Exclusive EP Premiere: ‘Crab in Honey,’ Fever the Ghost

ABOVE: FEVER THE GHOST

L.A. psych-pop act Fever The Ghost may be relatively new to the scene, but their sound—a spectral mish-mash of ’70s glam touchstones and tongue-in-cheek New Age—is already their own. The band’s debut EP, Crab In Honey plays like the work of a group with a deep cult following that’s been at it for years. When Interview reached out to Fever The Ghost to get the lowdown on their project, their answers were as spaced-out and gleefully warped as their tunes. “The themes throughout the songs seem to fit well with the symbolism of a creature who doesn’t take a direct route ‘sideways tap dance’ out of being stuck in something like honey…which is sweet…but if you are submerged in it even your nice spiny exoskeleton won’t protect you from suffocation.”

The band hails from Los Angeles’ tight-knit Echo Park scene, and has shared the stage with local acts including Mr. Goodnite, HOTT MT, Habits, and Luther Russell. “Playing in the Echo Park/Silver Lake scene is like running around in a hamster ball full of laughing gas through a grungy Secret World of Alex Mack-themed underwater maze. Liz Garo of The Echo/Echoplex and Neil Schield of Origami Vinyl validate the neighborhood’s sense of parenthood,” says the band. As for influences, Fever The Ghost site acts as wide ranging as The Knife, Captain Beefheart , Joni Mitchell, and Japanese singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu as inspirations.

Though the EP is less than 20 minute long, it traverses more stylistic territory than most bands attempt over the course of a whole album. Stand-out tracks include the lysergically-enhanced “Calico,” inspired by a stray cat the band took in. “We thought it had a very positive mental attitude. And the song is about us striving to be more like that calico cat. Among a few other secret things… spooky things,” says the band. Another highlight is the atmospheric album closer, “We’ll Never Know The Place,” which “came out of not feeling very well adjusted to life on earth…and feeling like another place exists just beyond our range of perception that we might be more suited for. We can’t say it changed very much from the original idea. It was written and recorded fairly quickly.”

Asked how they met for the first time, the band gave us one of the best origin stories we’ve ever heard: “There is a magazine called ‘A Motherly Perspective On Fatherly Duties” (AMPOFD weekly) that we all read before we met. They have an annual contest where in parents submit their children’s names to be drawn out of a hat…the four names drawn would be given all the tools to become the next Mumford & Sons… and we just happen to be those four.” Stream the self-proclaimed next Mumford & Sons’ EP above.

CRAB IN HONEY IS OUT NOW. FOR MORE ON THE BAND, VISIT ITS FACEBOOK PAGE. TO PRE-ORDER THE EP IN VINYL, CLICK HERE.