LoveLikeFire
By Jackie Miehls
Photo by Yuan Zhou

The San Francisco foursome LoveLikeFire has just returned from its first official national tour and is more focused than ever. “There was a good blowout on tour,” says LLF bassist Robert Kissinger. “We were all just at our breaking points. Everyone glamorizes tour, but it’s actually very rigorous and draining and all the little technical things sort of boil up and you start to lash out at each other. It’s basically like a family, so you have it out but then you’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t feel like being mad anymore,’ and it’s just kind of done.”

Distributing their own releases and booking this entire string of gigs across the country themselves, the melodic dark pop band — which consists of founding members Ann Yu (vocals/guitar) and David Farrell (drums), along with Ted Parker (guitar/piano) and most recent addition Kissinger — admits that organization is key to getting through it alive. “You have to treat it as a small business and maintain some organization,” says Kissinger. “Do we have enough t-shirts? Do we have enough shows lined up? Is it a proper time to reemerge from our period of writing? Is this too close to that show? Can we make this drive?”

Approaching art and business as two separate entities, the band seems to have things under control. With just two EPs under its belt and a full length in the works, LoveLikeFire’s dramatic yet dreamy sound has created quite a buzz in the Bay Area and beyond. It’s even caught the attention of individuals like producer Jeff Saltzman (The Killers, The Sounds) and engineer Reto Peter (Modest Mouse) who both contributed to various songs on the band’s most recent EP An Ocean in the Air — an album characterized by Yu’s haunting vocals, strong orchestral arrangements of heavy guitar, drums and keys, and thick powerful melodies.

Yet LoveLikeFire has no illusion when it comes to the realities of the music industry.

“You’ve got to promote yourself,” says Kissinger, “No one is going to do it for you or give you the magical deal and throw money at you.” And promote themselves they do. “We use MySpace but we also pound the pavement, standing outside of The Warfield handing out CDs,” Kissinger explains. “We do whatever it takes to bring heads into the show.”

And despite the sometimes-painful nature of touring, the members of LoveLikeFire are big advocates for doing whatever it takes to get out on the road. “It can be tough and definitely grueling, but it’s kind of the meat and potatoes of what we do after the writing is done,” says Kissinger. “It’s almost like you have to do it to know how to do it,” adds Farrell.

On this last tour the band learned a few important lessons: first, when booking shows don’t be overly ambitious when it comes to geographical distance or you’ll wind up with 15-hour drives each night. Second, don’t book a show in a town the same night the hometown heroes are playing. “We played in Albuquerque the night that The Shins were playing, and that’s where they are from so everybody in town including aunts and uncles and all of the bands were going to their show,” says Kissinger.

Though LoveLikeFire is run very democratically, Yu writes all of the lyrics. “A lot of the music and bands that I listen to are all about the story so it’s so important to me how the singer represents the story,” she says. The standout track “From a Tower” off the band’s most recent EP demonstrates Yu’s emotional vocal range, which can go from sweet to authoritative in a second’s time, and exemplifies the power she infuses in her lyrics: “I will be drinking from a fire / I catch a wave from a tower / I hold a flag from a mountain / I’ll make a sign I’m alive / I know it will be alright.”

A lot of hard work coupled with this “substance over style” approach has resulted in a tight, polished unit that goes beyond the normal expectations of a band. Whether they call each other artists, musicians, business partners or family, it is clear that LoveLikeFire is a band that has what it takes to wear all the different hats.

www.lovelikefire.com