Allister Izenberg

I love randomly stumbling upon really good music on MySpace (yes, Facebook has honed everything else, but Myspace still gets props for its Music profiles). Hailing from Los Angeles, Allister Izenberg is only 19 and Courtney Love and Linda Perry have already given their nods of approval to his tunes. His songs are catchy but they still have underlying roughness and creakiness; minimal and operatic at the same time — something along the lines of a tormented lullaby (in a good way, of course).

Allister just finished his first EP, “Lonesome” (which you can download for free on his last.fm}. He is also going on a mini tour along the west coast towards the end of summer. So go see him if you can. - keba robinson

-Keba: Age/Current Location/Current favorite song?

Allister Izenberg: I’m 19 years old, I live in Los Angeles California, my favorite song right now is Jump Into The Fire by Harry Nilsson.

-K: What did you want to be when you were a kid?

AI: When I was a kid I wanted to be just like Jimi Hendrix and dress up like I was him, except I was this little white boy so it might have been a little awkward.

-K: Why did you start playing music?

AI: I started playing music because it’s a way of freeing yourself from your day-job (pun intended), or from your addictions or from your fears or from anything else that can be stressful.

-K: Do you remember what your first song was about, and how it came about?

AI: My first song was called Dreamer and I remember once I was showing it to Linda Perry in her studio and Courtney Love walked in and thought it was the most amazing thing she had ever heard and it’s because I was obsessed with Nirvana when I wrote it in about 7th grade before my balls dropped.

-K: What are your biggest influences?

AI: My biggest influences are dogs, trees, and so many others that the list would be for another interview dedicated completely to my influences. 

-K: What was the last piece of music you bought? And how does it make you feel?

AI: The last piece of music I actually bought was Hanson in 5th grade and it really is terrible and it makes me depressed thinking about it.  I plan on buying Cerulean by Baths — which is my friend Will. We went to Hamilton together and were in bands that were friends with eachothers friends and just in a similar circuit of teenage circles in LA when we were younger.

-K: Some of your songs have more than just guitar...how do you plan on playing them live?

AI: On tour I’m going to have a full band but depending on the night I might use a laptop kind of like Bradford Cox [Atlas Sound] but I won’t be as creepy, haha. No, just kidding, I actually love him and think that he's very talented.