Exclusive Download: Local H Covers Daft Punk's 'Da Funk'
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 9, 2014 4:00PM
Local H, photo by Katie Hovland
It may appear Local H has been quiet lately but there's actually quite a bit going on behind the scenes for the band. Singer and guitarist Scott Lucas has been in the studio working on new material for the band's eighth album, his first with new drummer Ryan Harding. They're working with longtime producing partner Andy Gerber and are tracking at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio. The new album is also being funded by fans through a PledgeMusic campaign, having already reached 97 percent of their goal as of this writing.
But why wait for the whole new album to hear some new recordings from the band?
Next week Local H is releasing Local H's Awesome Mixtape #2, the sequel to 2010's Awesome Mixtape #1 (so don't go accusing the band of hopping on a certain summer blockbuster's mixtape bandwagon since they were there first). Like its predecessor, it's a collection of songs familiar to fans of the band's live sets and shows how wide-ranging the group's tastes are when selecting cover material. In our experience Lucas tends to pick songs that he loves without a hint of irony, and this has led to the release of covers by everyone from Britney Spears to TV On The radio to Pink Floyd to this new collection of covers.
Lucas explains, "Picking which songs to do really is like putting together a good mixtape. We tried to run the gamut from bands that most people may not have heard of to songs that never need to be covered again. It kills me that a song as great as Muchacha's "Evelyn Mason" isn't even available on YouTube, but there's also a certain challenge to making the millionth cover of ‘Heroes’ seem necessary. To paraphrase Bono—it's a song FIFA stole from David Bowie—we're stealing it back.”
(Lucas isn't kidding about Muchacha. Once you hear "Evelyn Mason" you'll want to hear that unfairly overlooked genius of a Chicago band's entire catalog, if you can find it.)
The band has shared a sneak peek at the new EP and are letting us offer you the chance to sample one of the tracks, a cover of Daft Punk's "Da Funk." Lucas explains the song choice saying, "I like Daft Punk a lot. We've covered "Robot Rock" before—but I thought it'd be cool to approach "Da Funk" as if it were something like a Jeff Beck instrumental."
Stream or download the song below.
If you're in the Midwest you have a few chances to see either Local H or Scott Lucas and the Married Men perform before the end of the year.
Local H is playing Shank Hall in Milwaukee on Dec. 30, and have a New Year's Eve show at Cubby Bear.
Scott Lucas & the Married Men are playing the 5th Hideout Holiday Music Hour—the ONLY Married Men show in all of 2014—on Dec. 20 at the Hideout in Chicago, and if you aren't in Chicago that show is being recorded for broadcast on the band's website on Dec. 24.