Energy, Family, and Enjoying the Journey

Photographs by Rick Perez

L.A.’s best young rock band, Speed of Light, talk about the joys and struggles of being a family band, playing at Area 51, and share the video to their latest single, “Kill The Vibe”.

Los Angeles, California, USA

Who does Speed of Light consist of and what is your music all about?

Speed of Light is a family band. It consists of me (Cameron), my brother Tyler, and my sister Riley. We set out to write original music that we wanted to hear. All three of us have different tastes, so I guess it’s really a combination of our three tastes. I’m into Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, White Stripes, and a lot of Desert Rock bands—all heavy on guitars and riffs. Tyler is into punk, mostly 70s-era punk like The Damned, Sex Pistols, The Clash, but also the stuff coming out of the UK now, like Idles and Slaves. Riley likes Radiohead, The Cure, Sonic Youth, Pixies. So I guess if you take all three of our tastes and put it in a blender, that’s us.

In your journey as a band, what have been some big struggles? Greatest joys? What have you as individuals been learning?

As far as struggles go, the biggest one is probably finding and playing in all-ages venues since we’re underage—and that was before the lockdown. Another struggle is, we’re a family. We live together. We can’t get away from each other. A lot of bands get to leave each other when they’re done rehearsing. We don’t. That’s a struggle, but it’s also a plus.

Since we’re together all the time, we’re pretty much always doing something involving music. The lockdown didn’t really slow us down. It forced us together, so we just ended up writing and playing more. Writing and performing original music for a live audience is probably our greatest joy. It’s a big high to struggle through a song, get all three of us to agree upon it, rehearse it, tweak it, rewrite it, fight over it, tweak it again, and then finally play it in front of an audience. We’re sort of brutal about our songs too. If we get to the end of that journey and it falls flat for the crowd, the song ends up in the ‘maybe-rewrite-it-later’ box. But sometimes we get to the end of that journey, and we get lucky, and the song connects with the crowd the same way it connected with us. That ends up being a keeper and stays on the set-list. The biggest lesson through all of this is that you have to love the getting-there part. And we really do. We focus on the getting-there and let the rest just take care of itself.

You have played 67 shows in the past year. What have been some of the most memorable ones?

Before the lockdown, we were playing a lot. We had a residency at The Redwood Bar, and we were the house band for Bands in a Barbershop. We played all over LA and Orange County every chance we could get. Our most memorable show was probably Wonderama in New York. It’s a variety show that’s been around since the 50s I think. The Jacksons, Roger Daltrey, ABBA and Van Halen have played on it. So it was an honor to be invited. Somehow they found out about us, flew us to New York, put us in a hotel room, and we played in front of a studio audience. It was surreal.

Another big show last year was Alienstock. We were invited to play outside of Area 51 in Nevada. Yes, the real Area 51. That was probably the most fun. We were there to play for the crowd that was supposed to “storm Area 51.” There was no internet connection, no gas station, and we had to bring our own water. There were soldiers with humvees at the gate and at check points all along the way. We got to play in front of a massive alien-themed audience in the freezing desert. It was the most fun ever.

You have released a new single - Kill the Vibe. What kind of journey is this song taking us on? What are you trying to say? What’s the story behind the “Kill the Vibe” video? Where was this filmed, what was the event, etc?

One of our favorite parts of performing is the energy transfer with the crowd. When the crowd is into it, it’s one of the greatest feelings. “Kill the Vibe” was filmed just before the lockdown happened—2 or 3 weeks before everything shut down. We basically recorded 3 songs at Seahorse Sound Studios, got a bunch of our friends from the Los Angeles DIY scene together, and just transferred all of that energy. We consider ourselves a live band first, so I think the whole point of it was to document what one of our live shows is like.

What’s next for Speed of Light?

We’re just going to keep writing and playing music. We’re all pretty young (17, 15, 13), we’re having a blast, and learning a lot along the way. It’s been a great ride so far. We’re not sure where this journey is taking us, or when it’s going to end but we’re meeting a lot of cool people, and like we said in “Kill the Vibe,” we’re living the ride.