We're Not From L.A., We Just Live There

A few days after playing Austin’s SXSW festival, members of the Soft Pack (formerly the Muslims) were driving to a gig in Philadelphia when a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine called and told them that out of the festival’s 1900 live acts, the Soft Pack gave one of the top-five performances.

Two weeks later, the RS article on SXSW and featuring the Soft Pack went to print: “These heavily hyped indie-rockers…tore through most of their new EP, driven by springy Gang of Four–style bass lines, brittle guitar stabs, and singer-guitarist Matt Lampkin’s sneering delivery.”

For Lampkin, Matty McLoughlin, Dave Lantzman, and Brian Hill, however, the show got off to a shaky start. “We had a shitty sound check…dealing with a stupid sound guy,” wrote guitarist McLoughlin in an email. “When we got on stage, we were a little pissed off and were wise-asses the whole time.

“Sometimes we get wacky. Sometimes we just play the songs. The show that [Rolling Stone] was at was a fun one for us.”

McLoughlin also commented on the magazine listing Los Angeles as the band’s hometown. “We moved to Los Angeles about a year ago,” wrote McLoughlin. “We all grew up in San Diego, and that’s where the band started, so that’s where we say we are from. We don’t feel like we are from Los Angeles, we just live there. Different magazines say we are from different places.”

The Soft Pack takes off to Europe in mid-May for a 12-show stint through the U.K., Paris, Berlin, and Barcelona. They expect to release their debut full-length in September.