Local Natives

Local Natives place face-to-face songwriting and musical interplay at the core of their fourth full-length, VIOLET STREET, where a classic studio approach is juxtaposed with modern production and visuals to create a timeless album. The band’s signature soaring 3-part harmonies are augmented by loops of tape, physically spliced and transformed by hand, the result of experimenting in the studio with producer Shawn Everett is a band renewed.

In essence, Local Natives [Taylor Rice (vocals, guitar), Kelcey Ayer (vocals, keys), Ryan Hahn (vocals, guitar), Matt Frazier (drums), and Nik Ewing (vocals, bass, keys) return to the methods of their 2009 debut Gorilla Manor, but with the bonds of their union fortified and with the growth of wisdom accrued in the studio and on stage in front of millions of worldwide fans.

“The record is about us reconnecting to playing off each other,” states Taylor. “We didn’t go into separate corners, produce our own songs, and bring them to the group. Back when we made Gorilla Manor, we lived together in one house and made a frantically creative environment. This time, we were in a massive warehouse with Shawn, jamming, and relying on each other often until three or four in the morning for several nights straight. It was fun, but also pushed us to outdo each other. We got back to our strengths. We’ve always been super collaborative and democratic, as we have three songwriters and singers, and all five of us have a lot of creative input. This was the most collaborative and open we’ve been. We were raw and vulnerable. It’s the first time we didn’t do any pre-production, we went in and built the record out of nothing.”

Named after the Downtown address where Shawn operates his studio, the album encapsulates the spirit of the city. “Los Angeles is an important character in the music,” explains Kelcey. “Everything came to life in this place. All of our emotions and ideas were represented by VIOLET STREET".

Local Natives and FabFilter

Ryan Hahn: "The producer of our last record seemed to use the FabFilter equalizer on everything. I'd watch over his shoulder while he kept pulling up that plugin over and over again and finally asked him about it."

"I obviously love the Pro-Q and I use it on everything. I also use it to sidechain and balance mid/side info. I've also started using Pro-C 2, Pro-MB, Pro-G and Pro-DS a lot and it's made my workflow super streamlined. During quarantine I've also started experimenting with the Twin synth and Saturn."

"I think the plugins standout for their clean, design forward aesthetics and for how intuitive they are."

Other featured artists

Erik 'Blu2th' Griggs

Erik 'Blu2th' Griggs Erik "Blu2th" Griggs has worked with many artists, from playing bass and keys for Aretha Franklin to singing with Take 6, to producing and writing with Babyface and Dr Dre. His discography includes No Air (Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown), The Dreamgirls soundtrac...
→ Read more

Robbie Nelson

Robbie Nelson is a Grammy and MPG award winning engineer/mixer. Notable work includes Beck (three Grammy's including best album), Birdy, Rumer, Amy Macdonald, Rae Morris, Sarah Brightman and Jarvis Cocker. After starting his career under legendary producer Mike Hedges at the equall...
→ Read more

The Black Keys

The Black Keys are a Grammy award-winning, two-man blues-rock group from Akron, Ohio, United States which formed in 2001, consisting of singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. The band name was inspired by a schizophrenic artist and friend in Akron, who used the term...
→ Read more

Miles Walker

Miles Walker is a Grammy-winning mix engineer that has worked on records with multi-platinum artists and producers worldwide. He has studied music at North Carolina School of the Arts for High School before following his passion for recording music at the world renown Berklee College of...
→ Read more

Armin van Buuren

Armin van Buuren has been named number one in the prestigious DJ MAG Top 100 poll four times in a row, as the first DJ in the history of the DJ Magazine and an indication of his prolific output over the more than 14 years he’s been dj’ing and producing. Being the official World’s Most Popul...
→ Read more

Dana Nielsen

Dana Nielsen is a Grammy-nominated mixer, engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his work with Rihanna, Adele, The Smashing Pumpkins, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, The Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan and Kanye West. Nielsen also frequently works with music for pi...
→ Read more

Damien Lewis

Damien Lewis, producer, mixer and engineer, earned his first Grammy nomination alongside longtime mentor Phil Tanfor Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. To date, his engineering work appears on 15 Grammy-nominated songs or albums, five of which have won a Grammy.Damien spli...
→ Read more

Stefano Lentini

Stefano Lentini is an Italian film music composer and multi-instrumentalist, who collaborated with director Wong Kar-Wai on the score for the two Academy Award nominated film "The Grandmaster". He has composed the scores for TV series including "The Sea Beyond”(Mare Fuori),...
→ Read more

Neal H Pogue

Neal H Pogue, a Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer, learned the craft of producing and mixing in Los Angeles, where he attended engineering school and completed his internship assisting some of the industry’s top professionals. "I currently live in Atlanta and I've been producin...
→ Read more