The Broken West loses its innocence

The band prepares to go on tour with new name.

By Jordan Sargent

Published March 2, 2007

If every year indie has a "scene" — the early 2000s had New York City, 2004/2005 had Canada and the United Kingdom, etc. — then last year's most blogged about new scene was the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles.

Although constantly searching for a new geographical hotbed as good as the ones that spawned the trend is as futile as looking for the next LeBron James in a room full of midgets, Silver Lake has produced a few bands of note.

Among them are the newly solo Giant Drag, Cold War Kids, the Bird and the Bee, Silversun Pickups (whose video for "Lazy Eye" you can catch on mtvU approximately every 30 seconds) and Pavement and Beck if you want to step in to a time machine.

Whether to include power-pop quintet the Broken West, whose members all at one point migrated to L.A., is up to you. They just want you to know that they don't see it.

"It's more of a media talking point," said guitarist Ben Iead. "We all live there and play there, but I don't feel like we're a part of the scene because there isn't really a scene."

The band formed in 2004, when Iead was introduced to drummer Rob McCorkindale and guitarist Ross Flourney through a mutual friend.

Last year, the band self-released its first EP, The Dutchman's Gold, under the name the Brokedown and was signed by indie heavy-hitters Merge Records shortly thereafter. Although the name change (brought on by a Chicago band also called the Brokedown) was admittedly difficult for the band, Iead says it came just at the right time.

"It was tough, but it was good that it happened when it did," he said. "I do prefer it to the old name because it rolls off the tongue. I think it suits us well."

Although the decision to go by the Broken West was made more out of time constraints than symbolism, the band's songs recall just that: a broken west.

They evoke the cool, bright pop of what California used to be known for pre- Guns N' Roses and Snoop Dogg, but their lyrics wade in desolation and regret.

The band's sound will be familiar to anyone who's kept up with "indie" this decade: Wilco if Jeff Tweedy knew what the sun looked like, Spoon if Britt Daniel blew his nose or the New Pornographers if they weren't from Canada.

There's also enough '60s-inspired pop to keep you're favorite Kinks fan or Paul McCartney sympathizer happy.

The group's first album, I Can't Go On, I'll Go On (you figure it out), was released by Merge this past January and the band has been on tour almost ever since, including a Monday residence in January at the famed Spaceland in their hometown. Although you'll trip over a country-tinged indie-pop band in Columbia walking out of your door in the morning, Iead contends that the Broken West is worth your Friday night.

"I just think we put on an energetic show. We've all been playing for a while, and we bring that California sound," he said.

The band will continue breaking other regions of the country later this year when it joins the Walkmen for a tour of the Southeast and the Long Winters for a trek up the East Coast and back west.

The group will finally be able to rest in May, but by then, it might be the band that's broken.

"At the time we recorded the album we were definitely learning a lot, and I think we lost our innocence," Iead said. "Or at least we will on this tour."