LAist Interview: Shana Levy of Let's Go Sailing

Do you have a routine?
I guess I do cause I'm always working on one song or another. It's kind of a chaotic process like throwing a bunch of stuff against a wall and seeing what sticks, but I guess it's still a routine cause I'm writing or flushing something out almost every day. I must say, though, since I've been doing so much of the business stuff-starting the label and putting out the record, there was a period where it was hard to write and I felt very far away from that whole process.

At what point do you begin collaborating with the other musicians in the band?
I begin collaborating when I'm happy with where the song is at from a songwriting standpoint. I generally don't bring a song in to work with other musicians until it's finished and the lyrics and basic structure are all there.

How do you know when a song is finished?
Hahaha when I've worked on it for too long! No, when it feels right and I'm happy with all of the lyrics.

Is there a song where perhaps you tried to do something you hadn't done before or you were just extra happy about the way it turned out?
I'm really proud of "sideways." I wrote a lot of the parts on the song and I ended up mixing it for the most part on my own. I was fortunate enough to be able to work in my friend's studio before he sold it and I didn't have any major time constraints. I really didn't know much about mixing in a big studio except for what I watched Jim Putnam do and I was really scared of how it would come out. The engineer there, Pete Magdaleno, helped me out, but I really had to use my ears and go with my instincts (having a nice amount of time helped!)

Can you talk a little about the band members you've been playing with?
Lately I've been playing with Lindsay Stella who is hands down a great musician. She plays violin in the band but she can pretty much play anything. I've also been playing with Chris Armstrong who plays guitar (left handed!) and is a really funny guy and a great player. Andy Creighton has been playing bass. When we were on tour, our drummer had to leave early and he ended up playing bass and drums at the same time (if you can imagine it). We were all seriously blown away. And, we started playing with Mike Green again who used to be in the band and who plays with a lot of bands in town like Willoughby, Mike Andrews, Bird and the Bee and Charlie Wadhams. Stacy Kiehl, my roommate and one of my best friends plays keyboards when we are playing in town shows.

What is your favorite venue to play at in LA?
Spaceland.

How was your first national tour?
Long! It ended up being six weeks. But it was really fun. We got it down to a science with GPS and priceline.com!

What performances stuck out for you?
The shows with Elvis were the best. I'd say the funnest nights were The Tractor Tavern in Seattle and also Schuba's in Chicago. Both of them were packed and the audiences were great. Also, the show at the Echo during the tour was a standout cause it was so great to be home. Stacy played with us and it was a really fun show performance-wise.

And playing with Elvis Perkins and The Dearlanders?
Elvis' songs are so beautiful and playing with those guys was seriously inspiring. They were just so on it every night. It never got old to watch them cause they have so much energy on stage and they just put their all into every song. All the guys in the band are really nice and a blast to hang out with, and it was super cool to hang out with Elvis cause he's an old friend and I haven't seen him that much since he moved from LA.

Did you miss anything in LA while on tour?
My bed and my kitties.

While touring, what music did you listen to?
We listened to a lot of stuff, but my favorites were Midlake, Andrew Bird, and Dead Meadow.

How did it feel to see your face on the cover of CityBeat?
Haha! It was really weird, but really cool!

There've been four LGS songs on Grey's Anatomy. What did you think of their use of your music?
I was stoked! I thought it was so cool that they used the songs cause the show is very emotional and they really use music to heighten the emotions in the scenes. Personally, it was a really big deal for me cause I worked on the record for what seemed like forever without anything really tangible to show for it. Getting the songs on there, especially right as the record was coming out nationally, really made me feel like my hard work had paid off.