Musync^®: You Need Better Music!

Our Take

Band Talk

Pistol Opera combine the timeless spirit and songwriting of classic bands like The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles with modern elements of everything from post-punk and new wave to hip-hop and drum & bass. Essentially, it’s all about the tunes.

The band formed in Summer 2005 when singer/songwriter Eli Braden moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco and hooked up with L.A. natives Scott Pitts, Toby Semain and Jared Summerell, who’d played together in various groups since high school.

In S.F., Braden had co-fronted local power-pop heroes Fuse and scored a lucrative publishing deal with Warner Bros. to record with producer Bryce Goggin (Phish, Pavement, Nada Surf). Despite big-name management from Robert Hayes (Smashmouth, T.a.T.u.) and interest in the resulting album from several labels, the band dissolved in 2003.

After a couple of years on the acoustic circuit, Braden decided to “plug in” again, and moved to L.A. in search of the band of his dreams. Immediately finding three amazing musicians with a built-in chemistry exceeded his wildest expectations.

Frontman/bassist Braden cites his two biggest songwriting influences as The Beatles and The Smiths, but the obvious debt to those giants of Britpop is filtered through a continued devotion to the 80’s metal and old-school hip-hop of his youth. Pistol Opera definitely ROCKS, but there’s a wit and intelligence in their songs absent in much music of comparable sonic power.

The band’s tunes vary from the unbridled assault of Stooges-meets-Stones rave-ups like “Mantra” and “Daddy Was a Disco Dancer” to the psychedelic doo-wop of ballad “Never Say Goodbye.” “Do Ya” starts out like Outkast covering Radiohead, and ends up simulating a raging long-lost Guns n’ Roses single. What binds the band’s repertoire into a cohesive whole is a quality of excellent songwriting seen today only in other great modern rockers like Coldplay, Wilco, and Weezer.

Pistol Opera has just released their first album, and stays busy playing L.A.’s hottest venues.