BACKSTAGE: Locksley
When we heard one of our favorite bands, Locksley was in town, we knew we had to sit down with them and have them spill all of their fashion tips and dating advice. We met up with them and had the pleasure of sitting backstage for a casual interview before the show. The Wisconsin natives, who have been together since forming in high school in 2003, discussed teaming up with various fashion designers, as well as their own personal style. The four person indie pop-rock/power pop band, led by Jesse Laz, with brother Jordan Laz backing him up on bass, Kai Kennedy on lead guitar, and Sam Blair on drums, were vibrant, charismatic and of course, well-dressed, as they let us in on a few secrets, including what each of them looks for in a woman. So listen up, ladies, if you want to nab a rock star, here's your leg up.
All four members of the band were sporting Stacy Adams shoes, who they've worked with in the past. They have also teamed up with Hermes and Tommy Hilfiger for various campaigns, and said they love wearing those brands as much as possible as well.
"We've been fortunate to work with good people at top, top brands," Jordan Laz explained. His brother added that they even performed at Alexander Wang's first show at fashion week, before making sure to mention that they were, of course, wearing Fruit of the Loom under all of their designer labels.
Kennedy chimed in, describing his personal style as, appropriately enough, Kai Style. He said that while comfort is fine in the house, he doesn't tend to go in public in sweat pants.
"I'm not saying I'm a slave or would suffer for fashion," Kennedy said, "But at the same time I do like to be put together."
His "go-to" item in his closet is a pair of black jeans. He always has a pair around, and once he puts them on everything else will fall in place.
On the other hand, Jordan said his style tends to be a little more casual. He has no problem wearing sweatpants, a sweatshirt and a puffy vest around the neighborhood. The band described his look as "the coach of a wrestling team."
"There was a time when I had a friend who always described me as World War II grandpa and that was the fucking coolest," Jordan said.
But, Jordan also stressed that, as sloppy as his style may be at times, he always has on a pair of nice shoes, Stacy Adams in particular.
"I build from the ground up," he said.
After a few more mentions of their Fruit of the Loom underwear, the conversation changed from fashion to females.
"One of the things I find most attractive about women is confidence," Kennedy said. "When women wear anything with confidence, it really shows through."
The guitarist also added that he likes simplicity, clean lines and short skirts on a woman. The whole band enthusiastically agreed that short skirts and tight sweaters are the look that gets them every time, especially when New York winters give way to Spring.
"In New York during the winter time, fashion sometimes takes a bit of a different turn...layers and everything," Jordan said. "I see the sun come out and I'm like, 'I forgot what attractive means!'"
Jesse agreed, ironically quoting "the philosopher Drake, who said, 'With Your soft skin and your natural hair and your big ass in that sundress, ooooh.'"
All the talk of short skirts and attractive girls drove Jesse to reminisce and share a personal dating story with us about a "very attractive" girl he had went on a few dates with. He started the story by saying that he had called her and not heard back for about 45 minutes, which put him a mental tail-spin.
"Later on in the evening, I was feeling bad about myself because I still hadn't heard back from this girl, feeling like an idiot for calling too many times," he said.
He happened to walk by a costume shop that was opened late and started looking at the masks. He found a mask that he felt "represented him at the moment," and just so happened to be a mask of "Quasimoto with spiders crawling out it." He bought it, put it on and continued on his drunken walk through the city.
"Of course, I ended up at her apartment," he explained. "I was drunkenly in this mask and I made a pretty big scene out of it, and that was the last time I saw her. She was very scared."
Jordan teased his brother, saying that he wished he ended that story with, "and now, we have a beautiful marriage."
Locksley performs secret shows, follow them at the hashtag #WhereisLocksley or follow them on Facebook for more information.
Interview by Nisim Frank
Photocredit: http://www.jsonline.com
