GROOP | Interview | ‘This Place Is The Space’
GROOP isn’t really a band; it’s more of a living, breathing force, a transmission from the cosmic junkyard straight to the stage. Or, in the case of their latest wrecking ball, ‘This Place Is The Space’ (out now via Six Tonnes De Chair Records), it seeps out onto the slack of vinyl.
No rehearsals, no setlists, no rules, just improvisation. They harness the swirling chaos of Sun Ra, Can, and The Stooges, ripping through cracked synths and blistered basslines. ‘This Place Is The Space’ is a mangled, glue-soaked artifact of their high-voltage groove, spiraling through the orbit of jazz, punk, and the heaviest edges of rock, fused into a blistering assault.
Every track is forged in the heat of the moment, unleashed in front of a live audience, then torn apart and reassembled by the band and their ever-reliable accomplice, Mark Rains. These sound sculptors, hailing from Hooveriii, Frankie & The Witch Fingers, and Total Heat, have spent the last three years ruling Zebulon, forging sprawling, mind-frying jams that crash together prog, punk, and pure chaos. They’re taking notes from the cosmic wanderers: Hawkwind and Ash Ra Temple, and smashing them together into a searing, molten mess of sound.
“That’s the philosophy: no philosophy.”
Every band has a beginning, but the story of GROOP seems especially unique, given that the members come from many different bands. Could you tell us what first brought you together as a collective? Was it a shared desire to make something together, or did you just naturally gravitate toward each other because of the chemistry you felt?
Bert Hoover: The idea of GROOP came together rather spontaneously. I was hired to do an improv set with whoever. I put together a group of friends I felt had chemistry, and it just sort of happened. The lineup changes constantly, and that’s kind of the whole vibe—you never know what you’re gonna get. The second we start to think too hard about it, it sort of falls apart and feels stale.
Would you say you have a common idea or concept you always want to follow? If GROOP had to define its own sound, what would you say is at the heart of it?
Bert Hoover: We’ll discuss a vibe or riff we want to explore pre-gig, but usually, the idea is to completely wing it. That’s the philosophy: no philosophy.
You’ve all played in different bands and projects over the years—what’s the L.A. scene like for musicians like you? What were your favorite places to play in the early days, and how did they shape the music you’re making now?
Bert Hoover: The scene in L.A. is ever-changing. It’s hard to put your finger on one zone because the city is so massive, but I think we have a solid, growing community. Right now, it seems like there are only three places to play: Zebulon, The Roadhouse, and Gold Diggers. Obviously, there are more, but a lot of spots are being bought up by Live Nation, Goldenvoice, etc. The Echo used to be the absolute zone for rock bands, and now it’s a TikTok ghost town.
You describe GROOP as a collective, but what makes this project different from the other bands you’ve been a part of? How do you feel about the way GROOP operates as a live band versus a studio project?
Bert Hoover: It’s all off the cuff. With studio albums, we can add overdubs and edit jams, cut and paste—all the tricks—but live, we just let it rip in one continuous amoeba. A big difference with GROOP versus our other bands is we have zero rehearsals.
You say you’ve never played the same song twice. How much of GROOP’s sound is shaped by improvisation, and how do you keep that spontaneity alive on stage?
Bert Hoover: It’s 100% made up on stage. We might tease a riff we like, but more similar to live Can records, we just kind of vibe.
…When I listen to ‘This Place Is The Space,’ I can’t help but think of Sun Ra and his Arkestra with their cosmic approach to improvisation. Were Sun Ra’s principles part of your inspiration while making this album, or do you see yourselves taking a different route?
Bert Hoover: I’m probably not the most qualified to answer this one, but we’re a lot more “boneheaded” than we maybe let on. We listened to two-plus years of recordings from Zebulon and basically cut together the standout jams.
We just tracked a new studio album that sounds dramatically different, so again—no rules!
What are some of the most significant differences between your latest album and the first one from 2022?
Bert Hoover: ‘This Place Is The Space’ is collected from live recordings at Zebulon in Los Angeles. All these jams were performed for the first and last time in front of an audience ranging from 100 to 20 people. We wanted to approach these recordings like a Can record.
Louis Cohen: We then took our favorite recordings from the past two years to Mark’s studio, where he mixed them.
Could you walk us through your recording process? Are there moments when the live performance and the studio work bleed into each other, or do you see them as two distinct creative outlets?
Louis Cohen: For the most part, our process in the studio is very similar to our process live. We improvise with little premeditation and, from that, choose our favorite pieces to feature on the records. The improvisations are mostly untouched and slightly edited. We might chop out a middle section or transition from one take to another, but we don’t spend much time layering. On this most recent record, what you’re hearing is what was played live.
Let’s talk about your gear. Whether it’s synthesizers, guitar pedals, or whatever else you’re using to conjure those otherworldly sounds, I’m sure each member has their go-to tools. What instruments or equipment are you particularly attached to? And are there any unconventional setups you’ve been experimenting with lately?
Louis Cohen: Between a constantly changing lineup and instrumentation, there’s very little consistency from one show or recording to another. Gabe and Franky do the most experimenting with different synths and effects. Rather than experimenting with gear, most experimentation comes from the variety of musicians who play as part of GROOP.
How do you find that balance between structure and freedom?
Louis Cohen: It finds us. We go into each improvisation without talking about anything more than maybe the key. From there, it’s a matter of following the ideas where they take us. Sometimes Bert will find a groove we all lock into. Other times, I will interrupt a calm moment with a loud and angular guitar. It’s all a balance of finding ideas and following them.
Given the backgrounds of the members—from Hooveriii to Frankie & the Witch Fingers and Agriculture—how do those past musical experiences inform what you’re doing in GROOP? Do you see a blend of those past projects coming together in this one, or are you intentionally leaving all that behind to create something new?
Louis Cohen: As with all things GROOP, little of what we set out to do is premeditated. The musical variety of the players comes from the variety of the musical community we are surrounded by here in L.A. It’s as interesting to us as it is to the listener how all these influences come together!
When you look back on these past recordings, what runs through your mind?
Louis Cohen: For each of us to list the roads that brought us here would make a chronicle too long for us to subject your readers to. In short, GROOP was born out of a tight-knit community of diverse musicians from all different backgrounds who just wanted to play together. As much as it is a band, it’s also a collection of very close friends making music together. It feels like those early days of jamming in your garage and is a joy to share with an audience.
Are there any side projects each of you is working on that might bring different influences or ideas back into Groop? Could we see these musical worlds colliding in the future?
Louis Cohen: Bert is currently playing in his bands Hooveriii and Primitive Ring. My projects include the Los Angeles Office of Improvisation with Kern (Agriculture), Lou & Co, and Total Heat. Shaughnessy is working on his project, Selland and Starr. Jon is playing with Primitive Ring and Frankie and the Witch Fingers. Alex is playing with Hooveriii. As you can see, there’s a lot of cross-pollination, but we don’t have any intent to directly collaborate between these groups.
So, what’s next?
Louis Cohen: We are working on a new record with Mark Rains, which we are taking a more structured approach to. Still entirely based in improvisation, we are then sculpting and layering each “jam” into something closer to a “song.” We are still working on seeing what that will look like, but it’s been fun coming at this from a completely new angle.
Klemen Breznikar
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