“We met at UCLA. No, in a hot tub. No, UCLA…no, the orgy that took place in a hot tub,” said drummer Kevin Lenhart with a giant smile when I ask him how he and his buddies formed Division Day.
We had a chance to chitchat with them back in the mid-fall about the new record as well as catch them at their very last show of 2007 at Popscene in late December. Beartrap Island, which came out on Eenie Meenie Records in October, finds the Los Angeles band with some Bay Area roots paying tribute to indie rock patrons before them while also combining a furious but subtle electro and cadence section.
Division Day played a fall show schedule with friends The New Trust, which found the four piece making the rounds across the country on their first national tour, and also taking the band cross-country in big cities, sometimes double playing shows in the day and night time. When we caught up with Lenhart in October at Bottom of the Hill, he said that the grueling schedule “is what we live for” and that having the traveling bug “is so great to get to have in a band.”
It’s not bad for the group who used to play in their native Visalia along the ranks of the Cellar Door and Howie’s Pizza venues, which would feed the bands that played and had a great vibe, according to Lenhart.
At their Popscene show, which closed out a phenomenal year of music for both the indie club and the band themselves, Division Day climbed on stage to deliver rhythmic anthems like “Tigers,” which included harmonies and guitar picks true to the likes of early Spoon and traces of Pinback. The band blended a good combination of pop and dance rock tunes for the sold-out crowd to bob heads and raise beers to.
Leinhart says Division Day will focus effort on new writing while touring for the current one; here is to 2008 being good to the boys as 2007 was.
Photos by Jenz
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