And Southland clubs and festivals this year have seen consistently engaging performances from the likes of San Francisco’s groovy popsters Mates of State (parents of a young daughter and label mates of Viva Voce), long-running Bay Area electronica act Halou, Cincinnati’s Ellery and Illinois-based two-piece the Like Young -- whose final show (the band is calling it quits after three albums) this month at the Silverlake Lounge was a poignant collision of brash power pop and sentimentality.

Ah, rock ‘n’ roll and romance. For the most part it has a long, ill-fated history. Fleetwood Mac’s tumultuous foursome of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks on one end, and John and Christine McVie on the other, comes to mind (didn’t the tension make for great music though?). Sonny and Cher, Ike and Tina Turner, John Doe and Exene -- the demise of these nuptials eventually ended the music unions as well, Still, there are successes: Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are still thriving musically and romantically. And Meg and Jack White, though no longer married, managed to channel their chemistry into something altogether more interesting: a sibling-like rapport with subtly sexual undertones.

VIVA VOCE’S sound might not be of the same stripe, but the dynamic is in place, and the breadth of its sound has positioned it as perhaps the next great wedded duo.

“We don’t try to make records that are stripped down or garage-style,” Anita Robinson says. “We embrace electronics and technology when it’s done creatively and not in a karaoke way. I think the Flaming Lips sort of made that a challenge.”

Originally both from Alabama, Anita met Kevin Robinson while each was playing in other bands in their adjacent small towns. She says that music and romance happened “sort of all at once,” around 1996, with the pair moving to Nashville a year later. They came up with the name Viva Voce (Italian for “word of mouth”) and gained a groundswell of attention for their national debut “Lovers Lead the Way,” a dreamy mash of dark-hued classic rock and insanely catchy psych pop.

With song titles including “N Luv w/ U” and “Yr Epic Heart,” this was a bold, “us against the world” coming out of sorts for the group. Its sparkling production -- shockingly, the pair does it all by itself at home -- dense yet loose-feeling instrumentation and poignant vocals (Anita’s sweet yet slithery tone is particularly beguiling) proved this was a duo to be reckoned with. The follow-up “The Heat Can Melt Your Brain,” offered giddy Pixies-style grinds and pretty Beatles-esque interludes.

It all comes full circle with the Robinsons’ latest, “Get Yr Blood Sucked Out” (on Barsuk Records), a frolic fusing the electronic savvy of the Flaming Lips with the vocal pingpong of Yo La Tengo -- both of which have always been influences for the band.

“We like writing together and we like recording all the parts ourselves,” Anita Robinson says. “I can’t imagine doing it any other way because it’s so satisfying. We can make split decisions, which we’re very prone to do, or completely change directions in the middle of recording a song. It just happens to be that we agree a lot of the time creatively.”

THE Submarines, on the other hand, laid bare their disagreements on “Declare a New State.” Songstress Blake Hazard and singer-producer John Dragonetti managed to make a breakup record and a makeup record while coming off as neither bitter nor morose. And though it is full of lovelorn lyrics and languid melodies (the tune “Peace & Hate” is a standout), it’s ultimately a work about expectation and second chances. The pair, who dated for four years before moving from Boston to L.A. in 2004, broke up and poured their hearts out in song while apart. When they reconnected in the studio, it not only led to reconciliation, but also the formation of a proper band and, a year later, marriage.

“We didn’t expect to be together let alone make a record and have a band together,” Hazard says. “It was a really slow process. John was recording on his own and I was writing on my own. It was a sad time but then we reunited in the studio and started recording and listening to the songs ... It really came together. We just suddenly realized what an incredible document of that time in our lives we had.”

Dragonetti (who recorded for A&M; as Jack Drag) concurs, but says there were concerns about the band aspect.

“We were both very reluctant at first. We were like, OK, is this a good idea?” he says. “Working together is challenging and it was in the past. You see bands break up and stop being friends after a while. To me that wouldn’t be worth it. We really thought hard about it. But at a certain point you kind of just take the plunge ... kinda like getting married.”

For now, the Submarines are enjoying their honeymoon stage -- the collaboration, the marriage and the album all exude a fresh romantic sheen.

“How many bands during the stress of touring, get to have the incredible release of, you know, getting it on afterward?” Hazard says. “All the songs that we’ve written on this record are about one another. It’s incredibly intense performing them together but I think it really adds to the dynamic of the whole performing experience.”

Their more veteran counterparts have learned to make living, loving and working together a long-term proposition -- even, in the case of San Francisco’s trip-hop-flavored Halou, after you add children to the mix.

“If the kids get sick -- and they have -- you still have to stay professional and meet your commitments,” says Rebecca Coseboom, Halou’s sultry singer, who met her now-husband Ryan Coseboom in 1991, collaborating musically first, then personally. “It can be hard sometimes, but luckily we don’t have many bad days.”

“For us, everything’s intertwined,” says Viva Voce’s Anita Robinson.

“I don’t know if I can really say if that’s good or not. It’s just the way it is. In some ways, it really complicates things. There are a lot of really obvious good things though. We’re not separated and we don’t have this horrible intense longing and homesickness when we’re on tour. This is the only band I’ve ever been in that I’ve felt so equally respected, that I’ve had equal say, and that’s just so fulfilling. It makes everything so much more satisfying because we’re sharing it together.”

weekend@latimes.com

Shows/music

Viva Voce

Where: The Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd., L.A.

When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday

Price: $12

Info: (213) 413-8200; www.attheecho.com

The Submarines

Where: La Brea Tar Pits park, 5801 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., as part of Tarfest

When: Noon Oct. 8 (set time TBA)

Price: Free

Info: www.tarfest.com