BUZZ BANDS

Classicist rock gets a Spin

With its quavering vocals, gossamer strings and neo-hippie oeuvre, the L.A. seven-piece Listing Ship fashions the kind of edgy but folksy bluegrass you’d hear at a Mensa picnic, music that you imagine rising just above the chirping of cicadas. They may point their pens at Miss Piggy and Ichabod Crane and write lines like “Death comes as a cornflake / to the one who’s suffering,” but there’s electricity in their eccentricity.

Yet what were a bunch of violin-, viola- and mandolin-totin’ classicists doing recently as “Band of the Day” on Spin.com?

“I’m mystified by that one,” singer-guitarist Heather Lockie says.

“We sent it to Spin and somebody listened,” says Lyman Chaffee, Lockie’s songwriting collaborator.

Others are listening too. The group, which finishes up a residency the next two Mondays at the Echo, has garnered attention for its eclectic album, “Time to Dream,” released as part of the collective True Classical CDs. The band grew out of the ‘90s Lockie-Chaffee collaboration Leather Hyman. “It was much more rock-oriented then,” Chaffee deadpans. “Then we got old.”

Since 2001 the group has added Shawn Lockie, Julie Carpenter, Laura Steenberge, Kyle C. Kyle and Michael Whitmore, many of whom play in other bands. Mike Watt even played bass on much of “Time to Dream.”

“Somehow we’re making this record collective work,” Lockie says. “And we’ve expanded our expectations for this band based on the reaction we got to the record.”

Hard times

in hard rock

The new year brought frowns for L.A. hard rockers the Chelsea Smiles. The quartet learned just before the holidays that it had been dropped by Capitol Records, leaving its twice-recorded debut album in limbo. Then drummer Karl Rosqvist’s reentry to the U.S. from his native Sweden was delayed because he had been detained (but not charged) in a scuffle here and his fingerprints were in the customs database, band manager Warren Entner said.

The foursome, who open for Social Distortion on Wednesday at the House of Blues Anaheim, earned a following last year with its in-your-face live show and the release of the “Nowhere Ride” EP, which showcased the guitar talents of Todd Youth (who has played with Danzig and Motorhead, among others). “We’re just moving forward,” Youth says. “I’ve been doing this a long time and the business side of things doesn’t faze me. It wasn’t like I thought, ‘Now that I’ve got a major-label deal I can get a house in the hills.’ ”

Whether the album will ever be released is anyone’s guess. “I think Capitol was looking for more instantaneously radio-friendly material,” Entner says. “It’s one of those cases at a major label -- you have a minute and a half to prove yourself.”

Fast

forward

Touts: It’s a ways off, but Spaceland has landed Lisa Germano for an April residency.... Heavy-metal heroes Early Man headline that Silver Lake club Saturday, with support from another in a recent wave of rockers who make Black Sabbath their starting point: the Sword. Early Man’s “Closing In” came out in October on Matador; the Sword’s “The Age of Winters” was released Tuesday on Kemado.... Bay Area beat-mongers Chow Nasty, who open for the always danceable Aggrolites on Friday at the Echo, will feature guest vocals from the BellRays’ Lisa Kekaula on its debut, which begins production this week under the guidance of Peanut Butter Wolf.... Jonah Matranga of Onelinedrawing and Gratitude is promoting his CD/DVD release “There’s a Lot in Here” with shows Wednesday at the Troubadour and Feb. 24 at Chain Reaction.... Irish four-piece La Rocca performs tonight at Spaceland just as its EP “Sing, Song, Sung” is released via iTunes.

Shouts: To In Waves, who in only its second live show last week at the Echo bathed early arrivals in some sweet reverb. (Cold War Kids and Foreign Born then delivered delicious sets too)....To Australia’s Wolfmother and Scotland’s Driveblind for rocking a steamy Spaceland on Monday.

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Kevin Bronson

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Recommended downloads

* Download Listing Ship’s “Ichabod Crane” and “Chinese Song” at www.trueclassicalcds.com/listingship/mp3.html.

* Stream the Chelsea Smiles “Drowned” and watch the video for “Nowhere Ride” at www.myspace.com/thechelseasmiles.